MISSION AND VISION

The issue of young people from the child protection system

In Romania, many children have been and are abandoned by their families, reaching the child protection system, usually in foster care. Usually, at the age of 18, these young children are forced to leave foster care even when they do not have a viable social alternative and even if they have not developed the skills necessary for independent living. Young people face difficulties in obtaining and maintaining a job and face problems of adaptation and social integration, thus failing to build a future. Routine tasks such as cooking, home hygiene and body hygiene are skills with a high degree of difficulty for them.

Young people from the protection system failed to access the school education system without feeling the consequences of the institutional or dysfunctional environment, often leading to school drop out, difficulties in developing social skills and assuming responsibilities. Consequently, these young people develop a negative self-image, low self-confidence and experience a delay in emotional and social development, often facing the phenomenon of discrimination, social marginalization. The community is not prepared for them but neither are they prepared for the community.

In support of these young people, the Romanian Prospects Foundation has developed a learning system in which young people are supported for a maximum period of 2 years, while ensuring their primary needs (accommodation, food, clothes). Life is simulated in a realistic way while the Foundation functions as a safety net. Active social assistance to the detriment of passive social assistance is an important principle. The main purpose of the program is to teach these young people how to live independently. We do this by giving them structure. Learning is aimed in particular at the gradual empowerment of young people, the right to make mistakes and experiment without staff taking over tasks and responsibilities, the use of a reward system instead of a sanction system, full freedom of choice and decision, assuming success and failure.

Supporting disadvantaged young people in accessing and completing higher education.

The Romanian Prospects Foundation aims to support young people with economic vulnerabilities or who are in situations of social difficulty in order to access and complete the first form of higher education, taking into account not the excellence reflected in school results but the motivation. Increasing the level of qualification in the field of work, the chance of overcoming the social condition, preventing school dropout for financial reasons, equal opportunities in accessing higher education are the main objectives of the program. In fact, this program is intended to be the beginning of a broader program, a program that aims to support children up to 18 years in preventing school dropout.

Evolutie

Since the foundation was founded in 2008, the Romanian Prospects Foundation has already had some major achievements. The most important are:

• September 2008 – the Dutch foundation (Stichting Romanian Prospects) was founded
• January 2009 – the Romanian Foundation (Romanian Prospects Foundation) was established, with its headquarters in Sibiu
• September 2009 – the Residential Center for Learning Independent Life Skills (CRIDVI) was opened – the house for girls; based in Sibiu
• April 2011 – the Residential Center for Socio-Professional Integration of Young People (CRISPT) was opened – the house for boys; based in Sibiu
• December 2018 – we started to support young people in accessing and continuing their higher university studies

From the founding of the Dutch foundation in 2008 and the founding of the Romanian foundation in January 2009, until now, we have developed a series of charitable meetings with different people and organizations willing to offer their help in Romania. In this sense, we mention the following:

• Joop, from Grolleman Expedities, for the free storage of furniture and interior decorations before they are transported from the Netherlands to Sibiu;
• Andries, from Kasper-Agri, for the free transport of furniture and other interior decoration pieces from the Netherlands to Sibiu;
• Robert, from C-source, for the design of our first website;
• Cossoftware, for the renewal and maintenance of our website;
• To all friends, families, individuals and legal entities who have made donations to the foundation and who have offered unconditional support.