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Actions to support children

« Christmas in the Family

Centre »

This year’s Christmas celebrations were, once

again, a chance to meet the children and their

families. At this time of the year, there is magic and

mystery, fascination and impatience, common

activities and community spirit. As ever, we respect

and encourage joint activities that organise, bring

people together in cohesion, and give them

encouragement before the full-fledged cold season.

The new Family centre was decorated with

the Christmas tree adorned with the children, creating

a fairy tale atmosphere.

There are many reasons why we love

Christmas and one of them is the joy we see in

children’s eyes. It is wonderful to be a child, to enjoy

the magic of holidays, to tremble with excitement in

the expectation of Santa, to cry with joy that the long-

awaited gift lies there, under the fir tree. It is just as

wonderful to be an adult and to bring a little bit of

"Christmas" to the less lucky kids.

In a new setting, on the first Christmas in the

new Family Centre, 31 children came wassailling and

sang in joyful celebration. To each child, Santa

offered beautiful and long-awaited gifts. Santa left

the Centre happy and moved, carrying back with him

wide smiles, good cheer and the request to return next

year as well.

Asociația “Sprijinirea Integrării Sociale”

Newsletter no.10/ 2019

Ideas, projects, social assistance and family support

programmes

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Family Counselling – On Parenting

Emotion Management “ I have learned that, when I'm upset, I have the right to be

upset, but I have no right to be mean.” – Octavian Paler

The subject of "emotion management" was

introduced in our work with all of our clients,

regardless of age, in the counselling and support

activities for parents. This is a vast subject, as people

are still reluctant to speak openly about anger and

sadness and used to rather to display "positive"

emotions (emotions are not positive or negative in

themselves, but we call them so in order to

understand them, whereas they are what we feel in

response to a certain situation).

In working with children, the psychologist of

the Family Centre opened this topic in several stages.

He first chose a set of cards called the ABC of

Happiness (created by psychologist Irina Ruxandra

Popa), a tool used to introduce the 5 basic emotions:

Anger, Happiness, Fear, Sadness, Disgust. Then,

funny questions bring up a talk about the last time one

got scared, participants imitate someone who

receives an unexpected gift and someone who feels

very angry.

The next step is to locate that emotion in the

body. What are the dominant sensations when, for

instance:

- a school test is coming (do palms sweat or

do we feel a pit in the stomach?)

- how is our stance when we walk to the park

and how is it when we walk to the doctor to be given

a vaccine?

- if someone in the room yells, do certain parts

of our body become more tense?

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Generally, children respond positively to this

approach because the message is the same from the

beginning to the end: all people have emotions, it is

natural and normal to become angry, for instance, but

also to learn how to effectively manage our anger so

that we do not hurt us or others.

Together, we then identify the thoughts that

accompany the emotions, we talk about the inner

dialogue, and find out the great "secret" that we

wanted to learn from the very beginning: if we change

the thoughts and the posture of the body, the emotion

will change. All of this is done with the constantly

present and constantly reinforced idea that emotions

are normal and we can accept and even embrace them

without judgment. Because, when we fight them, our

emotions become stronger and harder to manage.

During the parenting counseling, as a support

for their everyday life, parents were encouraged to

give more weight to the children's programme.

Efficient management of emotions is closely related

to rest, exercise and nutrition and, at the same time,

children need a special play time and quality time

with an emotionally available parent.

The most important feedback received from

clients was that most children are doing this

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"workout" at home and that parents were surprised by

the ease with which children talk about the emotional

side of life. Children acquire the necessary language

and talk to parents about how they got angry in

school, about how they overcame the situation by

following the steps listed above or they ask their

parents information about their childhood

experiences,

Social assistance for families in difficulty – a

systemic approach, integrated support, cross-

institutional collaboration

Between October and December 2018, the

Family Centre implemented intervention plans for a

total of 7 families, so we currently work actively with

23 families that reside in Sector 6. Additionally, we

continue the intervention with 3 families in sector 5

who need to be accompanied in order to achieve

psychosocial objectives.

