Résumés
Abstract
Foster care institutions are badly understaffed and operate on the lowest expected standards in terms of human resources in Hungary. In many cases, child protection personnel working with children in foster care do not have the necessary qualifications, and even those that do are often so overloaded with tasks that they cannot routinely engage in meaningful social interactions with the children. This paper introduces a unique and easily adaptable model of volunteer ,,work in university settings that aims to improve the situation of children in foster care. The Students for Children Volunteer Programme was founded in 2010 in the Faculty of Law at the University of Pécs, Hungary, and is now part of the curriculum there both as an elective course and as a cross-faculty programme. From the outset, the primary goal of this initiative has been to improve the situation of children in foster care through student mentoring by empowering them to manage everyday challenges and develop meaningful perspectives on their futures. Other equally important objectives are to enhance students’ social sensitivity and skills and to shape their thinking through this challenging work. Since its inception, the programme has been operating with unbroken success and, over the years, nearly 400 volunteers have completed the programme. The long-term plan is that through this model a country-wide network of similar volunteer programmes can be developed to improve the situation of children in need. Although aspects of the Students for Children programme still need to be refined, our experience with it shows that it has invaluable social, educational, and psychological effects on both the children and the future law professionals.
Keywords:
- volunteering,
- foster care,
- child protection,
- care system,
- sensitization,
- experiental education,
- supervision
Parties annexes
Bibliography
- Elekes, Z., & Paksi, B. (2005). A gyermekvédelmi gondoskodásban részesülő fiatalok alkohol- és egyéb drogfogyasztása. [Alcohol and drug consumption of children receiving child care]. Kapocs, 4(5), 2–21.
- Herczog, M. (2001). 100 éves a gyermekvédelem. [100 years of child protection] Család, Gyermek, Ifjúság, 10(3), 2–4.
- Hungarian Office of the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights. (2019). Activities of the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights and his Deputies [Annual report]. http://www.ajbh.hu/documents/14315/3445212/Report+on+the+Activities+of+the+Commissioner+for+Fundamental+Rights+and+his+Deputies+2019/04ed103e-6c17-deab-623a-00b67db41adb?version=1.0
- Hüse, L. (2016). Does the Hungarian child protection system provide appropriate responses to the problem of street children? Acta Medicina et Sociologica, 7(22–23), 95–104. doi:10.19055/ams.2016.7/22-23/6
- Kökönyei, G., Szabó, M., & Aszmann, A. (2003). Drog és deviancia – kutatási beszámoló (Az ISM KAB-KT-02-17 sz. kutatási pályázat eredményeinek rövid összefoglalója) [Drug and deviance – research report (Short summary of the ISM KAB-KT-02- 17 research project)]. OEFK.
- McFadden, A., & Smeaton, K. (2017). Amplifying student learning through volunteering. Journal of University Teaching & Learning Practice, 14(3) 1–13. https://ro.uow.edu.au/jutlp/vol14/iss3/6
- Rácz, A. (2012). Gyermekvédelemben nevelkedettek helyzete a kutatások tükrében. [The situation of children raised in state care according to research.] In A. Rácz (Ed.), Gyermekvédelemben nevelkedettek társadalmi integrációs esélyei. [Chances of social integration for children in child care] (pp. 13–34.) Rubeus.
- Salamon, L. M. (2012). America’s nonprofit sector: A primer (3rd ed.). The Foundation Center.
- Schmid, A., & Herczeg, K. (2018). Creating futures: Residential care homes in Hungary and Switzerland collaboratively develop their capacity to empower children and youth to actively realise their own futures. International Journal of Child, Youth and Family Studies 9(1) 132–153. doi:10.18357/ijcyfs91201818124
- Somfai, B. (2011). Önkéntesség a jogászképzésben. [Volunteering in legal education]. Családi Jog, 9(4), 35–39.
- Szőtsné K. Z., Pap, É., Pál, K., Jankovics, C., & Mirnics, Z. (2007). Gyermekvédelmi gondoskodásban és családban nevelkedő serdülőkorúak érzelmi intelligenciája, megküzdési stratégiája és szorongása. [Emotional intelligence, coping strategy and anxiety of adolescents living in child care]. Család, Gyermek, Ifjúság, 16(2), 17–22.
- Washington, J. (2018). Becoming active citizens: Motivations to volunteer among undergraduate students in a liberal arts college. School of Professional and Continuing Studies Nonprofit Studies Capstone Projects, 4. https://scholarship.richmond.edu/spcs-nonprofitstudies-capstones/4