Latest quarterly field report on this street children in Romania project

PISTRUIATUL RESIDENTIAL CHILDREN’S HOME
OUARTERLY REPORT
APRIL- JUNE 2007

In Brief:

Pistruiatul Residential Home has continued to offer services for the children from needy families, both as a residential Centre and as a Day Centre, providing support at the same time for the young people living in the street and families in need.

- All the children from the home have successfully completed their school year;

- For the first time since opening, the Home has been closed for the Easter period; as all the residents have spent the holiday with their extended family;

- All the families of our residents have received a special hamper for Easter, which was delivered to their homes in most cases;

- A meal was prepared for all the beneficiaries of the “young people in the street” project;

- Summer camps will be organised for the residents, to the seaside and mountain area;

- After 4 months of vacancy, the social work position has now been filled.

DIRECT BENEFICIARIES:

- 15 children in the residential home;:
- 6 children in the Day Centre;:
- 20 young children in the street;
- 9 families.

April

- 2 left the residential home
- 2 have been readmitted;;
- 1 new admission
- 18 beneficiaries of the outreach work project
- 9 families

May
- 8 left the home
- 8 have been readmitted
- 3 new admissions in the Day Centre;
- 16 beneficiaries of the outreach work project
- 5 families

June
- 2 left the home;
- 2 children were readmitted;
- 0 new admissions for the Day Centre;
- 20 beneficiaries of the outreach work project
- 2 families

Objectives for the reported period:

o monitoring the educational progress of the residents;
o taking part in the activities organised by FSC on International Europe Day”
o Organising two summer camps for the beneficiaries.

Complex Services in Residential and Day Centre:

- Every weekend the residents and the staff organise a barbeque;

- New towels and bedspreads have been purchased for each resident;

- On the occasion of Children’s Day, the residents received fruit and toys from staff members and a group of high school children;

- The residents took part in the football championship organised with the Franciscan Theology Institute, Bacau

- Two more children have been admitted in the Day Centre;

- Two residents of the home have been on national TV for a few minutes on a live show about life on the street;

- The volunteers are very helpful in engaging the children in activities and helping them with their homework;

- Every month, the residents go out for pizza and cakes.

Outreach work:

- One of the beneficiaries of our project, now in prison, has received a food hamper which his mother delivered from us;

- Our staff visited X in prison;

- Y takes part in the art and Counselling groups; he continues to receive financial aid for his meals;

Every month, an average of 20 young people from the street come to the home for shower, laundry, hot meals and counselling.

Support for the homeless families:

- Z. from the outreach project has been provided with weekly supplies of baby formula and diapers for her 2 months old baby;

- Staff X has asked for some support in putting together the documentation for social benefits.

- We have continued to maintain phone contact with the families, directly or through the local authorities, in Orbeni, Geoseni, Neamt, Darmanesti, Suceava

Medical assistance:

- O has been admitted into hospital due to hepatitis and has received daily visits from our staff. Subsequently to being discharged into out residential home, for two weeks, being on a strict diet .She has now returned home and attends the Day Centre;

- C was admitted into hospital two days after being admitted in our home, suffering from pneumonia. He has spent two weeks in hospital

- The health of all the residents is monitored and Staff Z takes the children for a doctor’s appointment when necessary.

- The conditions of the home have been assessed by the DSP Bacau, who declared that the conditions are adequate

SOCIAL WORK

o Home visits have been carried out to assess the needs of the children in the families; one family will receive material aid and three will benefit from Day Centre provisions for the children.

o The two location for building extensions for the families have been visited- they both need to be completed in the next months;

o the children from the Residential home have been enrolled into school;

o Local authorities have been contacted for updating the assessments on the residents’ families, where necessary.

Psychological Activities:

- Every weekend, the children take part in group counselling;

- Every resident benefits from periodical individual counselling;

- All the new admissions will receive a psychological evaluation, followed by six monthly re-evaluations;

- The intervention plans have been updated for the residents;

- Group counselling is available for the outreach work beneficiaries once a month;

Other activities:

- in April the activity of the Home was inspected by two representatives of DGASPC Bacau; they have looked at the residents’ files. Discussions were held regarding the complex services being provided and it as decided that the activity will continue on the same line until the legal status of the Home will be changed.

- The residents took part to a performance by the Fire Brigade Bacau

- children P A and W were designated winners of the drawing contest at the Home;

- All the residents took part in the collective painting organised on Europe Day;

- The residents went on a day trip to Itesti;

- Every month birthdays are celebrated with all the residents;

- The “Integrated Services For Children and Families” Project was presented at PRO CHILD Bucharest.

Meetings/ Visits:

- More and more students from Petre Andrei University have requested support form the Centre in completing the practical part of their dissertation, and getting involved in the activities at the home;
- Mrs Placinta has come to visit the residents, engaging them in education al activities and donated reading and writing materials:

- The British Fire Brigade representatives offered the children sweets and presents;

- The visitors from Holland have donated clothing, shoes and sweets to the residents;

- The Ratiu Foundation representatives have visited our Centre.

Donations:

- The home receives monthly 20 kgs of chicken meat from Agricola International Company

Staffing Issues:

- The staff meetings are organised every other week, to discuss the activity in the home and any issues that might arise, as the intention is to provide good quality services.

- The social work post has now been filled.

Problems, and solutions:

- Over the last period of time, the morning shift has been covered by Iustina, Lili and Lenuta, from IMPART. However, two new staff members are needed urgently to continue to provide a good standard of care.

- The boiler is frequently breaking down- purchasing a new one is needed, as the breakdowns cause interruption to the services we offer to chidlrne and young people;

- More repairs have been made to the Home recently.

Future Objectives:

- Organising trips to the mountains at weekends;

- Organising summer camp;

- Completing the building work for the Obreja and Stavarache families;

- Engaging the children in as many leisure activities as possible.

Project coordinator:

Lenuta Nastac

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