Post on 05-Sep-2020
Robinson Crusoe Foundation
Barcelona 04.05.2017
Robinson Crusoe Foundation
Who we are
Our approach
The structure
• Started by tutors and psychologists with experience in working with youth from different
backgrounds
• Since 2002 we've been supporting young people from institutional care aged 17-24 in their
way to self-reliance
• We are located in Warsaw but we run our programs all over the country
• We have 5 project coordinators in Warsaw cooperating with 25 consultants in other cities
• We perceive self-reliance as the key competence which determines all the other life skills
• We developed and run our own practical programs dedicated to teenagers, helping them
to function and find their constructive role in society after leaving their care institution
• We focus on 5 areas: vocational issues, economy, law, health education, social and
communication skills
What is foster care in Poland?
Foster care in Poland entails care for a minor whose parents do not fulfil their
protective and educational roles.
Care for a child becomes the responsibility of specialised institutions, aiming to
satisfy the child’s existential, social and emotional needs.
At the end of the 90s, foster care system reform was introduced.
Comprehensive family assistance was established which would allow the child
to function within the family.
Re-integration of families became the priority
Putting a child in foster care became only one of many available options.
Different types of foster care were introduced
The capacity of care providing institutions was reduced.
institutional care 19 229
9 063 girls 10 166 boys
10% adults in education
family foster care 57 422
20 405 girls 37 017 boys
15% adults in education
25,9% in age 15-24 is in work
Wards in Foster care
Foster Care Structure
Foster care structure in Poland
The organizational units responsible for
family support and the foster care system
The structure
Branches of local government :
County Centre for Family Support (CCFS)
Municipal Centres for Family Support (MCFS)
• organize the foster care system
• run both family and institutional care facilities
Adoption centres, regional care facilities and pre-adoptive intervention
centres are managed by county authorities
creating and implementing 3-year plans for counties on how to develop foster
care, which includes the yearly limit for professional foster families
providing children with foster care
supporting individuals who are in the process of leaving foster care and
becoming independent
creating conditions for new foster families, foster homes and assistant
families to emerge and function
running care and education centres
organizing and funding workshops for those who will be working with children
and youth from foster care
organizing support for family foster care, for example specialist counselling
financing benefits for foster care, the process of becoming independent and
workshops for those who will be working in foster care
Tasks of the local authority:
age of 18 to 26
wards enter independent
adulthood, integrated into their environment
one year prior tocoming of age
choose an Independence
Assistant
No less than a month before coming of age
drafts the
Individual Independence
Program
Process of gaining independence
Covers all aspects of attaining independence important to the future of the minor.
It outlines each step and the scope of cooperation between them and their
assistant, including the following:
the means of receiving an education or professional qualifications
gaining employment
obtaining adequate housing
obtaining adequate benefits (means to gain independence, homemaking,
continue education)
establishing a timeframe for their realisation
The program is approved by the head of CCFS and becomes the basis for
application for appropriate benefits.
Individual Independence Program
A minor is entitled to foster care until the age of majority.
A ward leaves the facility on turning 18.
However, a ward may stay at the facility until they are 25
provided that they continue their education and the foster
family, foster home or the head of the facility agrees.
After leaving foster care, a ward can be housed in
council apartment,
public housing
halfway house on preferential conditions
move into their family home.
Housing
Robinson Crusoe Foundation
Who we work with
We work with young people from substitute care (state-owned orphanages,
foster families, family orphanages), threatened with social exclusion
We develop and run programs which support making a successful transition
from institutional care to independent living
Young people leaving care institutions in Poland struggle with:
very low financial support from the state
difficulties with accommodation
lack of consistent law regarding self-reliance
lack of relevant support from social workers due to overload of administrative
duties
very poor cooperation between different social care institutions – no clear roles
low quality of vocational training courses and internships
negative employment practices
Our working methods
Robinson Crusoe Foundation
What we do
Working with youth:
Self-relianceVehicles,
workshops
Training stuffand socialworkers
Research of self-reliance effectiveness
Innovativetools for self-
reliance
Long term approach and programs; we focus on processes not on single act
We build relations, bonds and friendship
We create diversified and open environment outside of care institutions
'Vehicle of Self-reliance' as the main educational tool
'Robinsons' build the community based on the common practices and mutually motivating
effect of “copying the best”
Activating and engaging local communities, business, authorities and youth professionals
Our working methods
Robinson Crusoe Foundation
What we do
Robinson Crusoe Foundation
Educational stream – economy program example
SimulationGame ‘Robinson on Plus’
Workshop Robinson'sEconomy
Handbookon economy‘Ekonomia Robinsona’
SimulationGame ‘Robinson on his own’
‘SafeInternship’ program
Food for Good
Robinson Crusoe Foundation
Educational triangle
Simulation
gamesWorkshops
Self-reliance handbooks
Long-term program addressed to ‘Robinsons’ aged 17-24
‘Robinsons’ meet on a regular basis - every 2 weeks - and
learn communication skills, practical knowledge such as
personal finance, computers, entrepreneurship whilst
getting emotional support at the same time
Syllabus is always adjusted to the group’s needs
Vehicles operate in local environment and are managed
by local consultants trained by the Foundation
We work in mixed and diversified groups gathering youth
from different institutions
Networking and cooperation between young people from
different cities
Robinson Crusoe Foundation
Vehicle for Self-Reliance
The Vehicle of self-reliance in Wroclaw
Robinson’s summer and winter workshops on self-reliance
Contract
Grant
Robinson Crusoe Foundation
Innovative programs
Educational
Games
Robinson Crusoe Foundation
Safe internship program and portal
Robinson Crusoe Foundation
Food 4 Good social enterprise
producing gingerbread
• We train local self-reliance practitioners; orphanage workers, foster parents,
social workers and self-reliance assistants
• Training courses consist of three main topics:
1) Work on beliefs and values – definition of self-reliance? What may be
the support in self-reliance? What are the limits of support? What is my
role in this process?
2) Learning and exercising techniques of self reliance – coaching
(eg. working on goals), communication skills, assertiveness,
paper work.
3) Exchange of experience, case studies.
Robinson Crusoe Foundation
Training courses for self-reliance
practitioners
we create a library of self reliance practice on paper and digital :
• The General Guide (v1 and v2)
• The Economy Guide
• The Guide of Health
• The Guide of Law
Robinson Crusoe Foundation
The Guides fo achieving self-reliance
THANK YOU!
www.fundacjarobinson.org.pl
www.samodzielni.pl
Biuro fundacji: Warszawa ul Różana 19/8
Tel 22 401 14 13