Improving the accessibility and efficiency of social support services for guardians and foster and adoptive parents to strengthen their ability to protect and nurture children at risk.

Projektas tikslas - didinti vaikų ir jaunuolių, augančių globėjų (rūpintojų) ar įtėvių šeimose bei turinčių elgesio bei emocijų sutrikimų, socialinę įtrauktį. Tiesioginiai naudos gavėjai – 200 egzistuojančių ir potencialių globėjų (rūpintojų) ir įtėvių šeimų, gyvenančių 5 savaivaldybėse iš kaimyninių Žiemgalos ir Šaulių regionų - Bauskės, Rundalės, Iecavos, Vecumniekų ir Šiaulių. Socialinės paramos paslaugos nebiologinėms šeimoms bus pradėtos teikti Latvijoje ir pagerins globėjų tarnybos veiklą Lietuvoje. Iki šiol SOS Vaikų kaimai Latvijoje neteikė tiesioginės paramos nebiologinėms šeimoms, kai tuo tarpu SOS Vaikų kaimai Lietuvoje bendradarbiaudami su Socialinės apsaugos ir darbo ministerija ir Vilniaus miesto savivaldybe įgyvendina pilotinį Globėjų tarnybos projektą. Projektu metu, siekiant stiprinti globėjų šeimų gebėjimą rūpintis pažeidžiamais vaikais, bus naudojami nauji įrodymais ir žiniomis grįsti metodai – Individualus vaiko vystymosi planas ir Globėjų šeimos vystymosi planas. Planai padės specialistams nustatyti papildomos paramos ir mokymų poreikį globėjų ar įtėvių šeimai. Projekto metu bus skatinama tinklaveika tarp nebiologinių šeimų. Tarpvalstybinis bendradarbiavimas ir patirties pasidalijimas tarp SOS Latvijos ir SOS Lietuvos leis teikti geresnės kokybės paslaugas vaikams ir šeimoms, pagerins globėjų ir įtėvių gebėjimus. Projekto veiklos įgyvendinamos remiantis komandiniu principu, glaudžiai bendradarbiaujant savivaldybių, globėjų ir įtėvių šeimoms bei Globėjų tarnybos specialistams. Be socialinės įtraukties didinimo projektas taip pat turės ir ekonominį poveikį vykdant antrinio vaikų atsisakymo prevenciją.

Projekta mērķis ir uzlabot sociāli neaizsargātas un jūtīgas grupas – bērnu ar uzvedības, emocionālām un attīstības problēmām, kurus aprūpē aizbildņi, audžuģimenes un adoptētāji - sociālo iekļaušanos sabiedrībā. Tiešā projekta mērķa grupa - vismaz 200 esošās un potenciālās audžuģimenes, aizbildņi un adoptētāji, kas dzīvo 5 pašvaldībās – Bauskas, Rundāles, Iecavas un Vecumnieku novados divos blakusesošos reģionos – Zemgalē un Šauļos. Projekts ieviesīs Latvijā jaunu un uzlabos Lietuvā darbojošos sociālo pakalpojumu - sociālā atbalsta centru/aģentūru ne-bioloģiskajām ģimenēm. Latvijas SOS Bērnu ciematu asociācija līdz šim nav piedāvājusi tiešu atbalstu ne-bioloģiskajām ģimenēm, bet Lietuvas SOS jau strādā pie sociālā atbalsta aģentūras pilotēšanas, sadarbībā ar Labklājības ministriju un Viļņas pašvaldību. Sociālā atbalsta aģentūra ieviesīs 2 jaunas darba formas - Bērna individuālo attīstības plānu (BIAP) un Audžuģimeņu Attīstības Plānu (AAP) kā zināšanās un pierādījumos balstītas darba formas audžuģimeņu atbalstam, stiprinot viņu spēju aprūpēt bez vecāku gādības palikušos bērnus. Plāns palīdz speciālistiem izvēlēties atbalsta un apmācību vajadzības katrai ģimenei, kas arī tiks piedāvātas projekta ietvaros. Projekts organizēs arī tīklošanās aktivitātes ne-bioloģiskajām ģimenēm. Pārrobežu sadarbība un dalīšanās ar uzkrāto ekspertīzi partneru organizāciju starpā palīdzēs ģimenēm nodrošināt bērniem kvalitatīvākus un atbilstošākus sociālos pakalpojumus un paaugstinās ģimeņu aprūpes kapacitāti. Visi pasākumi un pakalpojumi tiks ieviesti komandas darbā balstītā modelī, veidojot sadarbību starp aprūpētājiem, sociālā atbalsta centru/aģentūru un pašvaldību. Tiks organizētas arī apmācības pašvaldību speciālistiem, kā arī tiks izveidotas un darbosies nacionālās projekta ieinteresēto pušu sadarbības komitejas, tā nodrošinot labāku zināšanu un pieredzes pārnesi. Papildus sociālajai ietekmei, projekts sniegs arī ekonomisku ietekmi, jo tiks novērsta arī bērnu re-traumatizācija.

