Family Type Placement for Children “Small Group Homes” looks for young people (18-30 years old) from Germany who are open-minded and want to make a change through helping those in need and also – learn a new language. The organization aims to provide a temporary home to vulnerable children, also to children who are without family, who need social and pedagogical rehabilitation. The main objective is to offer a temporary home for children who are to be reintegrated into their birth family or to be placed in a foster care family. The volunteers will benefit from intercultural exchange, will give new inputs and ideas and will be offered an opportunity to get an impression of the work in Moldova. The volunteers will take part in a series of excursions around Moldova, will get to know Moldovan culture, traditions and language.
DEADLINE: ongoing
LOCATIONS: Chisinau, Moldova
DURATION: 1 year
START DATE: date negotiable
About the organisation:
Family Type Placement for Children “Small Group Hommes” aims to provide a temporary home to vulnerable children, also to children who are without family, who need social and pedagogical rehabilitation. The placement lasts until the childrens’ reintegration with their biological or extended families. If this is not possible an alternative placement is identified. The main objective is to offer a temporary home for children who are to be reintegrated into their birth family or to be placed in a foster care family. The age of the children is from 3 – 18 years. The Center provides social services for the beneficiaries, to develop the abilities for independent life and selfcare. Also, the children are encouraged to participate in the day to day routine and household, as well in other activities. The Center was opened in Chisinau in 1999 and is the first Center of this type in the Republic of Moldova. We have specialized staff such as: educators for night shifts, 2 social workers, 2 day educators that take care of the children, help them to do their homeworks, a speach therapist, a psychologist, a medical assistant and manager.
The Placement Centre for Children “Small Group Homes” is situated in the capital of Moldova – Chisinau. Chisinau is the main administrative, economic, scientific and cultural centre of Moldova. The city has just over 700,000 inhabitants and the whole metropolitan area is roughly one million inhabitants. In terms of number of inhabitants, Chisinau is the largest city of the country. Chisinau is divided in five administrative sectors; Botanica, Buiucani, Center, Ciocana and Riscani. It is often referred to as the greenest city in Europe due to the high proportion of well maintained green spaces. The centre is situated at Telecentru district and provides a temporary family type facility for 20 children, who are assessed and placed here from institutions. The youngest age group is 3-12 years. One group is designed for children with disabilities. The categories of children – beneficiaries of the SGH- are very different and depend on complexity of their problems. Public transport system is working well, it’s easy to access the Centre by any mean of public transport and from different parts of Chisinau. Near by the center there are big and small stores, caffes where volunteer can also have the lunch break.
Volunteer(s) will live in a host family or volunteer’s flat with shared kitchen, toilet and bathroom, volunteer will have his/ her own room. Also volunteer(s) will have access to the land line phone in their accommodation. Internet can be accessed in the internet cafe and wifi spots in the city, also most of volunteer’s flats have Internet access at individual basis. Depending on the district of the city where volunteer(s) will live he/she can reach the center by foot or by public transportation. Volunteer(s) will receive pocket money, food and local transportation allowances from ADVIT Moldova (EVS contact point organization). Normally volunteer(s) is/are picked up by the mentor(s) and is brought to the place of the accommodation.
For better adaptation ADVIT Moldova provides volunteer(s) with on-arrival meeting, volunteer(s) receive language support meetings, and are enrolled to on-arrival training and mid-term meeting. ADVIT also arranges first meeting at the SGH in order to get to know the environment, staff, activities, and also to discuss rights and responsibilities of the volunteer(s) and the schedule of volunteer’s working week. At the SGH volunteer(s) will be supported by his/her supervisor, who will help him/her to find his/her place in the organization, supervisor is the person that will answer all the questions that a volunteer will have. Volunteer stays in touch with all the staff members that will help him/her in realization of activities.
Main goal of the Centre is to develop a family – house atmosphere for children. Every day there is a specific schedule that is respected. Approximately it looks like: morning: get up, preparing for school, clean the bed, go to school; noon: come from school, lunch, sleep; after-noon: do homeworks, free-time – interest clubs, dinner, cleaning the rooms, prepare for bed; in the week-end day children have more free time and in the centre it is organized some recreational activities.
Volunteer’s role, especially in the beginning till volunteer will learn Romanian language, will be assisting the social workers in taking care of the children, bring children from school, help with homework, help with cleaning or other housework. After learning the language volunteer will organize leisure time for children. They will play different games, go for walks together and work in the interest clubs after school. Together they will perform the art and cultural projects. The volunteers will be given an opportunity to bring their own ideas to the project.
The project should develop an intercultural bridge for the children and support their ability of the communication and positive thinking. It is a great chance for the children to learn more about other countries and different cultures and traditions. During the project the children will have a possibility to open and express themselves and develop their skills and talents. Through constant communication with Moldovan children and the staff, playing national games, singing songs, telling tales etc., the volunteers will receive a unique opportunity to get to know Moldovan culture and probably to discover something new in their own culture by looking at it from another perspective. Dealing with children in the centre, the volunteers will improve their social and communication skills, develop knowledge, hobbies and interests in variety of fields (like handcrafts, dancing, singing etc.) and finally will receive a valuable experience in social work.
The volunteers will work mainly with the age group 6-12. Their main tasks will be:
– playing with the children, using his /her creativity and games he/she knows
– assisting the children with their daily needs and responsibilities
– picking up children from the school
– read stories and songs in easy language
– organize painting and crafts workshops
– helping centre’s staff in cleaning, laundering and cooking for children
The volunteer tasks will be revised upon volunteer arrival according to the current activities of the organization and motivation and abilities of the volunteer. Volunteer also will be asked to work during the weekend, he/she will be allocated day off during the week.
Recruitment requirements:
The main criteria is patience, according to small children and their needs, open-heart, kindness and desire to work with children. Motivation to learn the local language is highly appreciated.
About ADVIT – Contact Point:
ADVIT is the Contact Point Organization that coordinates volunteers in different Hosting Organizations. During the volunteer’s stay in Moldova, ADVIT takes care of the administrational tasks connected to living abroad and helps with many specific or unforeseen situations. ADVIT will take care of the following aspects for the volunteer stay: accommodation in a host family or a volunteer’s flat with shared kitchen, toilet and bathroom, where each volunteer will have his/ her own room; pocket money; food money; transport money; language lessons, mentor; meeting the volunteer at the airport; on-arrival meeting; communication with sending and hosting organizations; any issue that the volunteer has to deal during his/her stay abroad, temporary residence permit matters.
Send your CV and a short motivation letter describing your involvement with vulnerable children to ADVIT Moldova: advit_ewb@yahoo.com.
For more information please contact ADVIT Moldova as well: advit_ewb@yahoo.com