"Club as a Second Home"

"Members of the Club of Friends of Children without Parental Care from Kraljevo have so far solved three housing problems, helped find jobs for two youths brought up in foster families, and provided summer holidays, theater and cinema visits…

More than 4,800 children in Serbia are growing up without parental care. Fatal diseases, difficult economic situation, wars, traffic accidents and other unfavorable social circumstances are the most common causes of separation. There are 1.440 children living in social protection institutions. More than 3,400 children are taken care of through the system of foster families, which is more effective because children develop more successfully; they socialize and integrate faster in relation to their peers living in institutions. The Social Work Center (SWC) of Kraljevo has recognized the significance of supporting children and families deciding in favor of foster care. The project entitled Together through Growing Up was launched in 2005, and was financed for a year through the Social Innovations Fund within the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, within the foster care reform in Serbia. When the financing had ceased, Kraljevo citizens continued taking care of children, youth and their foster parents by establishing the Club of Friends of Children without Parental Care.

“Through various activities, the Club has managed to advance the care of children without parents” – says Svetlana Stanic, Director of the Kraljevo SWC. The Club gathers 73 individuals, small and other companies, culture institutions – library, theatre, sports center, NGOs…”All these participants contribute to Club activities – with money, goods, services – and what they have in common is that they wish to improve the life of children and the youth in Kraljevo”, says the Director. The first member of the Club was the Mayor of the Kraljevo municipality.

The Club has so far provided assistance for 100 children living with foster families. The work of the Club is organized by eight SWC experts, but other 51 employees are also willing to help when needed. Thanks to the donations provided by the Club members, the house of brothers Ivan and Petar Vukosavljevic has been refurbished. The elder brother Petar has found a job in the Studenica monastery. The municipal apartment given to SWC, providing housing for two youths grown up with a foster family, has been fully equipped by the same grants.

Milena Stankovic was the first of her colleagues, young IT engineers, to find a job. The 25-year-old girl who lost both her parents and spent more than 10 years with a foster family, started working a month after graduating. Her employer is one of several dozens humane people who facilitate the work of the Club of Friends of Children without Parental Care in their own way. “The Club has helped me with one of the most important issues in life. And not only me, but other children of similar destiny as well. Especially the younger children, who relieve their tension they feel towards social workers through various activities in the Club. I remember always being a little afraid when I was young and started coming to the Center. Now it is completely different. The joint activities organized by the Club help us overcome this. It is also important that we “older” ones who have grown up with foster parents feel that we are not forgotten and left to ourselves. Workshops are organized every week for children and families who have just entered the fostering programme. They go to excursions and concerts together. A group of children visited Italy thanks to an Italian NGO.

The Kraljevo example indicates a possible practical manner of implementing the recommendations laid out in the Poverty Reduction Strategy – deinstitutionalization in the first place, involvement of local level actors in the protection of the most vulnerable population, as well as the cooperation between state bodies, local government, non-government and business sectors.