The project aims at better social inclusion of socially deprived and vulnerable children with behavioural, emotional and developmental issues who are in care of guardians and adoptive and foster parents. The direct beneficiaries will be at least 200 existing and potential foster, guardian and adoptive families living in 5 municipalities– Bauska, Rundāle, Iecava, Vecumnieki and Šauliai from two neighbouring regions: Zemgale and Šauliai. Social support service – a social agency for non-biological families will be introduced in Latvia and improved in Lithuania. a. SOS Children’s Villages associations of Latvia so far has not provided direct support to non-biological families, while SOS Lithuania with the Ministry of Welfare and Vilnius Municipality is working on piloting a social support agency model. The social agency will introduce 2 new forms, namely a Child’ Individual Development Plan (CIDP) and a Foster Family’s Development Plan (FFDP) as important evidence-and knowledge- based approaches to support foster families and enhance their capacity in providing care for vulnerable children. Plans will help specialists to determine the additional support and training needs of the family, that will be provided within the project. The project will organize networking activities for non-biological families. Cross border cooperation and expertise sharing between SOS Latvia and SOS Lithuania will enable families to provide better quality children care and will increase foster parents’ capacity. The services and measures will be provided through a team-work based collaboration model between caregivers, the social agency and municipality. Training to municipality specialists of will be organized, as well as joint National Stakeholder Committees will be working to ensure better transfer of knowledge and experience. Along with social impact the project will also have an economic impact through the prevention of secondary abandonment of children

