A moment for learn about and deepen your knowledge of foster care through knowledge, stories, experiences and encounters. An opportunity to understand the benefits of foster care for children and families, without neglecting the difficulties of this experience, through the interventions of experts and the testimonies of those directly involved in the Foundation’s Foster Care project, active in all the provinces of Lombardy and Piedmont. This is the first Foster Care Festival, organized on Saturday 21 September by the Albero della Vita Foundation at Spazio Eventi PIME (Via Mosè Bianchi 94).
The Foundation has carried out 300 foster care projects from 2006 to todayhalf of these starting from 2020, demonstrating the importance of the Foundation’s work on the topic and the greater sensitivity and availability of families over time. The majority of boys and girls in foster care thanks to Fondazione L’Albero della Vita are between 6 and 10 years old, followed by the 0-3 and 3-6 age groups. The composition by age instead sees a clear prevalence of adolescents among those welcomed in residential services. As for foster families, the majority (60.6%) are childless.
Foster care represents an important opportunity for all those children who do not have the possibility of growing up peacefully in their family of origin, providing them with a safe and loving environment for the time necessary for their natural parents to resolve their difficulties. The L’Albero della Vita Foundation collaborates directly with local authorities, social services and the Juvenile Court, offering support during all phases of foster care. The Foundation supports, guides and accompanies foster families for an average period of two years, to strengthen the probability of a positive outcome of the project, through the work of a multidisciplinary team.
«The foster care project requires support and all the competent eyes for the care of the relationships with the family of origin and with the foster family. As At the Tree of Life we take care of preparing and following the foster familywe collaborate with social services to choose the most suitable foster family for the minor, we offer the support of psychologists and educators who support the foster family and the children welcomed with dedicated meetings and practical tools. Our festival was conceived as a place of meeting and sharing, a space for knowledge and study of the experience of Family Foster Care For learn more about the positive and growth effects which it offers to children and young people in foster care and to the families involved in the project” declares Lara Sgobbi, Project Manager for The Tree of Life Foster Care.
The methodology on foster care of the Fondazione L’Albero della Vita has also been exported abroad, to Kenya, where it has been adapted to the economic, sociological and cultural context, profoundly different from the Italian one: a country characterized by one of the youngest populations in the world (46% children). The results achieved are very important and the work of FADV has also contributed to the development of the National Care Reform Strategy for Children in Kenya 2022-2032a reform anchored on 3 main pillars: prevention of family separation and strengthening of the family fabric;alternatives carewhich includes foster care and family search, reintegration and transition to a family care system.
The Festival is aimed at all those who wish to approach foster care and it is also an opportunity for existing foster families to meet and share experiences.
The program includes activities and experiences for families and a free meeting space between families and operators of the Affido project and a round table – led by Nicholas Agliardi – entitled “Learn about and learn more about foster care”. The psychologist and systemic-relational psychotherapist will speak Marilena Tettamanzi; Karin Falconi Of He Loves Me On The Side Of Children and author of I didn’t ask you to call me Mom; Manuel Bragonzi, director and author of Forever. Several foster families from the L’Albero della Vita Foundation and some boys and girls with experience in foster care will also take turns on the stage.