Our work with 9 families is carried out in close

collaboration with the Directorate for Child

Protection sector 6. According to the collaboration

protocol, the social workers collaborate in joint cases,

draw the intervention plan together with ASIS and

aim to follow up on its implementation without

doubling their actions.

The Convention requires that social workers

inform one another about the progress, the work done

and that they support one another whenever the

competence of a department does not cover the

objectives of the action plan. Cross collaboration

among departments has the advantage of solving the

needs of the common beneficiaries in a quicker and

more efficient manner, acting synergistically to

implement the specific intervention plans. Progress

has been made in solving the procurement of legal

documents and of legal rights (largely through the

targeted intervention of the Child Protection

Directorate sector 6). Progress has also been made in

meeting the need for counselling, guidance and

mediation of the beneficiary families (the social

workers in the Family Centre were more active in this

area).

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The Professionals’ Café

The third quarter started with a series of

working meetings between ASIS workers and the

social workers of DGASPC sector 6. They discussed

the prevention of maltreatment and violence in

schools. A working and intervention group has been

formed, that contains specialists from DGASPC

Sector 6, ANA and the Local Police Sector 6.

In December 2018, the first workshop was

held in the framework of the Professionals' Cafe

project, at ASIS headquarters.

This project aims to create a unitary system of

intervention in favor of the child. Its beneficiaries are

professionals from the social assistance service -

child protection.

The first workshop was attended by 13 specialists

(DGASPC, ASIS). The working methods used were

games of knowledge, brainstorming, discussion and

teamwork have been used. The group was proactive

and they participated.

Together, we achieved the set objectives, namely

identification and establishment of the discussion

themes for the following meetings: personal

resources management, motivation (for beneficiaries

and professionals), communication (with

beneficiaries, colleagues, the network) that will be

approached through story telling in social work,

resilience in social services (resilience factors for

children and for the personnel), child maltreatment

(such as how to identify an ill-treated child, how we

should work with him), instruments and methods for

the work in social services for victim assistance and

for support to victims of violence in the family.

The purpose of this cooperation and analysis of the

professional practice has been conceived on the basis

of a protocol for collaboration, intervention and

promotion of good practices, that was agreed between

ASIS and DGASPC sector 6. This activity also meets

the expressed need to provide space for analysis of

the practice of professionals in both organizations

who implement social intervention programmes to

help families in difficulty.

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Children’s Rights Festival – The Forum of

Children and Youths

The Forum of Children and Youths is

developed within the "Children’s Rights Festival"

project, implemented by the Federation of the Non-

Governmental Organizations for Children (FONPC),

in partnership with United Way Romania

Foundation. The forum is also supported by the

National Authority for the Protection of Children's

Rights and Adoption (A.N.P.D.C.A) and by Terre des

Hommes Foundation (TdH) Switzerland.

The FONPC Awards in Romania are

organized every year, and it presents new laureate

specialists, with outstanding merits and numerous

successes in child protection work. For seven years

now, the laureate gala has been organised at the

initiative and with the support of the Polish Institute

in Bucharest, under the name of Janusz Korczak

(1878-1942), the pedagogue who advanced his times

through a modern approach of child education.

The year 2018 stands out by two notable

events in the history of the two countries: the

centenary of Poland's independence and the

centennial of the Great Union of Romania. This

favoured the organisation of an exceptional gala,

compared to the ones in the past years. The ninth gala

was special due to the outstanding participants who

dedicated their career to child protection and to

children’s rights, and also due to an exceptional

organisation in the Media Hall of the National

Theatre in Bucharest.

The promotion of an adequate framework

where children can express themselves and

demonstrate their acting or vocal skills was presented

to the public on the evening of 22.11.2018, by

children representatives of the Music Theatre of

Bucharest. The moment was a life lesson for the

representatives of the civil society, with strong

emotionally-charged replicas with a national impact.

