In Tula will develop measures to improve support for adolescents at risk

In the Tula region will prepare proposals to improve support for adolescents at risk and their families. On September 22, in the Creative Industrial Cluster “Octava”, a regional strategic session “Freight crossing: from understanding to action” was held, the press service of the regional government told “MK in Tula”.

About 50 specialists, teenagers and parents attended the meeting. The moderator was Alexey Petrov, head of the Federal Center for the Development of Socialization Programs for Adolescents of the Federal State Budgetary Institution “Center for the Protection of Children’s Rights and Interests”, deputy head of the Department for Ensuring the Activities of the Presidential Commissioner for Children’s Rights.

The main task of the session was to prepare proposals to support adolescents from 10 to 18 years old who are at risk, as well as their families.

The meeting was held in the framework of the pilot project “Perepravada” (it is implemented by the Federal adolescent center on the initiative of the Commissioner under the President of Russia for the rights of the child Maria Lvova-Belova with the support of the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation). Tula region is among the ten regions where the project is held in a pilot format. At the same time, the project is aimed at creating a system that will allow earlier notice of alarm signals in the lives of adolescents, pool the resources of different departments and provide assistance to children and their families before a difficult situation escalates into a crisis.

The participants of the session were addressed in a video format by the Presidential Commissioner for Children’s Rights Maria Lvova-Belova and the Director of the Department of State Policy in the Sphere of Protection of Children’s Rights of the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation Larisa Falkovskaya. Deputy Governor of the Tula region Yaroslav Rakov noted that the participation of the region in the project gives an opportunity to test new approaches to preventive work. The challenge, he said, is to ensure that assistance to adolescents and their families is timely and truly meets their needs.

Yaroslav Rakov stressed that within the framework of the project, the region will be able to strengthen the existing support system and develop more flexible and targeted mechanisms for helping adolescents in difficult situations.

The report was presented to the participants by the Commissioner for Children’s Rights in the Tula region Natalia Zykova. She spoke about the current challenges and opportunities of the prevention system, which works with adolescents, parents and specialists.

During the strategic session, adolescents and parents will discuss with specialists what support measures are already working in the region, what difficulties families face and what they lack when applying for help. Participants will also consider ideas that can be implemented in the Tula region. Based on the results of the work, the teams will evaluate the proposed solutions and prepare a final document with proposals and a preliminary plan for their implementation.

Incidentally, the preparation of the session was preceded by an analysis of the regional system of support for adolescents. The project team studied the available data, conducted interviews with teenagers, parents and specialists, and then prepared a regional profile. The results obtained should help participants to identify the main barriers and formulate proposals taking into account the characteristics of the Tula region and the opinions of the families themselves.