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Mission, goals and activities
The “Casa Famiglia Rosetta” Association (ONLUS) was set up in Caltanissetta at the beginning of the ‘80s, with voluntary work experience promoted by Fr. Vincenzo Sorce and a group of his collaborators. The idea began as a reply to the need, in a specific region (Sicily), of policies in the socio-health/psychological fields: an expression of service of the Christian community towards the weak.
In almost 30 years of activity, the Association has expanded its sphere of action including not just Italy but also abroad, especially in Brazil where it has been present for the last 10 years, managing a Centre for Neuro-psycho-motorial rehabilitation, a ‘family home’ for disabled children, a Therapeutic Program for the treatment of drug addiction with the creation of a reception centre, a residential community, re-integration community for drug addicts and a residential Shelter for street children.
In 2005, a centre for the prevention and treatment of HIV-AIDS affected children was opened in Tanga, Tanzania.
The principal objective of the Association is to give concrete answers to the complex world of social alienation expressed in hundreds of types of suffering and marginality: handicapped people, drug and alcohol addicts, AIDS victims, the old, the mentally ill, children at risk, women in difficulty.
The Association not only employs more than 200 specialized workers in various professional fields, in management and treatment but also many consultants who are experts at the national and international levels in a variety of fields which go from neuro-psycho-motorial rehabilitation, drug abuse treatment and prevention and all the correlated pathologies, child at risk problems and high level professional training. Highly qualified staff work to maintain quality standards in socio-healthcare services, in social planning and in international cooperation.
In practice, this has meant the creation of four ‘family homes’ for disabled male and female children, registered and recognized by the Regional Health Authority, three ‘family homes’ for children at risk, two for AIDS victims, three Therapeutic Communities (one of which is reserved for women with children) for the treatment of drug addiction, together with various prevention centres, a centre for alcoholics, a residential community for the treatment of gamblers, four centres for neuro-psycho-motorial rehabilitation. All these services are managed according to the national health laws with staff and structures conforming to local and national legislation requirements. For these services the Association has recognized contracts with Regional and Local Health Authorities as well as with Local Councils.
In addition, the ACFR offers an important service to the community with the Family Consultancy Centre which is affiliated to the Christian Family Clinics, which offers a variety of services in socio- psychological family counselling. This also includes the Family Genetics Centre and Family Genetics Laboratory which has a contract with the Local Health Authority, and offers family genetics consultancy and carries out research in socio-healthcare issues and training in collaboration with the Universities of Palermo and Catania.
The Association has been recognized as an ‘Ente Morale’ (non-profit organization) by the Italian Home Affairs Ministry and as a Non-Governmental Organization for the training of developing populations by the Italian Foreign Affairs Ministry.
It also has annual contracts with the Italian Defence Ministry for the training of 25 conscientious objectors and since 2000, this activity has been carried out under the National Civil Service Office (‘Ufficio Nazionale per il Servizio Civile’) which is directly managed by the Presidency of the Council of Ministers. Since 2003 a training program for ‘civil service’ volunteers in drug treatment and prevention centres, has been started.
The ACFR has also contracts with the Italian Ministry of Justice to carry out projects of public interest.
International projects
At the international level it has realized and carried out the trans-national European Project ADAPT with the creation of a database and distance/on-line training for specialists in the socio-healthcare sector and a project of work placements for the disabled.
On behalf of the Unites States Department of State and later under the United Nations, the Association has trained 500 specialists in drug addiction and treatment from Eastern Europe (Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Slovenia, Slovakia, Czech Republic). Under the UN and financed by the US Department of State, the ACFR has carried out a training program for specialists in drugs at the management level from the Russian Federation, Belarus Republic and Moldavia. Due to the professional acknowledgement received after these training programs and activities, the centres for drug treatment of the ACFR have housed free of charge, young people with drug and/or other related problems from these countries in rehabilitation and social re-integration programs.
In the training and prevention activities concerning problems of the young, one significant activity that was carried out by the ACFR in 2001, was a project concerning young people involved in criminal organizations which was held along the Gela (Sicily) and Medellin (Colombia) axis, in collaboration with the “Hogares Claret” Foundation of Medellin.
This training project was directed to treatment, rehabilitation and social re-integration specialists for young people with drug addiction and crime related problems and was carried out at the same time in Gela and Medellin. Both 25 specialists from Gela and from Medellin were involved.
Since 2001 the Association, has housed periodically, free of charge, children suffering from serious disabilities from Libya , together with their families, carrying out diagnostic tests, therapeutic and neuro-psycho-motor rehabilitation programs.
In 2005, in collaboration with the Apostolic Vicarship of Tripoli, the Gdeddafi Foundation and with the support of ENI, 10 specialists in drug addiction from Libya were trained in Caltanissetta.
At the end of 2005, in collaboration with the Caritas Nazionale, a project to train specialists in drug addiction together with the creation of a model community for the treatment of drug addicts, were carried out in the Tripoli hospital.
Training and International conference
Another branch of the Association is the Foundation of the Istituto EuroMediterraneo per la Formazione, Ricerca, Terapia el Sviluppo delle Politiche Sociali where three-year courses for the training of psycho-motor specialists are held and where there is a School of Psychotherapy (bio-energetic model).
Since 2000 a Further Education Centre has been created in Caltanissetta with the opening of the Sicilian branch of the Rome University “Libera Università Maria Assunta SS”, for students belonging to every Mediterranean country with degree courses in Teaching, Social Services, Third Sector Economics, Psychology and Rehabilitation and specialized degree courses in Social Services and Psychology.
