INTEGRA - Supporting Youth Ageing Out of care
21 January 2020
Name: INTEGRA - Supporting Youth Ageing Out of care
Date of Launch: June 2018, Nicosia, Cyprus
Hashtag: #INTEGRAeu
Website: www.integra.uncrcpc.org
Contact in Barcelona: Gigi Guizzo, CEPS Projectes Socials
E-mail: gigi@asceps.org
PRESS RELEASE
The success of the transition to adulthood highly depends on the supportive guidance of adult role models. If the young adult is left unsupported these become a source of anxiety and can lead to situation of social exclusion. In comparison to their peers who grow and live in a family context, young people in residential care often have to cope with non-child-friendly structures, where the guardian can be an abstract figure difficult to reach, not always able or prepared to gradually mediate the transition into adulthood.
Therefore, the INTEGRA project addresses the need to equip residential care professionals and other professionals who are in touch with young adults to successfully support the social and professional integration of minors leaving the care-systems. The INTEGRA project promotes a multidisciplinary mentorship programme to support the entrepreneurship of children in care and young care-leavers.
The project offers the following tools:
1) The INTEGRA Mentoring Integration Programme (MIP) is available at an online platform where the mentor has the role to guide, connect, mediate, and support the children in their quest for adulthood;
2) A Platform for Cooperation, which offers to stakeholders a space to share experiences and relevant information, such as apprenticeships, training days, grants, courses and so on;
3) Assessment tools for the professionals, mentors and for young adults and children to use in their path to adulthood, to check their knowledge and needs on their way towards autonomous living.
INTEGRA project proposes a new approach to support young people ageing-out of care-systems, easing their social, cultural and economic integration into the community through the establishment of support networks and tailored mentoring programs.
The project is represented by a team of 6 organizations from 5 different countries: Hope for Children CRC Policy Centre (Cyprus), CESIE Centro de Studi e Iniziative Europeo (Italy), CEPS Projectes Socials (Spain), The Smile of the Child (Greece), A.P.C.D.P. Associação Portuguesa de Conversas de Psicologia (Portugal) and MMC Mediterranean Management Centre (Cyprus).
Check the reports made by the group for each of the participating countries
You can find all project updates on the website https://integra.uncrcpc.org/
All the info is shared weekly on social media with the hash tag #INTEGRAeu
