CarINg, the wellbeing of children in protection systems

Location Prato

Duration 2020-2023

Partners Comune di Prato, PIN S.c.r.l , Università degli Studi di Milano Bicocca, SOS Children’s Villages Italia, Società della Salute Area Pratese

Framework Empowering Child Care Systems and Supporting Leaving Care from Inside – CarINg

Funding Rights, Equality and Citizenship (REC) Programme

Context

Despite the efforts and the implementation of innovative programs such as P.I.P.P.I., social services face increasingly complex situations where parental negligence is intertwined with situations of suffering, marginality and isolation. Social workers have to cope with complex situations of poverty, delicate situations where the migration background challenges standard models of intervention and requires an appropriate training as a cultural mediator; and finally situations in which careleavers find themselves in difficulty.

Indeed, the leaving process has become an increasingly complex moment, as boys and girls suddenly find themselves without a support network. In this framework, it is necessary to equip social services with new approaches, trainings and operational tools that place children’s wellbeing at the center.

General Objective

The general objective of this project is twofold. On one hand, it aims to contribute at developing European regional and local government strategic and professional capacities to understand and integrate a child-based approach to their work. On the other hand, it aims at improving the quality of support for and protect the rights of children living in alternative care, with a special focus on early preparing, facilitating, and accompanying them during and after the leaving process.

This process entails empowering future careleavers (children of different ages in alternative care) and family members in feeling responsible and protagonists of a project that identifies and links them with the community. Moreover, the project activities have been designed to allow children and families to prepare well in advance for the transition period and help in reducing the challenges that are associated with leaving care.

Activities of the project

All the activities focus on promoting children’s agency and participation as key ingredients for achieving a healthy and fair transition to adulthood. This entails a step forward towards:

  • self-confidence, which is defined as the participants ability at repositioning their capacity to influence in their daily life;
  • a relevant ownership of the process, i.e. participants taking the lead;
  • an increasing awareness of the social fabric that surrounds them;
  • a more predisposed attitude towards collective action among all children and family members participating.
  • Direct involvement of children in planning and deciding for their best future possibilities

By involving governmental bodies, the project offers financial support scheme for these young people to allow them to have access to training/employment/recreational opportunities.  The project also plans to actively involve important stakeholders – such as high education institutions, employers (SMEs) and other organizations that play a role in providing opportunities for children.

By engaging several stakeholders CarINg adopts an ecosystem-based approach which considers education and employment as key factors in careleavers’ development. Likewise the social services will have the opportunity to challenge standard practices and improve the quality of the care by delivering sustainable solutions to problems, overcoming resistance to change and innovation

Furthermore, CarINg will develop and put in practice improved working methods for children in and about to leave alternative care. This will be done with the Capability Approach, which strengthens the EU implementations of directly involving children in planning and deciding for their best future possibilities.

Read more on our Inclusive Development Unit