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Actions to support children

“My city, my colours!”

This summer, in July and August 2017, the

“Kaufland maps, My city, my colours”

competition took place, sponsored by Kaufland and

organized by the “My City, My Colours”

Association. Children‟s services, DGASPCs,

NGOs, associations and foundations all took part in

this competition. ASIS registered children from the

Family Centre Programme. Embracing the

challenge, the children enthusiastically started to

work and with all their skill and creativity coloured

the huge maps offered by Kaufland Romania. In the

first week of September, VIP Patrizia Paglieri from

MASTER CHEF TV show decided the best design

and the winner got a 5,000 euro award offered by

the sponsor. Beyond this prize, the real reward was

in the participation, the co-operation, the joy and the

demonstration of creativy and talent coming from

children.

Congrats to all kids!

Asociația “Sprijinirea Integrării Sociale” A.S.I.S.

NEWSLETTER Nr.2

Asociația “Sprijinirea Integrării Sociale”

Newsletter nr.5/2017

Idei, proiecte, programe de asistență socială și suport

familial

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The holiday is here!

Once the holiday period approached, the programme

of formal education lessened, giving way to

imagination and play, namely non-formal activities

which children engage with during the summer time.

Holiday time also means some change in activities

within the Family Centre. During the holidays, the

Family Centre keeps its doors open, remaining a

welcoming, safe space for children and adults.

Attention is focused on how to re-structure the daily

routine now that formal education and sessions are

suspended. Much time is devoted to interpersonal

relationships and socialisation in a relaxed and

informal manner - we talk, shareour holiday

experiences, we enjoy telling stories and generally

spending quality time in a relaxed environment.

During this time the range of activities are

divided between indoors and outdoors depending on the

weather. Our aim remains the same, to provide the

children with opportunities for personal growth and

development in a social environment that is fun as well

as educative.

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For instance, when go to the cinema, we use this as an

opportunity to encourage discussion and imagination as

we comment on each film, and so we learn something out

of each documentary.

Educational support for the Family Centre

As the holiday period draws to a close so

preparations for starting school again in the new

term begins in earnest. The children of the Family

Centre enjoy getting new school supplies, school

bags, pencils, copybooks and various stationery. The

children enjoy the ritual of meeting each other again

at the beginning of term ardently sharing their

adventures and holidays stories. We the adults,

observe with joy and surprise how much they have

grown! We all wish them a year full of

achievements, joy, curiosity and knowledge.

Actions to support homless people

The monitoring of homeless people

continues

In the third term of 2017, the general

objectives of the programme run by the field

team were completed with two tasks:

- Presenting the project of field assistance to

the new social worker of ASIS, Raluca and

her introduction to the groups of

beneficiaries, the intervention areas and

institutional partners;

- Completing documentation necessary to

accredit the Field Assistance Service.

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The case of homeless people

During this term in addition to individual

and group counselling, the fieldwork team

completed the following: actions to get ID

papers, income documents from ANAF

(Fiscal Agency), completed full medical

records to list two out of three beneficiaries

as disabled, completed documents to get

social support, initiated actions to get one

beneficiary employed, bought and

disseminated medicines etc.

The longest interval continues to be that

allocated to medical interventions. In some

cases, despite obstacles caused by excessive

bureaucracy, we are pleased to say that we

encountered a numberof key people who

were helpful to us and to whom we are

grateful.

Networking and institutional cooperation

In what concerns the support network, on 21

September the mobile team participated in a meeting

organised by the Ministry of European Funding,

with the topic of releasing funding from POAD

(Operational Programme to Support Deprived

People). These funds will allow the purchase of

essential equipment and supplies to support

homeless people through the difficult winter period.

The kit consists of: hot meals, sleeping bags, winter

clothing and body hygiene products. All concerned

institutions look forward, in the coming weeks, to

the release by the ministry of the „funding guide‟ for

this undertaking.

Family support

Support group and family counselling –

“Community meetings”

Community meetings are an established part of the

Family Centre routine. In this setting, community

members – adults, children, parents, along with

professionals gather in an informal though

purposeful way at the Family Centre. The aim is to

interact, communicate and reflect together on what

the centre offers, the needs of parents and children

and the nature of changes taking place in the life of

each one. Both parents and children were especially

participative and dynamic in their contributions.

Children do what they know best: they know to

play, to discover creatively, to treat the world with

infinite curiosity. We observed the way they use the

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space around them and the freedom and innocence

with which they interacted. The joy of being

together in this way was so rewarding for all

concerned. Children enjoy this community

experience and our hope is that all concerned bring

some of this positive togetherness and relationship

building back out with them into their daily lives in

the community.

Such meetings with parents and children was also

an opportunity to share with them the changes about

to happen in the life of the Centre, including the

change in location to sector 6. There is much

attachment to this Family centre. This privileged

place has provided a pace of solace and acceptance

away from the demands of the daily routine and the

daily challenges faced in the outside environment

and neighbourhood. The practice of community

meetings and their success demonstrates to us the

value of partnership and how together with the

family we can provide for meaningful, positive

change in the life of everybody. It was a successful

evening for which we are grateful to those who

attended and those who organised it. We learn one

from another and this confirms once again that

“sharing is caring“.

