“LAST CAPTAIN” FAMILY HOUSE

 

This house is everything that we have been able to offer to the children that we are unable to keep in our homes together with the other children that we have received as a gift from God, as it would be right to do. This house is all we were able to give to those who would have been entitled to much more. For this reason, every time we pray we ask forgiveness from God and from all the children who live or who have lived in this house, for this we thank them and carry them in our hearts always, I, the educational team, the volunteers and the people who helped us and help us create a Christian community based on equality and brotherhood.

It is a residential cycle structure that welcomes minors of both sexes, in the age range from 0 to 18, both Italians and foreigners.

During this period we work togetherat the "Lantern of Diogenes”Social cooperative
ONLUS.

The service is provided for a maximum number of 12 minors (10 + 2 for emergency/ready reception needs), orphans and/or for whom staying in their family unit is temporarily or permanently impossible, as it is considered prejudicial to their growth and fulfillment, and in particular towards those minors whose parents are in prison.

The Family Home, with specific laboratory areas, also provides daytime reception for minors, reported by the Social Services and the Juvenile Justice Center of Lazio, as a preventive and social recovery action.

The permanence of each minor is determined by the time necessary for the realization of the individual educational project and linked to the minor's return to his family of origin, when possible, or to self-sufficiency upon reaching adulthood.

The "Captain Ultimo" is also a socio-educational structure for the hospitality of minors who commit crimes, as a possible alternative to the prison sentence, which takes place according to the prescriptions and methods established by the competent Judicial Authority.

PURPOSE

The period of stay in the family home will be aimed at encouraging each minor to develop all his potential, which would otherwise remain mortified in his uncomfortable condition, through gradual interventions calibrated to the possibilities of the person and the family to which he belongs.

The aim of the service is to respond as best as possible to the needs of the minor and his family, collaborating in a project to recover personal and socio-family resources so that he can return to his family of origin or a replacement family in the shortest possible time (foster care). family or adoption). In the event that the two hypotheses are not feasible, the aim will be to help the minor achieve his or her emotional and material autonomy once he or she becomes an adult. In this regard, professional training courses will be held to introduce minors to work,  with the intent  prospective  of  hire them in the social and educational initiatives that will take place in the family home also for the benefit of the school world.

The educational action will also be aimed at transmitting a culture of legality,  of solidarity and protection of the environment, through training activities and initiatives to this end organized by qualified volunteers who are experts in environmental sciences and by volunteers who have had direct experience in activities to combat organized and environmental crime.

In particular,  For environmental education lessons, special areas have been set up, one used as a seasonal vegetable garden and orchard of "forgotten" species and another area intended for the shelter of birds of prey.

These activities will also be organized for the benefit of the school world  and the entire network of family homes.

We will try to propose a culture:

• of legality, as opposed to the culture of illegality of which, very often, minor guests are victims and in which they are very often immersed;

• of solidarity, as the main instrument of opposition to any prevarication and any abuse, for the diffusion of those principles of respect for others, for life and for human dignity which must represent the strategic objective of our society

through a path that enhances  respect for the principles of civil coexistence through knowledge of the rules, dignity, individuality and diversity.

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OPERATION

The daily organization of the family home is based on the family model. The management is carried out by the operators of the educational team and the minor guests and the auxiliary staff are involved in an adequate and coordinated manner, made up of volunteers from the Associazione Volunteer Capitano Ulto Onlus and interns from the universities.

As regards admission, a communication is required from the Social Services or the Juvenile Court or the Emergency Department, of the minor's state of need, reporting the "case" to the Coordinator in charge of the structure or, in her absence,  ; to the management of the family home, who guarantee telephone availability
24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

The Coordinator, based on the possibility of reception and the general situation of the minor guests, having consulted the educational team, responds by communicating any availability, the reception methods and the daily fee to be paid,   for each minor in foster care,  corresponding to the fee recognized by the assigning Municipality, requesting the related expenditure commitment. The minor is welcomed into the family home by the Coordinator, together with the group of minors and the staff present.

Otherwise, the Coordinator communicates in writing the impossibility of reception to the Social Services or to the Authority that proposed the foster care, justifying it.

For reception, Social Services is asked to provide the documentation relating to the minor to be welcomed. If this documentation is not immediately available, the Social Services must take steps to find it and present it within 15 days of the request for inclusion and in any case before admission.

