Asociatia Copiii in Sanul Familiei

Friends of Children in Romania (Known as “Copiii in Sanul Familiei”) is a Romanian NGO founded in 1994 by at the initiative of Mrs Mary Gibson and Mr Serban Cantacuzino. The aim of the organisation is supporting development of children and youth who are institutionalised by offering the love and care of a family, living close to nature, and receiving ongoing support even after the age of 18. In the past 10 years many new projects started to take root in order to encourage the youth to engage with the wider village community and outside the local community too, whether this means helping in the church, with gardening activities, sports activities, and eco-friendly based activities. Some of the children, with special talents in painting have attended exhibitions in the UK and in Romania. An ongoing project is related to the guesthouse that is administered by 3 of the children and they are doing the promotion, greeting the guests, cooking and maintenance. We are currently growing our involvement in raising people's awareness that youth from disadvantaged backgrounds can be and are excellent models for the society and the inclusion is only the effect. As for the cause it is all the work coming from the people who are nurturing, educating, guiding children, and this is in general, not only in this situation. The end goal is to inspire our local community for cultivating innovative approaches to the local needs. We are a group of experienced youth workers, facilitators and education professionals with the mission to create a favorable context bringing better support for empowering youth through personal and professional development and other direct beneficiaries in order to grow the local community and inspire. The tools we bring forth are non-formal education, creativity, dance, physical movement, acting, music, mindfulness, entrepreneurship, social businesses. Our vision focuses on projects that are harnessing creativity, sense of purpose, conscious body movement, life skills, communication ability, emotional development, leadership, management, entrepreneurship, and broadening the understanding of various cultural backgrounds on the European Continent and beyond. These are skills and experiences we all need in order to make our lives better together and cultivate a climate of growth, involvement, citizenship, support, cross-cultural collaboration, fairness, environmentally friendly, contributing to the worldly well being. Our beneficiaries and partners are contributing by developing a sustainable community of people and professionals in various fields with the meeting point at the same purpose - growing a supportive and inclusive society.