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Children's Diary
There are sad stories with a happy ending too.
Theirs show the joy to find the way home.
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What we do
The results that make us proud.
We know how the children grow up to become great men.
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Home > Who we are
Who we are
Saint Macrina Foundation is a non-governmental organisation, set up in 1996.
The statutory purpose of the foundation is providing social services for:
- The social integration of homeless children and young people,
- The prevention and removal of the causes that generate the homeless children phenomenon.
The social services offered by Saint Macrina Foundation were designed as a complete cycle which:
- begins with basic day-care, for satisfying basic needs,
- continues with residential care, in placement-centre or protected homes system, depending on the age and needs of the beneficiaries.
Regardless of the type of service provided, the intervention focuses on children, on their needs and their potential.
All social services offered by Saint Macrina Foundation focus on education and support for graduating compulsory education cycle. In this way, beneficiaries get:
- professional training and learn some independent life habits, considered to be absolutely necessary elements for social and professional integration.
- education and spiritual counselling, included in all provided services.
Family is considered to be the most favorable environment for children’s education and personal development. This is the reason why Saint Macrina Foundation created support means for the beneficiaries’ families, with the purpose of developing parental abilities and making the families aware of their responsibility in assuming the parents’ role.
The partnership is a key element for accomplishing these objectives. From the beginning of its existence, Saint Macrina Foundation created a network of community partners. The following offered us trust and support:
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commercial companies,
- public institutions,
- non-governmental organisations and
- local authorities.
In order to achieve its objectives, Saint Macrina Foundation has a team of 17 people, 12 of which are specialised staff in social services.
The management is represented by an Executive Director and a Board – responsible for drafting the annual strategy and for the Foundation’s long term strategy.
The current Board is represented by:
- Archbishop Nifon, Mihaita, president;
- Bishop Valer Irimia, vice-president;
- Elena Timofticiuc, vice-president;
- Christian Peter Teodorescu, treasurer;
- Andreea Ilie, secretary;
The organisation’s structure consists of two departments:
- Social Services – Programmes department and
- Staff, Financial-Bookkeeping
Background
The Romanian Churches Ecumenical Association set up the Medical-Social Recovery and Help Foundation for the disabled children, managed by IPS Nifor of Targoviste, which has a social center in Bucharest – Saint Macrina.
The name was inspired by Saint Vasile the Great’s sister. Saint Macrina dedicated her life to helping the poor: children, old people, people facing difficult situations.
Since 2005, Saint Macrina Foundation is accredited by the General Direction of Social Assistance from the Ministry of Work, Social Solidarity and Family, as social services supplier for the following services:
- Day-Care for children in risk-situations
Day-Care is the first step in preventing the homeless children phenomenon, in reducing the abandonment and institutionalisation of children, in an environment which offers safety and basic social services to young people between 7 and 18 years old.
Objectives:
- offering basic care services for preventing the homeless children phenomenon and reducing the abandonment and the institutionalisation of the child;
- enlarging access to school education for children from families with socio-economics difficulties and also preventing school abandonment;
- offering basic medical assistance to homeless children and to children from families without shelter and socially disadvantaged.
Target:
- children spending their time in the streets because of domestic negligence or violence;
- children from poor families, risking to be abandoned or institutionalised;
- children facing high-risk of school abandonment because of social-economic difficulties of their family.
The general description of this service can be found here.
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Residential Centre (Placing Centre)
Residential centre
An extended component of social work from Saint Macrina Foundation is the residential centre for the abandoned children who live in difficult conditions. The centre is a temporary solution for solving the problems of disadvantaged families .
Since 2001, the residential centre of Saint Macrina Foundation has been a temporary living place for 60 children facing poverty, abuses, lack of care and abandonment.
The centre can legally give shelter to maximum 25 children, boys and girls aged between 7 and 18 years old, facing risk situations, coming from social disadvantaged environments, from Bucharest and nearby areas. .
Objectives:
- ensuring a safe environment for life and personal development
- supporting the beneficiaries’ integration in their natural families
- supporting social integration of the beneficiaries through education, professional counseling and plans for developing skills for living on their own.
Target:
- children from families facing socio-economical difficulties
- children who are victims of abuse and lack of care
The general description of this service can be found here.
- Protected houses for young people.
Life habits – social apartments for young people risking social exclusion
Social apartments are the service through which the Saint Macrina Foundation can finish the socio-professional development process of the young people. This is the last step in social intervention for a stable and complete integration in the society. The social apartment is a temporary home where young people may exercise their independent life skills.
Obiective:
- supporting long-term social and professional integration of disadvantaged young people
- developing skills and preparing their independent life
- ensuring the young person an appropriate environment for personal development
Target:
- Young people (boys and girls) with social risk who continue school or attend a professional course and are full time or part time employees at the same time
- Young people (boys and girls) who come from placement centres and are over 18 years old
- Young people (boys and girls) who lived in the streets for a short period of time and have no family support
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