Strengthening Families at risk - SOS Children’s Villages Albania

Prevention Services for vulnerable

It is in a child’s best interests to remain with the family of origin as long as the family is providing adequate care. In partnership with community organizations and government, we work to strengthen vulnerable families in order to prevent family breakdown and separation of children from their families. In family strengthening, we also work with kinship care, where children are supported to live with their extended family

Family strengthening services are an integral part of SOS Children’s Villages. Children need someone to stand by them, no matter what, but families can become vulnerable due to a combination of risk factors that are direct and indirect consequences of the social, cultural, economic and physical environments in which they live. Examples are few opportunities to earn a living, no affordable housing, conflict and war. These situations are exacerbated when families have limited or no access to support services such as social security, inclusive education, health systems, adequate infrastructure, and supportive social networks.

Factors increasing the risk of family breakdown and separation of children from their families vary from one community setting to another. A nurturing and trustworthy relationship is the cornerstone of the kind of family environment we envision for every child and young person. We work directly with families who are at risk of breaking down to ensure that they have the support they need to provide their children with these strong bonds. Strengthening and preserving families is seen as the best way to promote the healthy development of children

Within the focus are those families socio-economic marginalized, characterized by high poverty level, domestic violence situations and children are at risk to live in long-term poverty due to low level of income made by parents, inadequate housing conditions, and poor access to basic services.

SOS Children Villages in Albania supports children and families through implementing Family Strengthening Services in Tirana (area of Sauk since 2005 and Don Bosko since 2007) and in Shkoder (since 2008). Our services are run in strong partnership with other stakeholders (government, service providers, volunteers etc.) to address the complex and multidimensional problems faced by children at risk of losing parental care as well as to have a greater impact on the lives of their families.

Family Strengthening services in Albania work is tackling all three levels of prevention by following the two approaches to family strengthening:

More specific, we are providing a package of services:

How we help families stay together

In our direct work with families and extended families, we offer a range of services, such as:

We work with communities, local municipalities and national governments to implement measures that prevent children and young people from losing parental care and that strengthen and stabilize families, including during emergencies.

Results of Family Strengthening work activities with families are mainly visible on two levels:

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