PREVENTION

Equal opportunities and women’s protection

One of the guiding principles of ASIS is respect for

diversity and the promotion of equal opportunities,

in particular creating equal opportunities and

promoting the rights of women. In this context, we

disseminate any information as advocacy for

vulnerable groups and we promote any European or

international initiative. Women‟s World Summit

Foundation launches the campaign „Prevention of

violence against women and youth‟ 1-19 November

2017.

Women‟s World Summit Foundation is an

international humanitarian, non-governmental

association acting as a consultative body of the UN

(ECOSOC, UNFPA and DPI) aimed at developing

an intervention frameworkand subsequent strategies

to protect women and children.

http://19days.woman.ch/index.php/en/2017-

prevention-kit

PREVENTION

Participation in “Resilience course”

During this term, ASIS professionals took part in

„An introduction to resilience course‟ organised

under the Empowering Child’s Strengths for

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Violence Prevention (project FONPC). The aim

was to explore the concept of ressilience in

therapeutic, psychological and social assistance

work with children and families in support

programmes. The course provided a helpful forum

to discuss and reflect on this theme. Such

opportunities for professionals to interact and

discuss the conceptual framework of their work are

rare and so it was greatly appreciated.

“Resilience is a concept which reflects the

(universal) ability of one individual or a system to

develop and prosper in unfavorable conditions.

Resilience is a concept reflecting the ability of

human beings to recover after trauma and adverse

childhood experiences.

One considers that, to identify resilience, there must

be, on the one hand, a serious, long-term trauma and

on the other, the absence of a pathologic functioning

after trauma. Let us remember what Boris Cyrulnik

declares in “The Whispering of Ghosts”, namely

that in the African or Asian cultures or in one a lot

poorer than ours, most people think that “a whole

village is necessary to raise a child.” We can state

this in a different way for example, US researchers

state in their theories about attachment that „an

affective constellation needs to be organised around

the child. More precisely, within this constellation

mother is of course a key star, and the father is

another one, just like the elder sister, the cousin and

the neighbour. All of these people play a key role in

supporting the child‟s development. The prevention

of a child‟s separation from his/her family, and

his/her supportive family constellation, is the

objective and main guiding principle of the ASIS

team prevention effort.

The promotion of family support including building

an individual‟s emotional and social stability is a

central mechanism in building resilience in children.

The partnership ethos of ASIS fits succinctly with

these rinciples of good practice for building

resilience. As Julia Bryan and Lynete Henry point

out in „Strengths-Based Partnerships: A School-

Family-Community Partnership Approach to

Empowering Students‟ (2008): “Strengths-based

partnerships utilize the assets found in schools,

families, and communities to create strength-

enhancing environments, promote caring and

positive adult-child relationships, strengthen

children‟s social support networks, foster academic

success, and empower children with a sense of

purpose.” (p149) (2008) Strengths-Based Partnerships:

A School-Family-Community Partnership Approach to

Empowering Students. Professional School Counseling:

December 2008, Vol. 12, No. 2, pp. 149-156.

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Specialization course “Specialists school in social

care” CONCORDIA 2017

During April-November professionals from ASIS

attended the continuous professional training

“Specialists school in social care” taking place under

the Professional Training Program for the

Practitioners in Social Services for Disadvantaged

Communities. This is a collaboration between

Vorarlberg University of Applied Sciences

(Austria), CONCORDIA Proiecte Sociale Austria,

CONCORDIA Humanitarian Association and Land

Vorarlberg.

ASIS Prevention Services

Third term implementation and reporting

In the third term of 2017, the beneficiaries of

ASIS services in this programme were both adults

and children whose plans of services are under

implementation and benefit from counselling, social

actions, medical support, educational and social care

where the assessments indicate.

Social welfare reports, sessions of social

counselling, visits to families, actions to accompany

the beneficiaries (to get ID papers, access to medical

services and monitoring school results) were

completed. Also during this interval we undertook a

complex piece of work with a young person from

the prevention programme supporting his social and

employment needs.

Actions to identify new potential partners to develop

a support group in sector 6 continued. The diversity

of interventions highlight the multi-factor approach,

personalized for each individual case as well as

themultiplicity of interventions undertaken. All with

the interests of the child at the centre. Through a

special co-operation with prevention services in

DGASPC sector 6, we managed to successfully

implement a programme for a family with three

underage children, with nofixed abode, no medical

care, and altogether in crisis. We managed to get

funding from the City council for a house; family

members were registered in the medical care

network; the children were registered with the

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education service(nursery, kindergarten, school),

and its fair to say the whole family have managed

to find some definite relief and improvement

(practically and emotionally) from their grim

circumstances.

Legislative and methodological news

A) The Government approved Government

Ordinance to modify Law 448/2006 in

respect of people with a disability.

