Robinson Crusoe Foundation

Barcelona 04.05.2017

Robinson Crusoe Foundation

Who we are

Our approach

The structure

• Started by tutors and psychologists with experience in working with youth from different

backgrounds

• Since 2002 we've been supporting young people from institutional care aged 17-24 in their

way to self-reliance

• We are located in Warsaw but we run our programs all over the country

• We have 5 project coordinators in Warsaw cooperating with 25 consultants in other cities

• We perceive self-reliance as the key competence which determines all the other life skills

• We developed and run our own practical programs dedicated to teenagers, helping them

to function and find their constructive role in society after leaving their care institution

• We focus on 5 areas: vocational issues, economy, law, health education, social and

communication skills

What is foster care in Poland?

Foster care in Poland entails care for a minor whose parents do not fulfil their

protective and educational roles.

Care for a child becomes the responsibility of specialised institutions, aiming to

satisfy the child’s existential, social and emotional needs.

At the end of the 90s, foster care system reform was introduced.

Comprehensive family assistance was established which would allow the child

to function within the family.

Re-integration of families became the priority

Putting a child in foster care became only one of many available options.

Different types of foster care were introduced

The capacity of care providing institutions was reduced.

institutional care 19 229

9 063 girls 10 166 boys

10% adults in education

family foster care 57 422

20 405 girls 37 017 boys

15% adults in education

25,9% in age 15-24 is in work

Wards in Foster care

Foster Care Structure

Foster care structure in Poland

The organizational units responsible for

family support and the foster care system

The structure

Branches of local government :

County Centre for Family Support (CCFS)

Municipal Centres for Family Support (MCFS)

• organize the foster care system

• run both family and institutional care facilities

Adoption centres, regional care facilities and pre-adoptive intervention

centres are managed by county authorities

creating and implementing 3-year plans for counties on how to develop foster

care, which includes the yearly limit for professional foster families

providing children with foster care

supporting individuals who are in the process of leaving foster care and

becoming independent

creating conditions for new foster families, foster homes and assistant

families to emerge and function

running care and education centres

organizing and funding workshops for those who will be working with children

and youth from foster care

organizing support for family foster care, for example specialist counselling

financing benefits for foster care, the process of becoming independent and

workshops for those who will be working in foster care

Tasks of the local authority:

age of 18 to 26

wards enter independent

adulthood, integrated into their environment

one year prior tocoming of age

choose an Independence

Assistant

No less than a month before coming of age

drafts the

Individual Independence

Program

Process of gaining independence

Covers all aspects of attaining independence important to the future of the minor.

It outlines each step and the scope of cooperation between them and their

assistant, including the following:

the means of receiving an education or professional qualifications

gaining employment

obtaining adequate housing

obtaining adequate benefits (means to gain independence, homemaking,

continue education)

establishing a timeframe for their realisation

The program is approved by the head of CCFS and becomes the basis for

application for appropriate benefits.

Individual Independence Program

A minor is entitled to foster care until the age of majority.

A ward leaves the facility on turning 18.

However, a ward may stay at the facility until they are 25

provided that they continue their education and the foster

family, foster home or the head of the facility agrees.

After leaving foster care, a ward can be housed in

council apartment,

public housing

halfway house on preferential conditions

move into their family home.

Housing

Robinson Crusoe Foundation

Who we work with

We work with young people from substitute care (state-owned orphanages,

foster families, family orphanages), threatened with social exclusion

We develop and run programs which support making a successful transition

from institutional care to independent living

Young people leaving care institutions in Poland struggle with:

very low financial support from the state

difficulties with accommodation

lack of consistent law regarding self-reliance

lack of relevant support from social workers due to overload of administrative

duties

very poor cooperation between different social care institutions – no clear roles

low quality of vocational training courses and internships

negative employment practices

Our working methods

Robinson Crusoe Foundation

What we do

Working with youth:

Self-relianceVehicles,

workshops

Training stuffand socialworkers

Research of self-reliance effectiveness

Innovativetools for self-

reliance

Long term approach and programs; we focus on processes not on single act

We build relations, bonds and friendship

We create diversified and open environment outside of care institutions

'Vehicle of Self-reliance' as the main educational tool

'Robinsons' build the community based on the common practices and mutually motivating

effect of “copying the best”

Activating and engaging local communities, business, authorities and youth professionals

Our working methods

Robinson Crusoe Foundation

What we do

Robinson Crusoe Foundation

Educational stream – economy program example

SimulationGame ‘Robinson on Plus’

Workshop Robinson'sEconomy

Handbookon economy‘Ekonomia Robinsona’

SimulationGame ‘Robinson on his own’

‘SafeInternship’ program

Food for Good

Robinson Crusoe Foundation

Educational triangle

Simulation

gamesWorkshops

Self-reliance handbooks

Long-term program addressed to ‘Robinsons’ aged 17-24

‘Robinsons’ meet on a regular basis - every 2 weeks - and

learn communication skills, practical knowledge such as

personal finance, computers, entrepreneurship whilst

getting emotional support at the same time

Syllabus is always adjusted to the group’s needs

Vehicles operate in local environment and are managed

by local consultants trained by the Foundation

We work in mixed and diversified groups gathering youth

from different institutions

Networking and cooperation between young people from

different cities

Robinson Crusoe Foundation

Vehicle for Self-Reliance

The Vehicle of self-reliance in Wroclaw

Robinson’s summer and winter workshops on self-reliance

Contract

Grant

Robinson Crusoe Foundation

Innovative programs

Educational

Games

Robinson Crusoe Foundation

Safe internship program and portal

Robinson Crusoe Foundation

Food 4 Good social enterprise

producing gingerbread

• We train local self-reliance practitioners; orphanage workers, foster parents,

social workers and self-reliance assistants

• Training courses consist of three main topics:

1) Work on beliefs and values – definition of self-reliance? What may be

the support in self-reliance? What are the limits of support? What is my

role in this process?

2) Learning and exercising techniques of self reliance – coaching

(eg. working on goals), communication skills, assertiveness,

paper work.

3) Exchange of experience, case studies.

Robinson Crusoe Foundation

Training courses for self-reliance

practitioners

we create a library of self reliance practice on paper and digital :

• The General Guide (v1 and v2)

• The Economy Guide

• The Guide of Health

• The Guide of Law

Robinson Crusoe Foundation

The Guides fo achieving self-reliance

THANK YOU!

www.fundacjarobinson.org.pl

www.samodzielni.pl

Biuro fundacji: Warszawa ul Różana 19/8

Tel 22 401 14 13