The project aimed at better social inclusion of socially deprived and vulnerable children with behavioural, emotional and developmental issues who were in care of guardians and adoptive and foster parents. The direct beneficiaries were 200 existing and potential foster, guardian and adoptive families living in 5 municipalities – Bauska, Rundāle, Iecava, Vecumnieki and Šauliai from two neighbouring regions: Zemgale and Šauliai. Social support service for non-biological families was introduced in Latvia and improved in Lithuania. SOS Children’s Villages Latvia till the beginning of the project had not provided direct support to non-biological families, while SOS Children’s Villages Lithuania with the Ministry of Welfare and Vilnius Municipality was already working on piloting a social support agency model. The social support service introduced 2 new forms, namely a Child’ Individual Development Plan (CIDP) and a Foster Family’s Development Plan (FFDP) as important evidence-and knowledge-based approaches to support foster families and enhance their capacity in providing care for vulnerable children. Plans helped specialists to determine the additional support and training needs of the family that later were provided within the project. The project also organized networking activities for non-biological families. Cross border cooperation and expertise sharing between SOS CV Latvia and SOS CV Lithuania enabled families to provide better quality children care and increased foster parents’ capacity. The services and measures were provided through a team-work based collaboration model between caregivers, the social agency and municipality. Training to municipality specialists were organized, as well as joint National Stakeholder Committees worked to ensure better transfer of knowledge and experience. Along with social impact the project also had an economic impact through the prevention of secondary abandonment of children. The project provided unique opportunity to improve the accessibility and efficiency of social support services for guardians and foster and adoptive parents in two neighbouring regions: Zemgale in Latvia and Šauliai in Lithuania. It strengthened the ability of many guardians, foster and adoptive parents to protect and nurture very vulnerable children who have lost care of their biological parents. The project also encouraged new co-operations – both on local level (between municipalities and NGOs in respective countries) as well as on international level – between people of Latvia and Lithuania and between two NGOs working in social sector with vulnerable children and families with children – SOS Children’s Villages in both countries. During the project, Child’s Individual Development Plan (CIDP) and a Foster Family (Guardian/Adoptive Family) Development Plan (FFDP) were developed. These documents provide information on the structure, purpose and need for improvement of the established plans, as well as give recommendations for out-of-family care support for children and their care givers. LPF “SOS Children’s Villages in Lithuania” and social partners in Lithuania. During the implementation of the project, assistance became available to guardians and adoptive parents living in remote rural areas in Pakruojis and Šiauliai districts. The project not only provided timely and accessible assistance to caregivers, but also brought together caregivers and adoptive parents to share their experience by participating in trainings. But Municipal Care Center coordinators of Šiauliai and Pakruojis districts could enrich their knowledge in Bauska and Vecumnieki municipalities of Latvia. During the implementation of the project, 100 foster families were visited, 60 FFDP plans and 48 CIDP were drawn up. Since the beginning of the project, a total of 415 hours of individual psychologist consultations, 170 hours of special pedagogical consultations and 310 hours of individual speech therapy consultations were provided for the families of guardians and adoptive parents and their children in Šiauliai county. In order to increase the quality of services for guardians and adoptive parents, 16 specialists providing services to socially vulnerable children and their families and guardians and adoptive parents in municipalities had the opportunity to improve knowledge and skills in assessing the individual needs of the child and his / her family and guardians and adoptive parents. Association “SOS Children’s Villages Latvia” and social partners in Latvia. Support of project’s team – social worker and psychologist, as well as several specialists – was available for guardians, foster and adoptive parents living in Bauska, Iecava, Rundāle and Vecumnieki municipalities. 100 questionnaires for identification of situation and needed support were acquired; 72 FFDP plans and 40 CIDP were drawn up and implemented, providing necessary assistance for children and their carers. 36 parents were trained according to pre-service module of internationally acknowledged PRIDE methodology (“Parent Recourses for Information, Development and Education”) and 36 could get new knowledge at trainings of in-service modules. The first one is an initial training for potential foster parents or guardians, giving most essential knowledge before a child is welcomed in the family, while the second training is for people who are already caring about a child. 16 representatives of 4 municipalities could enrich their knowledge and skills about assessing the individual needs of the child and his / her family and guardians and adoptive parents in trainings according “PRIDE” methodology. As well as representatives of local social departments and orphans’ courts could take part in two experience exchange visits in Lithuania. Families and children could also experience great time together taking part in summer activities “My and your summer” and “Let us go in nature!” in summer 2019. Very interesting and useful was possibility of experience exchange not only between project’s teams and specialists from both countries, but also for foster, guardian, and adoptive families themselves – thus 40 carers from Latvia visited Lithuania in September 2018 and the same number of carers from Lithuania were welcomed in Bauska in May 2019. The visits created lots of positive emotions! At the end of the project, methodological recommendations have been prepared in 3 languages ​​(LT, LV, EN) on the provision of social support services, accessibility, efficiency for foster and adoptive families. (Please find the documents here: https://www.sosbernuciemati.lv/lv/par-mums/informativie-materiali under chapter “Ārpusģimenes aprūpe”) The project results are used by social partners (Siauliai district and Pakruojis district municipalities in Lithuania, as well as Bauska, Iecava, Rundāle and Vecumnieki municipalities in Latvia). SOS Children Villages in Lithuania continue to consult partners and provide recommendations, as well as to provide services in Klaipeda, Siauliai and Vilnius municipalities (https://sos-vaikukaimai.lt/kontaktai/ ). SOS Children Villages in Latvia continue cooperation with social services and orphan courts of the municipalities, as well as continue provision of services to guardians, foster and adoptive parents at SOS Zemgale Out-of-family Care Support Centre “Airi vecākiem”, as well as in four more such centres in Latvia, sharing the gained experience (https://www.sosbernuciemati.lv/lv/par-mums/kontakti ).

Project will have two main results. Project will have two main results. First, 132 non-biological families will receive services by a new social support agency – a social support agency (SSA) for non-biological families, introduced by the project in Latvia and improved in Lithuania. Second, 74 non-biological families will get engaged in wider networking activities for non-biological families - an improved social inclusion measure provided by the project (in general the same families as in 1st result). According to James. J. Heckman , Noble Laureate in Economics, adverse early environments create deficits in skills and abilities that drive down productivity and increase social costs; thereby adding to financial deficits borne by the public. Data in Professor Heckman research prove that the most effective strategy for the economic growth is to invest in the developmental growth of young children at risk. There is also a 90 to 100 chance of developmental delays when children experience 6 or 7 risk factors; however, there is also a 4 to 9 dollar return on every dollar invested into early childhood programmes according to Harvard University. Both project results – better and timely support service to foster families and wider networking for support from inside will impact care quality and accordingly will help children to grow up in caring and supportive environment. That, in its turn, leads to development of stronger and proactive personalities doing better in life and with better capacity of social inclusion. In this regard, this project is expected to have an economic impact through prevention of secondary abandonment and improvement of the social exclusion of children. This will have impact on territorial social and economic development contributing to program objective.