CONCORDIA for a safe home
Poverty, illness, violence, a lack of job prospects, migration - there are many reasons why children and young people cannot grow up with their biological parents. CONCORDIA social projects provide a safe home for these children and adolescents in order to enable them to have a protected childhood.
Growing up in the family of origin
In principle, we are in favour of a child growing up in its own family or in a family-like environment. Our holistic approach tries to find out together with the child and its parents what support they need to ensure a healthy development and a safe environment. We offer a comprehensive programme in our facilities and respond individually to the different needs of the children and their environment. This offer is complemented by the outreach family work of the multidisciplinary team of CONCORDIA Social Projects.
But not all children are lucky enough to grow up with their biological parents. For those who cannot live with their family of origin, we offer different forms of accommodation.
Reform of the alternative accommodation system
When CONCORDIA Social Projects became active in Romania in 1991, it took care of those children who had to suffer traumatising experiences in their first years of life in the children's and youth homes of the Ceaușescu dictatorship. Oversized homes with a high number of children remained for a long time afterwards - as well as in our other Eastern European project countries.
With the reform of the alternative accommodation system prescribed by the European Union, which foresees the closure of large care institutions, children who cannot grow up with their biological parents should in future live exclusively in foster families or family-like residential groups.
In recent years, CONCORDIA Social Projects has created many smaller, family-like residential communities to offer children a caring home.
CONCORDIA provides a safe home. Through professional help on site.
Supervised crisis residential groups
When children in acute crises have to leave their families, they are placed in supervised residential groups. There they live together in small groups. A team consisting of social workers, psychologists, educators and caregivers jointly take over the tasks of the family of origin: from organising everyday life to psychological care for the children, who often have traumatic experiences behind them, the team is there to support them.
The crisis centres of CONCORDIA social projects offer protection to children in equal measure, and look for ways to strengthen families to overcome their crisis. If the situation stabilises, some children can return to their families of origin. If this is not possible, CONCORDIA Social Projects has various accommodation options available for them in addition to the residential groups - depending on the needs of the child.
Family-like living groups
In our family-like residential groups, there are children who, for various reasons, cannot grow up with their families of origin. A maximum of eight children and young people live together with trained teachers in a CONCORDIA house. Some children can be reunited with their families over time. Those who cannot be reintegrated into their families of origin remain in small group homes where they can find peace, security and support, as well as the individual attention they so desperately need.
Placement in a foster family
Children who need special protection and for whom reintegration into the family of origin is out of the question find a new long-term home in a CONCORDIA foster family. The foster parents often bring their biological children with them. Up to seven children can live together in a family household. The parents are carefully selected by CONCORDIA and undergo thorough training.
They are accompanied by our mobile teams consisting of social workers and psychologists. This ensures that the parents are able to care for their foster children in the best possible way and give them a good start into a self-determined life. CONCORDIA thus supports the foster parents in their daily challenges, but also promotes the children's contact with their families of origin. It is important for the children to know their own roots - some children can even be reintegrated into their families of origin after intensive work.
Assisted living communities for adolescents & young adults
The services for adolescents and young adults at CONCORDIA Social Projects range from their own housing units to rooms in low-cost shared flats (so-called social flats) for young adults who are already working but cannot yet afford their own accommodation, to job coaching and support in dealing with authorities.
One of our major goals is to enable youths and young adults to go their own way and live independently. In order to give them the opportunity to try out their independence, CONCORDIA offers supervised shared flats as a transitional form in which they live independently.
A team of social workers and social pedagogues visits them regularly, accompanies them and supports them in case of problems. All young people have a permanent contact person who supports them in their training and job search and introduces them to independent living.