In particular emergency situations, the Coordinator can agree with the Social Services on different methods for the inclusion of the minor, with the documentation being presented within 15 days following admission.

The documentation required for acceptance is, to the extent possible, the following:

– report from the organization to which the minor was previously entrusted;   
– certificate of physical constitution;

– certificates of vaccinations performed;

– family residence certificate;

– school evaluation forms.

The discharge of minors, in general, occurs at the conclusion of the Individual Educational Project agreed with the Social Services.

Being a family-type structure, the rules of community life will be flexible and modeled according to needs and the carrying out of daily activities. As a guide they can be identified as follows:

Alarm clock:  6.30 am

Breakfast:  7.00 am

School: 8.00 am - 1.00 pm / 4.30 pm (for those who attend after-school activities)

Lunch:  1.00pm - 2.30pm

Activities dedicated to carrying out assigned tasks and training and recreational activities for collective and social life:  3.00pm - 6.00pm

After-school activities:  6.00pm - 7.00pm

Dinner:  7.30pm-8.30pm

Night rest:  from 9.00 pm to 10.00 pm (evaluation according to age and period).

 

Saturday, Sunday and holidays: return to family, where required/authorised by the entrusting Authority. For all other minors: independent activities, trips and recreational activities.

As regards the summer months (July and August): a period of return to the family, where foreseen/authorised. For all other minors, recreational activities, outings - trips, summer camps will be planned.  

 

The food provided to minors is according to the current dietary tables, approved by the competent ASL.

 

The facility is open all year round, seven days a week, 24 hours a day, including prompt reception, with daytime and night-time guardianship assistance, precisely because it aims to be a reception service for minors in difficulty at any time if the need arises. , following the intervention of the Social Services or other entrusting authority.

EDUCATIONAL TEAM

The educational team is made up of qualified professional figures and is made up of a responsible coordinator, professional educators/tutors, a psychologist/psychotherapist and a social worker.

The work of professional educators carried out in teams is not only functional to operational needs, but represents a style that reflects a fundamental guiding value for the Community and the context in which it is located: that of legality and solidarity.

All decisions regarding the management of the home, educational orientations, choices

pragmatic, they are agreed and shared by all operators who must act as a "single body", with a homogeneous orientation, as it is precisely the team  education that educates and not the individual educator, as a "family" community, enhancing the individual specificities of the educators.  Personal responsibilities are identified by trying to enhance the aptitudes and skills of each individual educator, within a shared orientation (enhancement of differences and human resources within a shared orientation).

To this end, spaces and times for reflection, sharing and organization have been structured: team meetings, supervision, updates and training. This work, a "meta" for reflection on the criteria, orientations, purposes, methodologies, operational and relational difficulties, is not separated from the pragmatic choices, as it constitutes the identity, the physiognomy and creates the coherence of action.

The educational team is animated by a style of sharing and collaboration to guarantee unitary educational growth and meets four times a month for training and verification moments and twice a month for supervision meetings, with the presence of a psychologist to analyze the cases, their planning and the interventions to be carried out.

The team also meets to organize common activities in the family home, for the admissions and discharges of minors.

The educators alternate in shifts, guaranteeing continuous presence inside the home and flexibility in schedules (agreed by the team based on specific needs). The shift change must allow the passage of information and deliveries. At times and on days when all or the majority of minors are present, the simultaneous presence of two educators, of both sexes, is guaranteed.

OTHER PROFESSIONAL FIGURES

Carefully selected auxiliary staff will be involved in an adequate and coordinated manner, such as volunteers, university interns, interns and civil service operators who, in compliance with this regulation, the code of ethics of the operators and the directives and indications provided by the coordinator/manager of the structure, they will work alongside the professional figures envisaged above, with whom they will have to work as a team and by whom they will have to be trained.

In addition to the presence of a general practitioner assigned by the ASL, collaboration and full  assistance from the multi-specialist medical staff provided by the Captain Ultimo Volunteer Association onlus, who together with the educational team will take care, where necessary, of the appropriate support additions for the minor, making use of public and private structures.

All operators involved in various capacities act in accordance with the global educational project, the regulations and the professional code of ethics of the family home.