Communities for Children, Mothers with Children and Families

Casa Bambini accommodates up to 7 children (plus a further 2 in case of emergency), aged 0 to 6, who have been temporarily or permanently removed from their families of origin by court order.

The facility

Casa Bambini is organised into areas for extended socialising (for playing, building relationships and eating meals) and more intimate areas for personal care and rest. The outdoor area, exclusive and protected, integrates and expands the potential of the indoor space: it includes a terrace and a garden partly used as an educational garden.

The project

Casa Bambini aims at:

• containing the length of stay, looking for solutions agreed with social and health institutions;

• setting up an organisation ensuring that children enjoy privileged and continuous relations with the most important adults in their lives;

• performing systematic observations on children’s growth.

The service is committed to fostering the children’s psychological and social development during their stay and facilitating reintegration in their families of origin or placement in foster or adoptive families, according to specific individual educational projects, drawn up in cooperation with the foster social service.

Casa Madri accommodates up to 7 mothers with children between 0 and 6 years of age, or pregnant women who are in difficult situations and need support and placement outside their family units.

The facility

Casa Madri has 7 rooms, a large kitchen to prepare and share meals, a living room with dedicated areas for children and adults, and a furnished porch. Bedrooms can accommodate each individual unit and have areas to rest, study and play. Resident mothers clean and tidy up all the rooms as this is an important part of their educational project.

The project

The intervention model takes into account individual peculiarities and seeks to provide targeted responses to situations of distress, in close partnership with the referring Social Service, thus ensuring the protection of the children. The educational personnel, who are always available in the facility, support mothers in their parenting skills and guide them in the acquisition of useful skills (including achieving work independence to be able to be part of the social reality.

Casa Rondini and Nuova Casa Rondini are family communities characterised by low-intensity care that can accommodate 4 and 3 family units with under age children respectively and adults who have acquired a good level of independence, psychological stability and suitable emotional balance with their children.

The facilities

Casa Rondini and Nuova Casa Rondini provide a spacious room for each family unit that are arranged in such a way to allow for rest, play and study. Both facilities have common areas set up for and dedicated to conviviality between adults and children.

The project

The facilities welcome family units - mothers and children - from Casa Madri for the final stage of their journey to independence. They also host family units from outside. Educational staff - available for a few hours a day - assist guests in organising their time and space inside and outside the facilities, guiding them towards personal independence as well as social and work reintegration.

The Pro-Fili workshop is one of the socio-educational activities for guests at the Institute's residential communities. It arranges experimental workshops aimed at acquiring independence. The workshop is an organised and well-equipped space where guests can acquire and consolidate - through sewing, knitting and more recently perfumery - skills that are useful for entering, or re-entering, the world of work once they leave the community, with the aim of improving their living conditions. The activities are managed by operators who, in cooperation with volunteers, offer their specialised expertise as a model to follow while supporting the mothers.