Not everyone is aware of the foster care system, and even less so outside the provincial capitals, and it is for this reason that the Regional Association of Adoptive and Foster Families of Castilla y León (ArfaCyL) has launched a campaign to raise awareness of the situation of foster families. 600 minors under community protection in a very visual way, with doormats that bear their names. A way to humanize the number and above all to find them accommodation in a rural environment.
Salma, Martín, María… this Friday, October 4, the group covered a square in Cuéllar (Segovia) with more than three hundred doormats, the first in a long series, since the initiative should pass through several municipalities. Among them El Espinar (Segovia) on October 13, and soon Miranda de Ebro (Burgos) or Arévalo (Ávila).
“We want foster care to reach every corner of Castilla y León as a solid alternative to residential placement,” said in a statement the president of Arfacyl, Javier Álvarez-Ossorio, who explained that the idea was born after having detected this foster care program. promoted by the Department of Family and the Red Cross “was developed only in the provincial capitals and does not reach the public in the small municipalities of Castilla y León”.
The objective is therefore to “fill this gap”, knowing that there are families who reside in cities who “do not have access to information on this child protection measure or who “They don’t know how to offer themselves as host families.” In this way, they will be explained how to open the doors of their homes – whether urgently, temporarily or permanently – to children and adolescents supervised by the Regional Administration who live in centers, the family being considered as a more conducive to this. they can grow and develop fully.
Information tables
The installation of doormats in the squares of Castilla y León will be the most visible part of a more comprehensive campaign designed by Arfacyl, with the collaboration of Asofacam (Association of Welcoming Families of Castilla-La Mancha), which includes the installation of an information table. from where the welcoming families will explain in the first person their experiences about what it means for them to be an adoptive mother or father.
To bring the protection system even closer to these rural areas, training conferences will be organized in the towns that have joined the initiative where professionals will explain requirements and selection process which are made to become a welcoming family.
According to Nuria Morán, secretary of ArfaCyL, family placement is a means of protection that not only benefits minors in vulnerable situations, but also has a positive impact on the families themselves and promotes values such as solidarity, respect and empathy.
