Opening gate for a second chance

This is an insight into the project Opening gate for a second chance, and the study visit to Zagreb organized within it. Shared by Radi Vidi Pats activists Linda and Agata.

 

Linda on how it all started:

Five years ago, we chose a problem that both Radi Vidi Pats and other experienced organizations were facing. There was a lot of work, but there were few knowledgeable activists. Every now and then volunteers appeared who were ready to get involved and take on new responsibilities, but there was a lack of time and energy to train them, and it was often faster to do it yourself. Therefore, we decided to create international training courses, in which we invited both experienced colleagues from each organization and young activists full of potential.

That’s how we met Petra. Petra is from Croatia, and she was the young activist who wanted to get more involved in international youth work, so she applied for this training. Recently, Petra and I talked about our memories from this training. She remembers that I told her: “Petra, you are a mystery to me. I’m not sure how much you like what we do.” What I remember is that Petra was initially quite withdrawn, not sharing much about her feelings about what was happening. Nevertheless, she applied for the next training we organized for youth workers. The following year, for another one. So she became our “fan” for several years, starting to invite her colleagues along.

Therefore, it was a great pleasure and honor when she invited us to become partners in a longer Erasmus+ project Opening gate for a second chance. This small-scale partnership project is about working with young people with a wide range of challenges, as we often noticed similarities between the work we do with young people in prison and the work that Petra and her organization FICE do with young people who have ended up in alternative (out-of-family) care. FICE also invited partners LAJFR from the Czech Republic and Las Niñas del Tul from Spain, who work with similar target groups.

In our joint project, we will try to understand what is happening to young people in these two areas - alternative care and incarceration, and what we, as NGOs, can offer to strengthen these areas and give young people more support and development opportunities so that they can start their full lives with healthier choices. We made several attempts back then—the first two were unsuccessful. But when we took in a foster son who grew up with us until he came of age, went to college, found a career, and is now building a life of his own, it was all worth it. We decided to stop being a foster family after our youngest son was born. Somehow it felt like we didn’t have the space—neither physically nor emotionally—and that we needed to focus on living our lives and making the best of what we already had.  

 

Agata on activities in Zagreb:

I agreed to take part in this project because this year I have been involved with the Latvian Probation Service as a volunteer mentor for those whose actions have brought them into conflict with the law and who have consequently been punished. However, when I received the program for the study visit to Zagreb, I realized that we would not be visiting a probation service or a prison, but rather foster care centers. However, that sounded appealing too, because I also have experience with foster families — both as a sister in a family where my parents took in several foster children after I turned 18, and with whom I still keep in touch from time to time. But especially because my husband and I have always been the ones who say “yes” to everything. When our eldest son was 3 years old — and we had already been active in Radi Vidi Pats for about that long, carrying out various social inclusion projects — we decided to take a foster parent training course. We had previously met several young people who were living in the Liepaja orphanage at the time, and somehow the idea struck us that we didn’t need to have so many children of our own if there were already children in the world who didn’t have homes or families.

 During our study visit to Croatia, we visited two social centers and met with a social work professor at the University of Zagreb. First, we visited the Zagorje Social Services Center, which is located outside the capital, in a rural area. We were welcomed and given an introduction to the work of this institution, as well as to the needs of the children and young people who use its services, and to the specialists working there. It was interesting to hear how, over the course of ten years, the state-run orphanages has been transformed into a social services center that provides both day care services for children and young people and arranges for them to live in separate homes for up to eight children or young people. Special emphasis is placed specifically on children with behavioral disorders, and the main goal, of course, is for the child to be able to return to their family, if possible. In cases where this is not possible, the young person is supported until they become independent and can start their own life. 

The second place we visited, the Children’s Center named after Antun Gustav Matoš in one of Zagreb’s neighborhoods, operates on a similar principle. At both locations, it was a pleasure to see the well-organized infrastructure and the modern, clean interiors. A well-maintained environment also fosters orderliness in children.  Everything has been spruced up with the support of European funds, but in the case of Zagreb’s Social Services Center, the renovation was carried out because the city experienced a severe earthquake in 2020. It was during the pandemic, and with all the chaos that reigned over us, I personally had completely missed the fact that Zagreb had suffered serious damage and that many buildings – and, of course people – in Croatia had also suffered greatly for this reason, not just as a result of global circumstances. So, everything is neat, clean, white, and well-maintained. At the very least, children are provided with everything they need physically to function in a safe environment. However, we share the problem that society as a whole is very passive and unwilling to take on collective responsibility. Just like in Latvia. A massive, expensive nationwide awareness campaign was organized in Croatia with the goal of attracting new foster families, but the result –  zero new foster families. Another interesting fact is that a large portion of the country’s income comes directly from tourism, and — especially in the coastal region — every spare bed is reserved for tourists. No one is interested in taking in extra children.

 There is no single answer to the question of how to change this—what is the deciding factor that leads people to choose alternative care for their children—but this must become a national priority, and information and support must come from the top. It is clear that raising any child or young person in a family would be more cost-effective for the state than maintaining separate institutions, but for now, practice shows that changing the name does not change the essence of the matter. A very important point is that, in most cases, families are unable to care for their children due to financial obstacles. Families receive no support, yet resources are spent on maintaining the bureaucratic system. There is much to be said about this, but it has motivated me to look into what has changed in out-of-home care in Latvia over the past fifteen years. I am also interested in the results of this collaborative project and in how the stories of these young people — some in detention and others in out-of-home care — will intersect here, and what role youth workers will play in them. 

 

Funded by the European Union. The opinions and views expressed reflect the author’s views only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the Agency for Mobility and EU Programmes. Neither the European Union nor the granting body can be held responsible for them.