(ANS – La Orotava) – From this March,  Proyecto Don Bosco Foundation has begun a new social initiative in La Orotava, on Tenerife, Canary Islands: it is known as Valdocco House, and can take up to 6 young men between 16-25 yeas of age who need a place to live, be accepted, and avoid the possibility of being entirely sidelined in society.

The project responds to the fact once the inmates of many foster homes for children grow older, they are left without resources and with no idea where to go next. The aim of this initiative is to help these cases to have a greater guarantee of being able to grow to adulthood. This particular category of young person already finds it difficult to find or settle into work and a place to live, and often does not have an adequate social network for supporting the individual while seeking to “live fully as an adult”.

The two storey house, about 80 m² in dimension, is in a residential part of the city and has three bedrooms, each with its own bathroom, a kitchen and dining room. The young people accepted there have six months to re-organise their lives, focus on further education or find work which they can settle into, while receiving help by way of coordination and advice from the Foundation. The House will serve as a point of reference for free time and for being part of other activities offered by the Salesian Family in Tenerife.

The Director of the Proyecto Don Bosco Foundation in the Canary Islands, Miguel Ángel Rojas, emphasises that this service is being set up “for the various essential reasons for which young people find themselves excluded, maybe coming from foster homes or with other experiences which means that they are now without a home and very vulnerable… hence such a painstaking effort to help them with their personal and professional development”.

The project has been launched thanks to cooperation from the La Orotava City Council. Councillor for social welfare, Belén González Rodríguez, has given full support to the initiative and other project run in the city with the Foundation. Antonio Expósito, the Foundation's delegate for the northern zone also points out the “success and importance” of a structure of this kind in the city, “which will certainly help many young people to improve their quality and style of life and allow them to build a future like other young people who do not have such complicated circumstances”.

Published 18/03/2013