At the annual gala for the promotion and protection

of children's rights, special awards were also given to

honour the work of the specialists dedicated to the

profession and the responsibility they take for the

future of the country, for the future of today’s

children - the adults of tomorrow.

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The honorary distinction "Bene Merito" was

awarded to Daniela Gheorghe, a psychologist, by the

head of the Polish diplomacy, Jacek Czaputowicz.

Laureates of the "Janusz Korczak" Prize in

2018 were Alin Nicolae Stănescu, for the entire

activity dedicated to the protection of children's

rights, Ciprian Buhuşi for the category Professional

in the local or central public institutions / authorities;

Bianca-Elisabeta Bulai, for NGO Professional; Flavia

Drăgan, for the the category journalist; Ioana Isari for

the category young debutant.

Actions to support homeless persons – the

STREET Programme

Between October and December 2018, in

addition to individual or group counselling, the street

team acted to obtain temporary identity cards, income

certificates from ANAF, prepared full medical files

for the application for the disability evaluation of one

of the beneficiaries, they prepared a file for

integration into a child protection programme-

placement, they also initiated steps to hiring a

beneficiary, purchased and distributed medicine.

During this period, the street team succeeded:

- to obtain identity cards

- draw up / submit and obtain the disability

allowance for one of the beneficiaries, a former

street-teenager now reintegrated in the family

-- re-enrolment of a beneficiary into school

It is the actions for medical assistance that

continue to take the largest amount of time. In certain

cases, in spite of the obstacles raised by excessive

bureaucracy, key persons were found with whom we

worked in the very difficult cases. We continue to

work with a group of minors and young people who

have illegally occupied and live in old and decayed

buildings in Bucharest. The complexity of these

people's problems lies in the fact that many of them

have HIV or they are already parents with multiple

issues related to ID papers and / or to their health. As

with the other groups, we have shown our willingness

to help them in case of need. As such, we received a

request to solve one case of identity papers.

Between October and December, the street

team had approximately 100 meetings with the

beneficiaries, 10 ongoing cases and 4 new requests.

The number of demands for action from beneficiaries

in order to obtain papers or medical treatment is

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increasing. The street team took action and

intervened in 89 situations, in the areas Moghioros,

Militari, Victoriei, Unirii and Chirigiu.

Proiect ASIS „ #NoAbuse – Prevention of child

maltreatment”

Project Launch – The Embasy of the French

Republic

In November, after we had received the

funding French Embassy for the project #NoAbuse –

Prevention of Child Maltreatment, we were invited to

the official launch of the winning projects.

On this occasion, the financing contract was

signed and we had the honour of meeting with

Ambassador Michèle Ramis, who paid special

attention to this event. She discussed with each guest,

she welcomed and congratulated the presented

projects.

In our project, #NoAbuse, we shall carry out

activities for information, education, activities to

raise awareness of the long-term consequences of

child maltreatment in family and in institutional

environment.

The project will last 6 months and our partner

is the General Directorate for Social Assistance and

Child Protection sector 6 of Bucharest.

One of the goals to which our actions are

directed is to set up a group for consultation,

information and parental training in sector 6. The

Reflection and Development Group is made up of

vulnerable families, and the working method in the

Parents’ Café aims at improving the strategies for the

prevention and reduction of child maltreatment in

family.

Activity for the prevention of violence in schools

In November, ASIS specialists were invited

to participate in an action carried out by the Police of

Bucharest in schools.

The theme of this action was the prevention

of violence - bullying in schools. Together with

proximity policemen, information sessions were held

in 11 schools in sector 6. ASIS has launched a pilot

project for emotion management, following the

teachers' reports of the difficulties encountered in

these schools (violence, lack of methods for solving

conflicts among children, adult / parental passivity,

etc.), and aiming at the promotion of good practice

for the reduction of violence in schools.

