Introduction 

Tallinn Center for Children at Risk is a welfare organization, where children who have been left without parental care or have behavioral or substance abuse problems, get professional help. This organisation has two centers in Tallinn: Lilleküla Shelter and Männi Shelter. 

Children are hosted in these two shelters for various reasons, most common are vagrancy, home negligence, family violence, parental alcoholism or drug abuse, parental unemployment or loss of residence due to family poverty. Most of the children are brought to the shelter by the police or child protection worker. 

The staff that works directly with the children consists of the manager of shelter, nine social workers and a nurse who all aim to provide the children a safe environment which helps to foster their personal development. Approximately 75% of shelter children are sent back home after their stay in the Shelter. If necessary, they remain under the supervision of the welfare worker. 

 

Location 

Männi shelter is in Nõmme subdistrict in Tallinn, the capital of Estonia. Bus connection is very good – it takes approx. 20 minutes to get to the city centre. This area is surrounded of big park and forest, which is a beautiful sight every time of year.

Lilleküla Shelter is also situated in Tallinn, in the district of Lilleküla which is about 10 minutes away by bus from the historical center of Tallinn. It is located in a quite busy area and is easily accessible from any location of the city.

 

Work tasks 

After on-arrival orientation meeting aimed at the integration of the volunteer to local realities and explanation of aims and activities of the host project, the ESC volunteer will be carrying out the following tasks: 

  • Looking after the children and youth and helping staff in teaching them different useful skills 
  • Running additional educational activities in the house using its own facilities 
  • Teaching children foreign languages through joined games, songs, sport, any other activities indoor and outdoor, which the ESC volunteer will be running 
  • Presenting his/ her home country and its culture as a part of intercultural learning 
  • Arranging children’s outings, e.g. culture visits, excursions, hikes, picnics, etc. 
  • Playing with children 

Participation of motivated ESC volunteer is seen as an exciting innovative element refreshing the daily routine and bringing additional educational value to the pedagogical process. The main idea is to provide assistance and support local personnel in daily work, particularly in running various educational and free time activities for the children and youth. It is also to provide some experience and practice of foreign languages and intercultural learning both for children and local personnel. At the same time it gives valuable field experience of the social and youth work to the ESC volunteer accepted to the project.

A lot depends on volunteer’s personality and mutual agreements. We expect the volunteer to be working from Tuesday to Saturday and
sometimes on mutual agreement to work on Sundays because the children are more available then for different activities. In that case volunteer’s two free days will be during the week. Together with the volunteers the goals and objectives of the ESC will be set. Weekly plans will help set the frames and organise time. Since Tallinna Laste Turvakeskus has a long experience with volunteers, we know how to support and empower them. Our psychologists can also help with extra counselling if needed.

 

Requirements for the volunteer 

We will be pleased to get applications from anyone who are: 

  • Ready to work with children and youngsters and have enough patience; 
  • Ready to understand and accept that the children/youngsters often come from difficult family and social background; 
  • Friendly and open-minded; 
  • Courage to take initiative;
  • Playful;
  • Optimistic; 
  • Responsible 
  • Ability to speak Russian language is a big help, as this is the native language of many children in the Shelter. 

Working experience is not required. Most importantly the volunteer should be fond of children and have optimistic and stalwart nature. All sorts of artistic, pedagogical, musical or sports related skills are welcome as they can be implemented in educational and free time activities.

 

Application

To apply fill in the application form in the left column and send it to evs@estyes.ee.

We are flexible regarding the project dates which means we can change the service dates according to the needs of volunteer.

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