- Children with a serious disability will

no longer have to visit evaluation panels/

children with serious disability

benefitting from palliative care do no

longer need to go to evaluation panels.

Their certificate will now be valid until

they are 18 years old.

-Less bureaucracy and fewer visits to an

office: Disabled people will receive a

social benefit and no longer need to go

and write a specific request for it.

- Support for families of adults with a

disability supported in residential

centres: At present, the obligation to care

for disabled adults assisted in centres

extends to brothers and sisters and

relatives directly connected, spouses. The

change brought by the legal act restricted

this obligation to spouses, parents for

children and children for parents

- Social servies will be as close as possible to

disabled people (local councils)

- Official recognition of the mimico-gestura

(sign) language. The mimico-gestural

language will be officially acknowledged as

a means of specific communication to people

with a hearing mpairment.

http://www.fonduri-

structurale.ro/stiri/18786/guvernul-a-

aprobat-oug-pentru-modificarea-legii-

448-2006-privind-persoanele-cu-

dizabilitati-prevederile-privind-unitatile-

protejate-nu-au-fost-modificate

B) On 26 June 2017 the decision of the

General Council of Bucharest was

announced (No 209/2017)reference. the

provision of financial support to the value

of 2500 lei will be provided to the parents

of babiesborn in Bucharest. Thus, the

allocation of the incentive will start on the

day of communicating the Decision to the

General Council of Bucharest, based on

art.49, para 1 of Law 215/2001 of the local

public administration. Respectively for

children born on and from 26 June 2017,

requests being to be made starting with 3

July 2017 at the Citizens Informatin and

Counselling Centre in 38, Sos. Stefan cel

Mare or the General Directorate of Social

Care of Bucharest in 56-58 Foisorului Str.,

sector 3, Monday-Friday from 9 am to 3

pm.

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Parents who concomitantly comply with

the following conditions can benefit from

the incentive:

- at least one parent has residence in

Bucharest;

- the birth was registered in a maternity

facility in Bucharest (public or private).

C) The Government adopted in its meeting on

4 August 2017, a proposal of Ordinance to

simplify the documentation necessary to

get social benefits, respectively the

minimum guaranteed income, the

allowance to support a family and the

heating allowance.

http://gov.ro/ro/guvernul/ședinte-

guvern/documentația-pentru-obținerea-

venitului-minim-garantat-a-alocației-

pentru-susținerea-familiei-și-a-ajutorului-

pentru-încălzire-simplificată-de-guvern

D) Disabled children in Bucharest benefit

from a social integration incentive.

Financial support provided only in

Bucharest through the decision of the

General Council of Bucharest. Those

eligible will benefit from the allowance of

1000 lei per month allocated to children

listed in any of the 4 levels of disability.

Parents/the legal representative need to

present the original documents mentioned

at the link below (documents will be

scanned and/or photocopied at the place, so

no need to provide photocopies)

http://dgas.ro/stimulente-

financiare/stimulent- copii-cu-handicap/

E) Incentive for the Social Integration of

Adult Disabled People

Beneficiaries of the incentive for the social

integration of adult disabled people of 500

lei/monthare adult disabled individuals, listed in

any7 of the 4 levels of disability, with their

residence on the administrative territory of

Bucharest, and the certification of disability issued

by any of the Evaluation Commissions for Adult

Disabled People from Bucharest sectors. Requests

can be submitted beginning with 15 NOVEMBER

2017. http://dgas.ro/stimulent-pentru-integrarea-

sociala-a-persoanelor-adulte-cu-handicap/

F) Regulations about a child’s care and

supervision by nannies.

- The services to care and supervise a child

during the day can be covered by nannies

either based on an individual working

contract between a nanny and a legal entity

accredited as a social services provider, or

based on a service contract signed by the

nanny as a freelanceer and the legal

guardian of the child. The provision is

enclosed in a decision through which the

Government adopted today the

methodological normatives to apply Law

167/2014 about the profession of a nanny.

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We remind that you can support the cause of

children and parents of ASIS Family Centre through the

purchase of affiliated marketing site:

www.buyandhelp.ro. We thank you in advance.

Address:

ASIS Office: Bulevardul Corneliu Coposu nr4, Bl.105A,

scara 4, et.1, ap.94 sector 3, Bucuresti

Tel: +40(21)3233855

e-mail: asis.ong@gmail.com

Executive Director: Rodica Gregorian

Website: www.asis-ong.ro

Family Centre:

Address: Str.Vicina nr.27A, sector 5, Bucuresti

Tel: (+40 21) 423 21 31

e-mail: asis.centru@yahoo.com

Centre Coordinator: Alexandra Avram București

Romania

“Prevention” Service Programme Coordinator: Daniela

Dinu tel: 0787711955

Homeless People Assistance Service

Programme Coordinator: Ion Valerian tel 0740972535

www.facebook.com/Asociația-Sprijinirea-Integrării-

Sociale-ASIS