Monitored Home

What does this social service do:

A monitored home is a type of community-based social service designed to provide support and counseling to individuals who have turned 18 years of age and have left specialized institutions for children in order to lead an independent life. They are supported in this endeavor by a team of professionals.

This service is targeted at:

• Young people who have turned 18 years of age and have left specialized institutions;
• Young people up to the age of 25 who are at risk and live in the local community but have no family or do not get any support from their family and need help to be integrated in society and find jobs as a step towards an independent lifestyle.

The following services are provided at the monitored home:

• A place to live;
• Awareness raising and professional counselling (social and psychological counselling) as well as accompaniment by the service provider’s team for the period of social integration and finding a job for young people placed at the home;
• Support for the expansion of young people’s social network and improvement or restoration of their relations with their biological family and relatives.

Youth who are approved for placement at the monitored home undergo a needs assessment and an individual independent living plan is developed for each of them.

 

Duration of stay:

The duration of stay at the monitored home is up to one year with the option to extend it depending on each young person’s needs and based on a decision of the Reception Committee. The maximum period of stay is two years.

How to get access to the service:

Applicants must submit a written request to the director of the Social Assistance Directorate responsible for the area where the young person resides and attach a copy of an ID; a copy of a personal outpatient care record, if any; a copy of the decision of a medical consultative committee, local/national expert medical committee, if any; a declaration containing information about family status and income (if applicable). Based on the request and documents attached to it, the applicant undergoes a social needs assessment in order to establish his/her needs of social services. This assessment is reflected in a proposal report. The director of the competent Social Assistance Directorate issues an order authorizing the use of this social service based on the reasoned proposal report and the corresponding deliberations of the Reception Committee set up by an order of the service provider. The committee is comprised of representatives of the municipal administration, the Social Assistance Directorate, the Employment Office; resident services; the team of the Monitored Home, and other institutions working with that target group. The young person can start using the service after signing a contract to that effect.

 

Terms and Conditions of Stay at the Monitored Home.

1. If young people residing at the monitored home are unemployed, they receive financial support for three months to cover their expenses for food, hygiene materials, clothing, etc. During that three-month period young people must:
   • register with the local Employment Office;
   • actively search for a job;
   • participate as volunteers in the activities of the service;
   • get to know vocational or reskilling programs and not have rejected more than one invitation to join such a program;
   • do small repairs at the home, if necessary.
   • After the expiration of the three-month period, the independent living plan is reviewed for those who have not found a job yet in order to establish the root cause and then a decision is made whether to extend or terminate financial support for the person. If the extended financial support period expires and the user of the service is still not interested in finding a job, he/she is served an eviction notice (this is a one-month prior notice).
2. If young people residing at the home have found a job, they can stay and use the service for the maximum two-year duration, provided that there are no new applicants in greater need of the service and that they pay without delay the monthly fee amounting to 50% of their income but not exceeding the actual sustenance cost for the month.

 

Services are delivered by social workers and/or psychologists. Each of those experts is the personal counsellor to one of the young adults residing at the monitored home and provides individual services in planning and achieving that person’s objectives during his/her stay at the home.