Street children in Congo : restore and strengthen parent-child relationships
The different associations member of the REIPER (Réseau des Intervenants sur le Phénomène des Enfants en Rupture), our local partner in Congo since its creation in 2003, support and assist children and young individuals living on the streets, by welcoming them in their shelters and orphanages. After noticing that the phenomenon was far from halting, with new children arriving constantly, these associations explored the possibility of acting preemptively with families in order to avoid, or at least reduce, the growth of this phenomenon. Apprentis d’Auteuil had likewise explored this option in the past with different family and parenting support programmes. Consequently, nine REIPER associations, guided by Apprentis d’Auteuil developed some family and parenting support projects in Brazzaville and Pointe-Noire.
The common goal of these projects is to restore and strengthen parent-child relationships to favor a safe and stimulating environment in which children can grow. Through workshops offering a platform for the exchange of practices, the social workers of each structure were trained, and subsequently put their training into practice by inviting families for interviews, debates on education, raising awareness on children’s and parents’ rights... These families then met on their own, inviting one another in turn, and were able to create strong mutual support relationships while realizing that their situations was far from unique. Overall, the new responsibility of those social worker is not so much to guide from the front end, but rather to accompany, by the parents’ side.