Semi-residential services for minors
During 2022, Metacometa received 15 minors at its network of semiresidential services.
The children taken in have an average age of 6 to 15 years old. They are referred by Social Services because they need “special” accompaniment, which goes beyond school support, as a result of family difficulties that may be of various kinds (economic, work, health reasons, limited parenting skills).
Children spend at the centers in the afternoons, generally on their way back from school, and return to their homes before dinner. Metacometa semiresidential facilities welcome children within an environment that re-proposes the characteristics of a home environment, with a kitchen and spaces that each of them can customize, in the presence of a pair of educators present during shared lunch, in the performance of schoolwork, and in accompanying them to leisure activities.
Within the semiresidential facility, children have the opportunity to relate to a small group of peers (intentionally limited to a maximum number of 7 children per center) and the two adult figures, experiencing in a simple and immediate way the way a family context functions and acquiring a positive example, which can be replicated at home, where each child returns in the evening. Each child thus experiences that it is possible to have a “second family” that becomes a valuable resource for themselves and their parents. In addition to supporting the children on a daily basis, the educators in the semiresidential facility are in fact tasked with relating to each child’s family, making them participants and involving them in the educational choices that affect their children, urging them to use their resources to accompany them on their growth path and thus avert the risk of them being removed from home for hetero-family placement.