The project activities consist of weekly

workshops – first, in one school out of the 11 targeted

by the joint action with the Police.

#NOABUSE

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Participation of the ASIS team in training

programmes for the development of intervention

programmes with impact on the Parents’ Café

«The Safety Ring» – A parent education

programme focussed on relationship.

The Parent Education Programme «The Safety Ring»

is recognised worldwide and it is based on 50 years’

research work in the theory of attachment. The

programme addresses the persons involved in the

child care and education, who wish to learn, to

understand and to better meet the children’s needs so

that they may strengthen their emotional connection,

so as to stimulate the children's development and their

self-confidence.

The objective of the programme is to help

parents understand the child's emotional world, teach

them how to support their ability to manage their

emotions, how to help them develop their self-

confidence, and how to make them always feel

unconditional love and emotional connection.

By participating in this course, ASIS

professionals have improved the intervention method

for the Parents' Café Project. It was a training course

long awaited by the personnel of the association, with

a major impact on their interventions in favour of

beneficiaries.

The Conference "We are all responsible

for acting against child maltreatment in

the family"

Throughout the world, violence against children is a

phenomenon much more wide-spread than one might

think – many such abuses never come to the attention

of public opinion and that are deliberately hidden

behind closed doors. Most acts of violence against

children happen in the family. 63% of Romanian

children are victims of family violence or are in

danger of being abused, as stated by the Romanian

institutions that have conducted research in this issue

(the National Agency for Child Protection and

Adoption).

On the occasion of the International Children's Rights

Day, the French Embassy in Romania organised the

conference "We are all responsible for acting against

child maltreatment in the family", that took place at

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the French Institute and was attended by several

representatives of the ASIS team.

The conference was opened by Mrs. Michèle Ramis,

Ambassador of France to Romania.

Two renowned French physicians intervened during

the meeting: Ms Céline Raphaël, a victim of child

abuse and author of “La Démesure. Soumise à la

violence d'un père“, and Mr. Daniel Rousseau, a child

psychiatrist and a specialist in child protection.

Céline Raphaël is a victim of family violence that she

recounts in her book “La Démesure. Soumise à la

violence d’un père", which will be translated and

published in Romanian in 2019, with the support of

the French Institute in Romania. A nurse at the

Necker Hospital in Paris, Mrs. Raphaël is a member

of the National Child Protection Council (France) and

the founder of the working group “Child Health In

Child Protection”.

Child Psychiatrist and Specialist in Child Protection,

Daniel Rousseau, works in a nursery of the Service

for Social Assistance for Children in Angers. He is

the author of "Les grandes personnes sont vraiment

stupides" (Grown-Ups Are Really Stupid - 2012) and

"Pouvoir des bébés" (Babies’ Power - 2016), about

the ability of very young children to engage

affectionately with other adults if their parents fail to

meet their needs.

Other speakers were: Mr. Ioan Ganfalean who is a

Child Advocate, Ms/ Adina Codreş who is a

Counsellor with the National Authority for the

Protection of Children's Rights and Adoption, Ms.

Laura Andrei who is a Judge at the Bucharest Court

of Appeal, and Ms. Raluca Zaharia who is

Responsible for Communication and Social Change

with UNICEF.

The event aimed at understanding and raising

awareness of the phenomenon, at informing the

professionals and the general public about the models

of good practice in the field. It proposed that the

participants address this issue from two perspectives:

identification and report of cases of maltreatment of

children and adaptation of the way of take over

children victims of abuse according to the

specificities of each case.

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News on legislation and methodology, new

services and programmes, research work and

science news

a) Free TAXI for disabled persons

a) Free TAXI for disabled persons

The Decision of the General Council of

Bucharest no. 275/2018, provides that the

Bucharest City Hall through the General

Directorate for Social Assistance of

Bucharest (DGASMB), together with the

Association RESTART Good Cause, will

implement a pilot project entitled

ABILITAXI - free transport services for

adults with motor disabilities in the Capital.

