Description
This project aims to expand and improve professional services to support vulnerable children and socially underprivileged families, to secure the family as a safe environment for child's healthy development to design activities that enable children to stay in their own family, and/or to return from institutional care. This project expands an already running pilot set of comprehensive services for children and families in collaboration with the Social and Legal Protection of Children Authority (OSPOD). These are: 1) comprehensive advisory services incl. therapy, 2) fieldwork within families, 3) guided contacts and handover, 4) conflict resolution through mediation and coordinated multidisciplinary cooperation. We build on long-term activities of the applicant and will be implemented in border districts of the South Bohemia region (especially in the region of Cesky Krumlov), where the situation of vulnerable children remains problematic and similar services are not sufficiently covered. The project activities are based on the long-term plan, respond to the needs of the region and target group and have already been successfully verified in pilot form.
Summary of project results
The overall objective of the project is to ensure and provide support and specialized aid to socially endangered families and children in Cesky Krumlov region has been fully met by developing and improving the Families and Children at Risk programme. Overall we have provided support and aid to 146 children. The project offered interlaced complex of services so far missing in the Cesky Krumlov region, where (according to statistics of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs of the Czech Republic) the number of families and children who find themselves at risk remains high compared to other districts. Direct field work inside families was the core activity of this project. As with other activities the number of families, children and interventions exceeded expectations. 494 direct interventions and 387 interventions over telephone were evidenced. Direct field work was complemented by complex professional advisory. Integral part of the project was development of multidisciplinary cooperation via case conferences aimed at solving problems of specific families/children, joint meetings with Social and Legal Protection of Children Authority (OSPOD), meetings between organizations, families, children and juveniles. These activities were complemented by newly introduced service; mediation. Assisted contacts and handovers helped to improve relations between parents and children. The Practical Handbook for Families with Children at Risk was printed and distributed. Thanks to all these interlinked activities mentioned above and, presuming long term cooperation with families we can say that we have succeeded in moderating or eliminating the sources of risk for children in families while supporting parents and children to strengthen integrity of the family. Initial expectations were exceeded in many aspects; presumed target was to aid 100 children, but the final number of supported children and juveniles is 146.
Summary of bilateral results