Friends of Children in Romania (Known as “Copiii in Sanul Familiei”) is a Romanian NGO founded in 1994 by Mary Gibson and Serban Cantacuzino. The aim of the organisation is supporting institutionalised children and bring them together in a family environment to grow up with love and care, close to nature, receiving support from the organisation even after the age of 18.
In the past 10 years many privately and publicly funded projects started to take root in order to encourage the children to engage with the wider village community, whether this means helping in the church, with gardening activities, sports activities, and eco-friendly based activities, as well as participating in various events in the neighboring urban areas.
The organization owns six houses in the rural area – Harja village, Bacau county – and two of those houses are serving the growth of 15 children in foster care, caring, offering affection, education, teaching values and morals.
We are a team of experienced educators, youth workers, facilitators and creative professionals with the common mission to create the context and support empowerment, inclusion and social entrepreneurship of disadvantaged youth in rural and urban areas.
We are aiming at inspiring youth and youth workers at a personal and professional development level and other direct beneficiaries in order to grow the local community and inspire by sharing our success strategies and practices.
