Youth care centre Malči Belič Ljubljana(1929)
- Home for Youngsters is a Slovenian non-profit Centre in the domain of the Ministry of School, Science and Sport
- The Centre educates children and youngsters with emotional and behavioural problems, as well as those with learning disabilities (children with special needs)
- Institution offers and assures complete care, 24 hours per day, throughout the year, for its inhabitants
YOUNGSTERS ADMITTED IN OUR THREATMENT ARE:
- Socially and development threatened
- Mostly emotionally handicapped
- Educationally neglected
- They have specifical learning problems, low motivation, great deficits and they are restless
- They have a low self-image, minimal expectations, wishes and aims, bad opinion of adults and authorities and bad experience with them
THE MOST FREQUENT REASONS FOR THEIR ACCOMODATION
- Educational weakness and parental incapacity to provide for their children
- Destructive family or partnership relations
- Children´s educational carelessness
- Alcohol abuse among members of the families
- Sexual abuse (or suspicions of such an offense)
- Running away from home
- Learning difficulties, bad working habits
THE MOST FREQUENT REASONS FOR THEIR ACCOMODATION (more)
- Housing problems
- Materially threatened families
- Neglecting fostering relations
- Children´s manners problems
- Others (ilness or sudden death one of the parents or guardians; parents are leaving abroad, perhaps they are going to prison, they are hospitalised, etc.)
ABOUT THE CENTRE
- Centre provides shelter for both sexes, aged between 6-17, which are included in primary (or secundary) schools
- The Centre is a composition of a three wings building, there are two educational groups (families) in each wing
- We have six groups with 10 inhabitants altogether
- Capacity of the Centre is 60 inhabitants maximum
ADMISSION CRITERIA
- Youngsters come from all over the state, exclusively with decision of the Centre for social work
- Inhabitants must express their free will to come into Centre (define the goals of their accomodation)
- Their duty (our expectations) is considered the house rules, attending the school and school´s obligations
MAIN TARGETS OF OUR EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMMES
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Integration (inclusion) of our inhabitants in all common regular activities at the levels of normal life, successfully as they can
CONSIDER THESE OBJECTIVES
- Social welfare and health objectives (prevention)
- Educational learning objectives (provision of school performance and overall education)
- Compenstation objectives (replacement late into child´s development)
- Personally and socially integrative focus (modify/elimination unacceptable social behavior, attitudes, habits, relations; develop a sense of self-worth, raise self – esteem )
EDUACTIONAL GROUP/FAMILY
- Residental group, includes children and youngsters aged between 6-17
- 10 members maximum, 6 educational groups at the Centre
- Open social unit, which receives new members, when the individuals leaves the institute
- Admissions (dismissals) take place all over the year
- Educational group based on a family model, lead by parent educator
GROUP CHARACTERISTICS
- Groups are heterogeneous with regard to gender, age, complexity, interests, abilities
- Each group led two parental educators (tutors) which representing a character´s mother and father in the family
- Group is completely autonomous unit; children and their tutors together planned and carried out daily (weekly) residential activities
EDUCATOR
- Is a completly expertize person, professional pedagogue in the relationships versus children, their parents and other subjects
- He is responsible for each member of his group
- Takes care for children´s healthy life and safety
- Cooperate in the learning process, keep contacts with schools
- Menthor, group/family leader, animator, motivator, performer all activities in free time
- Teacher and adviser for youngsters by daily activities, solving problems
- By his professional work he is totally indenpendent, for consequences his decisions is responsible to the principal
OTHER PROFESSIONALS
- Educational institutes employs other professionals like social workers, psychologs, somewhere nurse or medical staff
- External experts are mostly specialists (doctors, pediatricians, psychiatrist, defectologists, speech therapists…)
- Important educational factors are also school teachers, children´s relatives, their friends, and all other members of society in which are our inhabitants involved
Strenghts and weaknesses of the family model of education
- Younger children learn from older
- Precise division of roles between group members
- Organisation of team work
- Structured leisure activities
- Opportunity to learn about the diversity of relationships between sexes, parental roles, members in the group
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Needs of the elderly are different than needs of the younger children
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Friction and conflicts between them
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Oldest are often non active by group activities
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House rules is adapted to younger resistants
FREE TIME ACTIVITIES MOST IMPORTANT PROJECTS
FREE TIME ACTIVITIES
- Organised in (out) the Centre
- football
- basketball
- chess
- swimming
- judo
- aikido
- dancing
- joga meditation
- music workshops
- arts
- puppets
- scouts
- firemans
- religion
- others
PROJECTS
- weekend programmes
- sailing/ peacefull fleet “calm sea”
- all over year project “sun into the heart”
- skiing among the winter holidays
- project “with heart to heart”
- excursions
- weekend on the st.nicklas day
- “ex tempore” višnja gora
- 10 days at the sea during summer
- 7 days in lastovo (lighthouse)
- vacations on ranch kaja&grom
- weekend at the touristic farm
- arts workshops at stavča vas
- by foot from ljubljana to triglav
- trip from ljubljana to maribor
- fall trip sarajevo
- excursion at the end of school year
- week at the balaton lake
- christmas hollidays in banja luka
MOST IMPORTANT PROJECTS
International exchange
- Culture festival CSIPERO – Hungary/Kecskemet
- European Sport Championship for youngsters from Youth Care Centres from Eastern Europe – Hungary /Kecskemet
- International exchange project for institutes from Ex Yugoslavia (Banja Luka, Bijela)
Strenghts and weaknesses of the family model of education
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Home for Youngsters and institutional education are part of the system, which are represent many of facts (family, social care institutes, societies, clubs) of society and our environment
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Through the look of the child, Home is very important life space
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Home is represent whole process where individuals can get more experiences for their further living, on their social, emotional, behavioural level
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We take care for good educated professionals and other employees, for quality organization of our work, all kind of activities for our childrens goods
- We believe that our inhabitants could choose for themselves all what they need in the frame of safety, structural, warm and encourage communiuty, which we can offer them
