Youth communities - SOS Children’s Villages Albania

Youth Communities

Youth communities are located in Tirana. They are youth programs where young persons are supported with education and trainings, professional courses, accommodation, head started programmes and follow up guidance. 12 youth leader support youngsters to be independent in their life with preparation programs in different areas. Youth Communities in Albania are registered officially as “Family home type for the group age 16-18, based on legal framework (Decision of Counsel of Ministers issued on 2017). Youth care is remodeled recently in small group units/subgroups for a better-quality provision and for a better conformity with national standards, which require small unit family type for young people in alternative care services. There are two communities: one community recently remodeled into 3 groups/units with 4(four) young people for each unit. The other community is organized as two units with a max of 6 Young people per unit.

We also ensure that children and young people have access to quality education. According to their age and stage of development, we support them to acquire a wide variety of skills, which also strengthens their employability. Education is not limited to academic studies, and we also empower youth through vocational courses to support. This support includes encouraging children to develop life skills and competences. As children grow to become young adults, they learn to take increasing responsibility for the decisions in their lives. We promote the employability of young people in our target group by engaging with public authority, decision-makers and partners. We make sure that those in our programme can benefit from a range of support measures such as career coaching or internships.

For children in our direct care, we make the transition from alternative care to independent life as smooth as possible, through a tailored and participatory leaving care process. Whether a young person moves to youth care or stays within an SOS family, the decision is made in a participatory process, involving the young person. The choice is considered from every perspective and based on the maturity, aspirations and best interests of the young person. Once a young person has left our care, we offer clearly defined after-care support for relevant areas of their life. Thus, after-care support will be limited to specific areas of need and will decrease over time. We make sure that young people can maintain life-long family ties and seek support from their SOS families after they have left care.

The main objective of youth care is to support children, young people and families so that every child develops within caring family environment to his/her full potentials and that he/she is able to become a self-supporting and contributing member of society.

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