SOCIETY

CIVIL SOCIETY: 290 PRACTICES


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Initiative

Support Centre for Vulnerable Children, Young People and Families

Support Centre for Vulnerable Children, Young People and Families
SUBMITTED FROM:

HAMOGELO PAIDIOU

"The Smile of the Child" has supported more than 1,200,000 children and their families. Children victims of all forms of Violence, Children victims of Extinction, Children with health problems, Children who are or are threatened with poverty, have found a solution.



Objective Action

"The Smile of the Child" since its foundation has been actively supporting families with children, who for social reasons are vulnerable and unable to meet the basic needs of their children.

"The Smile of the Child" primarily with respect and absolute assurance of the dignity of each family, undertakes to stand by its side by supporting it holistically, thus ensuring its future.

The action is implemented by the Support Centre for Vulnerable Families, Children and Young People operated by the Agency.

The aim is the care and social integration of children and families.

 

Target Audience

The prevailing socio-economic conditions are steadily increasing the number of vulnerable families with children living in our country.

It is important to understand that vulnerable social groups, vulnerable or high-risk groups are defined as those groups of the population that have limited or no access to social and public goods and find it difficult or impossible at many levels and in various areas to have a quality of life (e.g. shelter, employment, adequate income, education, medical care, social security, etc.).

In fact, according to a survey designed and conducted by "The Smile of the Child" through the Child Welfare Observatory in Greece, which is operated by the Organization in cooperation with Panteion University:

  • 200,000 Children in our country face energy poverty and live in cold and damp homes
  • 100,000 children in our country are deprived of nutrition in quantitative and qualitative terms.
  • 1 in 7 children in the Region of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace face child poverty, a higher rate compared to the other regions
  • 1 in 8 children of large families face higher child poverty, compared to children from families that have one, two or three children
  • 1 in 12 primary school children face higher child poverty, compared to children in high school
  • 1 in 7 children of single-parent families with a mother, face higher child poverty, compared to children living in a single-parent family with a father or in a two-parent family
  • 1 in 11 children of refugees and migrants face higher child poverty, compared to children of Greek nationality
  • 1 in 9 children in the Region of Central Greece lack comfortable and safe living conditions (electricity, adequate and quality heating, internet, etc. etc.)
  • 1 in 4 children in the Region of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace lack adequate and quality nutrition

 

 

Duration

All year round


Description

The Support Centre for Vulnerable Families, Children and Youth operated by "The Smile of the Child" supports holistically vulnerable families with children nationwide, covering the following basic needs:

  • Material support with food and other essential items for each family (long-life food, fresh food, cleaning products, etc.)
  • Household goods and furniture, when needed
  • Educational support for children (remedial teaching, speech therapy, foreign language tutoring, etc. )
  • Psychological support for children and parents
  • Social support for children and parents (guidance, links with services, etc.)
  • Job counselling for parents and support in the job search process
  • Language training for foreigners and development of professional skills for parents

All the above services are designed and implemented by the specialised scientific team of "The Smile of the Child", employed nationwide at the Centre for the Support of Vulnerable Families, Children and Young People and staffed by Social Workers and Psychologists.

Each family comes by appointment to the nearest of the 15 points that "The Smile of the Child" operates within the framework of the Centre for the Support of Vulnerable Families, Children and Youth. The Social Workers proceed to take a full history and a detailed record of all the needs of the family and children. Necessary certificates are requested and obtained and the process of supporting families begins.

The 15 points are located at:

  • Attica (Maroussi, Ilion, Nea Makri)
  • Thessaloniki
  • Patras
  • Pyrgos
  • Korinthos
  • Chalkida
  • Corfu
  • Chania
  • Heraklion
  • Rethymnon
  • Larissa
  • Kavala
  • Mytilene

While working with and supporting the family:

  • our Social Workers and Psychologists carry out home visits in order to have a complete picture of the conditions in which the families live.
  • Psychologists provide counselling and psychological support to the family members
  • specific appointments are set for the collection of food and other items

It is important to stress that:

  • The process of supporting families is multifaceted, requires specialisation and is considered successful when it is completed within a reasonable timeframe, of course, taking into account specific criteria and evaluation.
  • Each family has a specific Social Worker or Psychologist as a person of reference and cooperation, in order to strengthen the feeling of trust and cooperation and to maintain an "open line of communication" between them to cover both stable and extraordinary or new needs
  • The basic rule for "The Smile of the Child" is the fact that each family is different and depending on its needs, the support provided to it is adapted.

The items are secured by the Agency through constant and seasonal mobilisation:

  • Businesses
  • Individuals
  • Schools
  • Associations etc.

On the basis of specific needs, lists of all necessary items are published:

  • Food
  • Clothing & footwear
  • School supplies
  • Toys
  • Medicines
  • Personal hygiene items
  • Specialized items (e.g. for infants) etc.

Storage & Management of items

Storage and management of items is carried out at the Organisation's Support Centres. All premises meet all safety and hygiene standards for the collection, storage & distribution of goods.

Transport of goods

‘The Smile of the Child’ has vehicles that meet all safety and hygiene standards for the transport of goods (refrigerated trucks, specialized refrigerators for the transport of medicines, etc.)


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Impact on Society

During the period from 1/1/2024 to 31/12/2024 the Centre for the Support of Vulnerable Children, Youth and Families responded to the request for in-kind support:

  • 3,027 families 
  • 83 institutions of which 33 were exclusively related to the refugee population

Of the total number of families:

  • 756 (25.00%) came to the service for the first time (new families)
  • 2,271 (75.00%) were served from previous years (old families)

Of the 756 new families:

  • 587 (77.6 %) came through private initiative
  • 169 (22.4 %) came through referral from other agencies and services

Of the total number of families:

  • 15.00% involved large families (453)
  • 41.5% involved single-parent families (1,257)
  • 67.2% involved families with unemployed parents or employment in precarious work (2,033).

The total number of children served was 15,402 children.

It is important to note that the 2024 Support Centre for Vulnerable Children, Young People and Families:

  • Met 15,827 requests for material support (food, clothing, toys, baby items, furniture, etc.)
  • Referred 469 families to the Health Services Center
  • Referred 1,131 clients served to the SOS1056 Hotline to speak with a counselor
  • Responded to 5,528 requests, referrals, connections, educational and social needs
  • Conducted 2,488 hours of counseling

 



Initiative Location

Nationwide and with physical presence in 

The 15 points are located in:

  • Attica (Maroussi, Ilion, Nea Makri)
  • Thessaloniki
  • Patras
  • Pyrgos
  • Korinthos
  • Chalkida
  • Corfu
  • Chania
  • Heraklion
  • Rethymnon
  • Larissa
  • Kavala
  • Mytilene

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Working with Organization

The most important partnerships of the Agency for the design and implementation of support programmes for vulnerable families

  • Cooperation agreements with the Regions throughout the country with reference and provision for the implementation of actions to support vulnerable families
  • Cooperation agreement with the Central Union of Municipalities of Greece with reference and provision for the implementation of actions to support vulnerable families
  • Cooperation agreements with dozens of municipalities nationwide with reference and provision for the implementation of actions to support vulnerable families
  • Cooperation agreement with the General Secretariat for Family Policy and Isot

In addition, "The Smile of the Child" in 2022 created and operates the Child Welfare Observatory in Greece in cooperation with Panteion University.

"The Smile of the Child", as a member of the European Eurochild Network, participates in a special Taskforce on the Child Guarantee, together with other Eurochild member organisations specialised in advocacy to national governments and focused on promoting the implementation of the Guarantee in their country.


More...…

Workers Participation


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