Help Children in Foster Care Join a Summer Camp

In August, 20 children and teenagers growing up in foster care in Poland spent a week at the FDI Summer Camp in the Masurian Lake District.

There were kayaks, sports, outdoor games, trips, shared meals and plenty of time simply to enjoy summer. But from the beginning, we wanted this camp to be more than a holiday.

The program combined recreation with daily art therapy, relationship-building activities and the constant presence of caring adults. Eight adults accompanied the group of 20 young people throughout the camp. This ratio was intentional.

For children growing up in residential foster care, individual attention is not always easy to provide in everyday life. During the camp, there was time to notice when someone withdrew from the group, needed a conversation, struggled with a new situation or discovered something they were unexpectedly good at.

Sometimes important things happened during therapeutic activities. Sometimes they happened in a kayak.

Paddling together requires communication and cooperation. A team game means learning to deal with winning, losing and other people's emotions. Trying something new can turn “I can't do this” into the experience of discovering that perhaps you can.

Art therapy created another kind of space. Not every young person finds it easy to sit down and talk directly about emotions. Working with images, colours and creative tasks can offer a safer way to express what is difficult to put into words.

And this is why the end of the camp is not the end of our work.

After spending a week together, our team knows much more about the participants: their strengths, interests, relationships and individual needs. We are now using these observations to plan further support. For some young people this may mean therapy. For others, educational support, opportunities to develop a particular interest or another form of specialist help.

The camp becomes a starting point for year-round work with each young person.

This GlobalGiving campaign is still waiting for its first donation. The camp itself was made possible thanks to support received from other donors and partners, but its financing is not yet fully closed and we still have costs connected with the project to cover.

Your contribution can help us complete the funding of this year's camp and continue providing young people with the support identified during our week together.

Because one good week can create memories. What matters even more is what we do with everything we learn once that week is over.