In 2003 another branch of this university faculty was opened in Mussomeli (Sicily).
Thanks to this training experience at the national and international level, the Association has signed collaboration contracts for training activities with the Universities of St.Petersburg, S.Buenaventura and Luis Amigò of Medellin.
The Foundation carries out an intensive editorial activity with the publication of numerous books and reviews concerning research in various fields like the series edited by the publisher Sciascia “Studi & Ricerche”. It also publishes the three- monthly academic review “Solidarietà”, which deals with specialized issues concerning socio-healthcare, and through its own Publishing Company, prints volumes of the series “Società e Storia” which contain essays on socio-cultural topics and the two series “Biblioteca di Solidarietà” and “Prospettive”. It is also the organizational and coordinating centre of numerous seminars, meetings and round table discussions on a variety of issues regarding the work of the Association.
On behalf of the World Network on Drug Prevention, the Association organized in Palermo – Terrasini (Sicily) from the 25th to the 29th September 2000, the Third World Conference on Drug Prevention, with the participation of 550 delegates from 72 nations and 5 continents.
On behalf of the same Network the Fifth World Conference on Drug Prevention was organized in Rome from the 22nd to the 29th September 2003.
From the 15th to the 17th May 2006, thanks to the collaboration with the US Department of State, INL., the Association organized the “Forum for Africa” in Terrasini-Palermo on the treatment of HIV/AIDS with the participation of representatives of political institutions, diplomatic delegations in Italy, religious leaders, doctors, members of NGOs from Angola, Benin, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria and Tanzania.
In the months of April and May 2008, financed by the US Department of State, IDR, the Association organized and directed the “Training on Drug Abuse Treatment” in Partinico, Palermo, on drug treatment with the participation of 21 doctors and psychologists working in private and public health centres of the Ivory Coast, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria and Tanzania.
In December 2008, financed by the US Department of State, IDR, a “Training of Trainers” was organized and directed in Tanga (Tanzania) to train trainers in the treatment of drug addiction with the participation of 17 doctors and psychologists from private and public health centres from the Ivory Coast, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria and Tanzania.
International Network and activities
An important milestone in the history of the ACFR is represented also by its work for the United Nations. Since March 2009 as an NGO specialized in the Treatment of Drug Abuse and HIV/AIDS related problems, it has worked on the Treatnet II Project for the United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime (UNODC) which is a part of the UNODC global project named GLOJ71, a network through which UNODC intends to sustain and promote, according to the guidelines recommended by WHO, quality services in the treatment and rehabilitation of drug abuse and in all
other related health problems including HIV/AIDS, within all the countries belonging to the United Nations. With the Treatnet II project that will last until 2011, the ACFR will sustain training with its cascade effect, developing good practices in training to more than 2000 in-service professional staff working in Prevention, Treatment and Rehabilitation of drug abuse and HIV/AIDS in 3 African countries: Cote D’Ivoire, Nigeria and Mozambique.
In order to offer more qualified services, and to compare itself with other associations which have similar operational objectives and are working in the same socio-healthcare areas, the ACFR is a member of many regional, national and international organizations.
The most recent goal which the Association has reached, is having acquired Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations. This was achieved because it was able to demonstrate through international experience and documentation, its commitment in aid, training and development in all the areas of direct relevance to the general aims and purposes of the United Nations.
This new status will allow the Association to work actively with ECOSOC and its subsidiary bodies and with UN Secretariat on projects all over the world, facilitating the access to special funds and assuring collaboration with numerous agencies world-wide. The special consultative status is governed by the United Nations Charter and by all ECOSOC resolutions. It represents official recognition of all the commitment the Association has demonstrated at the international level in all these years.
However the ACFR has other official recognitions and is a member of many other national and international organizations. Together with the “Terra Promessa Project” (a drug treatment programme for residential communities) and the association “L’Oasi”, it has constituted the Federation called ESODO.
It is a member of C.L.E.A.R.S. (‘Coordinamento degli Enti Ausiliari della Regione Siciliana’ - coordinating body of the various associations from the Sicilian Region) and the President of the ACFR, Fr. Vincenzo Sorce has been elected its Coordinator for two terms.
It is a member of A.R.I.S. (‘Associazione Religiosa Istituti Socio-Sanitari’ ) which has put together organizations and associations from all over Italy that run Rehabilitation Centres, Clinics, Hospitals and Community Homes.
It is a member of F.I.C.T. (‘Federazione Italiana delle Communità Terapeutiche’), an organization which includes all the associations which deal with the treatment of drug addiction but also are active in training and research.
It is also a member of the W.F.T.C. (‘World Federation of Therapeutic Communities’), which deals with coordinating, directing and supporting therapeutic treatment programs concerning drug addiction all over the World, offering consultancy to Governments and their legislative bodies on policy making concerning drug abuse and treatment and monitoring the spreading of drug addiction picking out the areas where specific priority action is required.
It is also a member of the Latin-American Federation of Therapeutic Communities and of the Brazilian Federation of Therapeutic Communities. Recently the Association has adhered to the Euro-Mediterranean Coordination of Therapeutic Communities with its headquarters in Cyprus.
Fr. Vincenzo Sorce is also a component of the National Committee of Drug Addiction experts (Consulta Nazionale degli Operatori alle Tossicodipendenze) at the Department of Social Affairs under the Presidency of the Council of Ministers of Italy, of the Regional Committee on Drug Addiction and of the Scientific Technical Committee on Drug Prevention, both belonging to the Sicilian Regional Heath Authority.
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