Introduction
Caring Hands Association for Child Welfare is a civil organization that addresses the needs of six to eight hundred children and adolescents who have been left without a family temporarily or permanently, and who are therefore in state care accommodated in three home institutions and twenty-one state-run apartment homes.
- These are the ones who stick their hands through the fence when they see a passer-by who looks like their mother.
- These are the ones who will always miss the most important thing: the warmth of the family.
- These are the ones who have never experienced what a grape harvest or a family holiday is like, and who for a long time will not know bread isn't always sliced.
- These are the ones who for a smile or a few kind words are willing to hold onto a stranger forever. Although their material needs are taken care of, these children must live their lives without a loving family, one of the pillars of human existence.
We were registered in the summer of 1999 as an Association for Public Good. Our members, 24 people, are receptive to the hard lot of the inhabitants of these homes and assign an active role in making the children's life happier, devoting personal attention and giving love.
Beside professional expertise and a wish to help, one more thing is naturally required for effective work. That thing is financial resources. The association is not profit-oriented and is partially financed by donated portions of individuals' income taxes (1%) and companies' taxes on trade. The chief source of funding for our programs is from tenders by the national or the local government, from membership fees and, occasionally, from donations given by individuals or companies.
The regular weekly and monthly programs organized and financed by the Association include:
- skills development trainings
- swimming and dancing instruction
- visits to the theatre (puppet theatre for the very young)
- history, mathematics, English and Hungarian classes
- teaching practical life skills twice a week
- regular sports events and trips
- as well as organizing visits and traditional nameday celebrations.
Our chief activities are the following:
- We organize 'Meet your brothers and sisters' (meetings among siblings living in different homes)
- Gordon's in-service caretaker trainings and a Gordon club
- Conferences for experts in child welfare in Fejér County
- June festivities for 200 children, one-week summer holidays for 40 kindergarteners and pre-schoolers in Zala county, schoolchildren's summer holidays and playhouse programs
- Expecting Santa Clause (for 400 children)
- Choose-your-career trips to schools and factories
- We teach practical life skills.
- We have published "My Story", a book of life stories written by children in state care.
- We collect and donate furniture, household appliances, bicycles and computers.
- We provide support for those who are just starting their independent lives, seeking employment and accommodation, and establishing a lifestyle.
We believe in setting an example and motivating those people who are willing to give a hand, to gather around us. And when this happens, the hope will continue growing that the youth in state care are given a greater chance to become appreciated, stable and educated members of the country's greater community.
