Tidaholm (Zweden) zoekt partner Leonardo Da Vinci Project

Tidaholm (Zweden) zoekt partner Leonardo Da Vinci Project

Programma: Leonardo da Vinci Preparatory visit and Mobility project
Deadline: 31st August for preparatory visit and winter/spring 2010 for mobility project

The Municipality of Tidaholm is looking for partners interested to participate in a transnational mobility project, under the frame of the Leonardo da Vinci Programme. Tidaholm is searching for an entity willing to be the host organisation for such a mobility project, receiving staff from the social services department between 1-3 weeks.

The project foresees exchange of experience and best practice between staff working in Tidaholm and in Europe. Tidaholm is searching for organisations that are responsible for the care of children, especially children that face the risk of being placed in foster care. The aim of the project will be to find early identification methods of children at risk of being placed in foster care in order to initiate preventive measures to allow the families to stay together. Shadowing partners' work with children at risk to understand different methods and approaches that are used would be a great opportunity for Tidaholm. Study visits to agencies and organizations are therefore an important part of personell development of Tidaholm within this area.

In recent years, the municipal costs for social services have increased sharply, especially the cost of the social child care. The number of children placed in foster families is much higher than in other comparable municipalities. Social services consume more and more of the municipality's common resources. The municipality will now try to reverse this negative trend by undertaking coordinated actions with other local stakeholders working with children and families, to shift resources and power to prevention and early-intervention measures. Succeeding with this change in focus and joint effort will require good coordination, additional resources and development of skills of the authorities and actors involved.

The aim of the project will be to promote actions for an earlier identification of children at risk of being placed in foster care homes with the help of a broad collaboration between authorities and other organizations at local level. The purpose is also to identify success factors of local collaboration leading to effective methods for the early identification of children at risk with the aim of helping them to stay and be safe in their own family environment. Finally, the project also aims to put in place methodological procedures and structures for strategies geared towards early identification, such as family planning centres, childcare centres, family centres, schools, health care and social services.

The target group for the project will be staff working in the social services department. The final beneficiaries will be the staff as well as children and their parents.

In the first instance, the Municipality of Tidaholm wishes to carry out a preparatory visit (deadline 31st August), in order to develop the project proposal and make a full application for a Leonardo da Vinci mobility project in 2010.

Name: Günther Hähnert, Municipality of Tidaholm, Sweden
title/profession: Chief Executive Officer
E-mail: gh@tidaholm.se  
Telephone: +46 502 606020, Mobile: +46 702 217707
Address: 522 83 Tidaholm, Sweden
Website: www.tidaholm.se