Regional Public Organization of Volunteers of Samara Region “House of Childhood”
"Support Services"
Main values
Geography: Samara Oblast
CSS contribution, rubles
Total budget, rubles
Implementation period, months
Project idea
The Support Services Project will be the inaugural comprehensive initiative aimed at assisting families facing challenging life situations, with the goal of preventing children from becoming social orphans in Samara Region.
The work will be conducted in two primary areas:
Full support provided to 10 families in crisis. The team of family specialists will comprise a social counselor, a psychologist, and a lawyer. A personalized development plan will be crafted for each family. The plan may vary depending on the family's circumstances and could include:
Home improvement: from basic cleaning techniques to renovation projects.
Parental employment.
Assistance with processing benefits, resolving housing disputes, and addressing other potential legal issues, as well as representing the family's interests in court.
Fostering family rapport.
Classes for child development, lectures on parenting for parents.
Support for 40 families through social patronage. There will be no active case work with this group; however, the families will remain under the observation of the social counselor and will receive specialized assistance.
The project will feature sessions with a psychologist focused on child-rearing, support groups for parents and guardians, and developmental activities for children facing challenging life situations. Childcare services will be provided, allowing parents to entrust their children to qualified professionals while attending job interviews, medical appointments, handling official matters, and so on.
Relevance
According to the Russian Federation's Ministry of Education, as of March 1, 2020, there were 44,303 orphans and children lacking parental care in Russia.
Up to 80% of them are social orphans. The parents of these children are indeed alive but cannot cope with their responsibilities. Among the causes of social orphanhood in the Volga Federal District are parental neglect of responsibilities (25%) and challenging financial circumstances (11.9%) (Research on the Causes of Social Orphanhood, Timchenko Foundation, 2019). In Samara Region, families with children constitute 89.5% of all households living in poverty. Upon recalculating the population figures, it has been determined that 364,000 individuals in the region live in impoverished households.
The entry of a family into a challenging life situation is never the consequence of an isolated, random incident. Children most commonly find themselves in orphanages due to various psychological, social, and financial challenges within their families.
The proposed project holds significant relevance for the region and aims to assist families facing challenging circumstances before their problems escalate.
Social effect
Prevention of social orphanhood in Samara city and Samara Region.
KPI
KPI
Project Results
The project has enabled children to remain with their families: over 90% of the children in the project group continue to reside and thrive within their family environments. Children from two families, who were temporarily placed in crisis centers, have returned home.
Several participants have notably enhanced their living conditions by purchasing or renovating homes and securing employment. The project's humanitarian aid provided relief to the family's budget.
The project also positively influenced the psychological atmosphere within families, taught parents effective life planning skills, and fostered the development of independent problem-solving abilities. Parents have grown increasingly literate in financial and legal matters. The enhancement of parenting skills has enabled parents to become more responsive to their children's needs and to navigate challenges autonomously.
The social counselor's meetings with families were fewer than anticipated; some sessions, owing to COVID-19 restrictions, were substituted with telephone conversations. Group sessions with a psychologist failed to elicit an appropriate response from the participating families, likely due to a prevailing mistrust of others rather than an absence of need for psychological support. Consequently, the psychologist was more effective in in-person sessions
Project progress after CSS funding
The project's endeavors, as well as the overall efforts of the foundation, are sustained by contributions from individuals. This assistance is provided through both volunteer efforts, such as assembling food parcels and delivering them to recipients as required, and through financial aid.
The number of families within the purview of a social counselor who receive financial assistance is steadily increasing. Approximately 70 families are expected to receive support by July 2022. Plans are also underway to establish a comprehensive parents' club, which will include monthly meetings for families in challenging life situations, as well as the development of a "Mentor School" for volunteers eager to support these families alongside the project team. Given that Samara Region lacks projects offering comprehensive support to families in challenging life situations, it is crucial to exchange expertise at the regional level.