To register with the DGASMB database,

people interested in the free access transport

service will have to fill in an application

(available on the page http://dgas.ro/transport-

accesibilizat/ as of 14.08.2018.)

b) Pilot Centre – Management of Rape Situations

A pilot centre for the management of rape

situations, the first of its kind in Romania, has

been inaugurated on Monday, at the University

Emergency Hospital in Bucharest. This centre is

meant to ensure efficient and rapid medical and

forensic examination, post-traumatic assistance

and counselling of victims of sexual aggression.

https://www.hotnews.ro/stiri-sanatate-22833450-

primul-centru-pilot-pentru-situatii-viol-din-

romania-inaugurat-spitalul-universitar-din-

bucuresti.htm

c) The General Directorate for Social Assistance

and Child Protection Sector 6

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT for disabled persons

In order to ensure continuous provision of the social

services, the persons who request that their degree of

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disability be re-assessed must submit the documents 60

days prior to the expiry date of the certificate.

Thus, THE MONTH WHEN THE DOCUMENTS MUST

BE SUBMITTED IS SPECIFIED IN "POINT V. –

DEADLINE FOR REVIEW" IN THE DISABILITY

CERTIFICATE. ATTENTION!

FAILURE TO SUBMIT THE APPLICATION WITHIN

THE DEADLINE CANCELS THE ENTITLEMENT TO

THE CONTINUOUS PROVISION OF SOCIAL

SERVICES, WHILE THESE SERVICES ARE TO BE

GRANTED STARTING WITH THE MONTH THAT

FOLLOWS THE MONTH WHEN THE DISABILITY

CERTIFICATE HAS BEEN ISSUED.

d) The Institute Petite Enfance Boris Cyrulnik

Romania

On Saturday, January 12th, 2019, the training

session given by the Institute Petite Enfance

Boris Cyrulnik Romania (IPERo), the first

branch outside France, was inaugurated.

Courses will take place following the Request

submitted by the partner of IPERo.

The first module, "The Importance of the

period 0-6 years – Theory of Attachment – the

Sensory Niche", will be delivered by

neuroscientist Boris Cyrulnik, the founder of

the Institute and the creator of the entire

training system based on the Attachment

Theory. According to this theory, self-

confidence gives children the chance to learn

with pleasure, shapes them for school and

brings them in touch with the essential

elements of adult life.

e) UNICEF Romania

If you are a teenager, enthusiastic and interested

in changing the world for the better, apply for the

Junior Ambassador to the European Union:

http://bit.ly/AmbasadorJuniorUE

f) The Romanian Social Development Fund

(FRDS) as the Operator of the Programme

„Local Development, Poverty Alleviation and

Increased Inclusion of the Rroma”, funded by

the EES grants and the Norwegian grants

2014-2021, launched the Call for Proposals

"Inclusive Education for Children and Young

People at Risk", on Wednesday December

12th 2018. https://www.fonduri-

structurale.ro/stiri/21392/fonduri-norvegiene-

pentru-educatia-copiilor-si-tinerilor-in-situatii-

de-

risc?fbclid=IwAR2A7H4iS7g64gwBldZl4YCZzi

1wvvlw-y-NhRF3d9VuDWeUVo6OJ3WV-8k

g) The ANPD will be allowed to grant subsidies to

disabled persons, from non-reimbursable external

funds, so that they may acquire assistive

technology, that is, the equipment or the products

that are used to increase, maintain or improve

these persons’ functional capabilities.

http://www.mmuncii.ro/j33/index.php/ro/comuni

care/comunicate-de-presa/5344-cp-anpd-

competente-tehnologie-asistiva-

13122018?fbclid=IwAR2LFG3b3cVNOoWcwG

2zf9Tg1HXHfGu_VzD-

IkG26pG2RgxBtgqGcK7p82U

h) The UNOPA – HIV Campaign / Romanian

Harm Reduction Network

With the right treatment and care, people who live

with HIV can have a life expectation as long as an

average person’s. It is, therefore, important to take

control of your health by having yourself tested.

