Organising association: Caritas Diocesan of Barcelona.
Collaborating organisation: Ramon Molinas Foundation.
Implementation schedule: 15/09/2014 – 20/06/2015.
The Rull mother and child support centre to help expecting women and mothers at risk of social exclusion
For the third year running, the Ramon Molinas Foundation has colaborated with Caritas Dioscesan of Barcelona. After supporting the Gavines long stay shelter and cooperating with the Mare de Déu de Montserrat mother and child support centre, it has established links with the Rull mother and child support centre, located in the Ciutat Vella district of Barcelona and aimed at expecting women and mothers with children under three who are at risk of social exclusion and require education about maternity.
The centre is an educational space dedicated to the mother-child pair. The emotional relationship between mothers and their children is fostered and the cognitive stimulation of the children is stimulated. Likewise, it is an ideal place for the women to improve their self-esteem, learn new skills and develop relationships with other women who find themselves in the same situation. The centre has a psychologist, a family support worker and a social worker who provide individual and emotional support to the women availing of the service.
The Rull mother and child support centre has places for eight mothers and their children. The women availing of the service live in the Ciutat Vella district and are selected according to their characteristics from the applications that Caritas Diocesan of Barcelona receives from the social workers. The centre is open from Monday to Friday, from 9am to 1pm, for the whole academic year.
Fostering the emotional links between the women and their children; the main goal of the centre
The main goal of the Rull mother and child support centre is to foster the emotional link between the mothers and their children. However, the centre also strives to contribute towards preventing possible deficits in the integral development of the children. The team of professionals working in the centre provide the women with the basic knowledge, support and guidance needed so that they can be mothers in better conditions. Likewise, they help the mothers to understand the needs and demands of their children, in order to be able to respond in the best way. Lastly, it seeks to accompany the children in their development and in their relation with their social environment.
The women attending the Rull mother and child support centre have certain characteristics in common although their ages range from 15 to 50. Among other factors, they lack financial resources, they have conflictive relationships and poor emotional links with their children, they lack family support, and they do not have a decent home.
Caritas Diocesan of Barcelona, an organisation with a long humanitarian background
Caritas is the worldwide organisation of the Catholic Church. Caritas Diocesan of Barcelona is part of the network making up this organisation. The delegation of the Barcelona diocese was founded in 1944 and since the beginning has helped and worked with people in situations of poverty and need.
The organisation carries out its activities in the field of social action, awareness-raising in society and the condemnation of unjust situations with events and words, to achieve a more just and solidary world. In addition, the organisation fights against poverty, social exclusion, intolerance, discrimination and any actions that violate human rights.
Since 2007 the organisation has doubled the number of people it has assisted and has observed that attention to families is extending over time. 72% of the people helped by Caritas Diocesan of Barcelona in 2012 had previously been assisted. During that same year, Caritas Diocesan of Barcelona helped a total of 59,853 people and its social action distributed more than 25 million Euro among those people who were most in need.
Links of interest:
Web page of Caritas Diocesan of Barcelona.