Our non-profit organization bears the name of the founder of the Salesian Order, St. John Bosco, who dedicated his entire life to caring for poor and abandoned young people.
We care for those who have had to leave their own families or are at risk of doing so. They live in foster care or in children‘s homes. In their life stories, we encounter early trauma (neglect, abuse, maltreatment), unstable family backgrounds, problematic relationships, and compromised physical and mental health.
Each of the stories of the young people we help is specific and we approach them as such.
With a team of thirteen professional staff, since 2005 we have been creating a human place where they can come and share their concerns, problems and successes.
We prepare these young people in a long-term and systematic way so that they can successfully make the transition from foster care or residential care to independent living, without falling into any of the addictions, getting into debt or becoming homeless. Our goal is to support them as much as possible in establishing a functioning household and their own functional family.
What specifically do we offer?
The core of our work is primarily the social service of Accompaniment, which has long been lacking in the system of care for children who cannot live in a family in the Czech Republic.
In this service, each young person (client) has a permanent personal attendant who gradually becomes his or her close person, a trusted partner. Through Accompaniment we can help young people after leaving foster care or children‘s home to deal with difficult and risky life situations: finding housing and employment, relationship problems, debts or foreclosures or material need.
Every year, around 70 young people aged 14-35 are in contact with us in this way.
An important programme where we prepare young people to enter independent life is the Life Preparation Courses.
These are weekend stays for a group of about 10 young people aged 13-18. In the courses we focus on personal development (self-knowledge, self-confidence) and practical skills (employment, housing, money management, attitudes towards addictive substances, etc.), as well as on the equally important creation of trusting relationships on which we can rely in the future.
Each year we organise a total of 16-18 weekend programmes.
Twice a year we hold a Day for Children‘s Homes, a one-day event for about 40-50 young people from residential care aged 12 and over.
Again, we combine an educational and entertaining program. The aim of these Day for Children‘s Homes is first contact with our organisation, to get to know the team and the environment in which we work, so that the young people who later encounter our offer will have a better idea of „what they are getting into“.
For older clients who are already independent and often have their own families, we offer support in the On Your Own Feet programme.
We focus particularly on their partner and parenting roles so that their children don‘t also end up outside the family.
We also offer
- 3 so-called social flats with reduced rent;
- food and material assistance;
- small financial assistance in times of need.
Our sources of funding: public subsidies, foundation grants, private and corporate donors.
Contact
Salesiánský klub mládeže, z. s.
Centrum Don Bosco
Zborovské nám. 2018
Pardubice 530 02
Czech Republic
Mgr. Aleš Kalina
kalina
dozivota [dot] cz
00420 739 284 308