Test yourself! A positive result means access to

treatment.

https://unopa.ro/de-ce-sa-te-testezi-pentru-

hiv/?fbclid=IwAR1SzGj2vmXYxqwwGkYdYmJ

Zkp_P80pvgv1LT_ykpbkryHEznEj7haA5PGM

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i) Children under the age of seven may be placed in

foster care only into their extended family, the

substitute family or in maternal foster care.

President Klaus Iohannis signed the Decree no.

1043/2018 for the promulgation of law 286/2018.

j) ALIAT - AlcoHELP

The AUDIT test to evalaate the alcohol

consumption.

More than 50% of the persons who use the

services of Alcohelp Aliat, the only programme

in Romania dedicated to the prevention and

treatment of alcohol abuse, consume alcohol at a

risky consumption rate, according to a study

carried out by ALIAT, that targeted over 5,000

Romanians - beneficiaries of the programmes of

the Association in the last 9 years.

https://aliat-ong.ro/comunicat-jumatate-dintre-

cei-care-au-gasit-o-solutie-in-programele-alcohelp-se-confruntau-cu-un-consum-

problematic-de-

alcool/?fbclid=IwAR0KLLodfW6tndvYQoVTg1

EVvPymuKMypO_ltuQUb_-rawq-FMEf4IvptM4

k) The Ministry of Labour and Social Justice, the

National Authority for the Protection of

Children's Rights and Adoption, the National

Authority for Disabled Persons and the National

Agency for Equal Opportunities for Women and

Men organize a public debate on the draft orders

of the Minister of Labour and Social Justice for

the approval of quality standards in social services

(projects subject to public consultation and posted

on the website of the Ministry of Labour and

Social Justice www.mmuncii.gov.en). The

debate will be held at their headquarters in 31 Gh.

Magheru Blvd, on Thursday, November 29, 2018,

at 10.30h.

l) Persons with disabilities will receive one free

ticket to allow them to travel by different means

of transportation, on December 20th 2018.

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The European Regulation 2016/679 on the protection of

natural persons with regard to the processing of personal

data and the free movement of such data (the

"Regulation") has come into force on May 25th 2018. Its

main purpose of the Regulation is an increased level of

protection of personal data and the creation of a climate of

trust

In compliance with the provisions, the Association

"Support for Social Integration" (ASIS) wishes to

update the customer and the partner data in order to

provide timely information about our services and

programmes. To this end, the Association "Support for

Social Integration" would like to reassure all partners

and all clients that our Association will comply with the

provisions of the EU Regulation and will promote the

clients’ rights, that it will observe the protection of

personal data and will implement a set of procedures

to this purpose as stated on the website www.asis-

ong.ro.

We remind you that you can support the children and the

parents in the ASIS Family Centre by purchasing products

through the affiliate marketing website:

www.buyandhelp.ro in the A.S.I.S. cause We thank you

for your support.

Address

ASIS Hq: Corneliu Coposu Boulevard no. 4, bloc 105A,

entrance 4, 1st floor, apt. 94 sector 3, Bucharest

tel: +40 21 3233855

e-mail: asis.ong@gmail.com

Executive Director: Rodica Gregorian

website: www.asis-ong.ro

The Family Centre:

Address: Aleea Moinesti no. 24, sector 6, Bucharest

e-mail: asis.centru@yahoo.com

Manager of the Family Centre: Alexandra Avram

tel: +40 31 4223535

The “Prevention” Service

Programme Manager: Daniela Dinu

tel: +40 78 7711955

Service for Assistance to Homeless Persons

Programme Manager: Ion Valerian

Tel: +40 74 0972535