What "Home" Really Means

When Nada first crossed the threshold of the "Rada Vranješević" Children and Youth Home for those without parental care, she was 14 years old. Along with her, four younger siblings were also placed in the Home. It was the moment a family fell apart, and the social protection system was tasked with trying to provide what the family could no longer give.

Today, more than a decade later, Nada graduated, completed her internship, and is employed at a public institution.

The "Rada Vranješević" Home is the oldest, largest, and only institution of its kind in Republika Srpska. Today, it houses 78 children and young people, from newborns up to 25 years of age (with an exception for students, who may stay until 26). Usually, children remain in the home until they finish secondary school, and then, if they go on to university, they may stay longer.

But the numbers don't tell the whole story. What truly happens within these walls is a process – a challenging and complex, yet necessary, process of transformation.

"We no longer want to be just a place where children live. We want to be a place from which children move on to a family, to an independent life, to the future," says Darijana Kecman, the director, who came to the helm of the Home with a clear goal: to transform the institution from a collective placement into a support centre for families and the community.

When a Student Gets Own Key

After finishing secondary school, Nada enrolled in university. She was faced with the question: how to study when the Home is no longer a place for an adult student?

Just then, Home launched its supported housing service. The Government of Republika Srpska, at the initiative of the Minister of Health and Social Protection, Dr. Alen Šeranić, allocated an apartment to the Home intended for students, where each beneficiary receives a coordinator who works with them and then gradually withdraws, just as parents step back as a young person matures.

"The first six months were hard," Darijana recalls. "But then, for the first time, they felt the joy of independence. Every day they would call to boast – someone had cooked lunch, someone had cleaned the apartment, Nada had passed an exam."

Nada spent two years in that apartment, which is the duration of the supported housing service. It enabled her to finish university without worrying about having a roof over her head.

As the end of the housing period approached and Nada graduated, panic set in. A degree is an entry to the labourmarket, but it’s not a guarantee. Without parental financial support, without an inherited apartment, without a safety net – what would happen when she left this apartment? Where would she go?

"We talked for hours," says Kecman. "Nada knew she wanted to work. She knew she wanted to be independent. But she didn’t know how. The Social Work Centre promised one-off support for the transition period, but no one could guarantee her future."

"We went together to see the director of an institution," says Kecman. The director offered Nada an internship. But the problem remained: she had to survive for the few months until employment began. With no salary, no income, Nada was in a vacuum. At the same time, the supported housing service was ending – the apartment was intended for students, and Nada was no longer a student. A solution had to be found.

Thus, Nada was hired as a sports instructor at the preschool institution that is part of the "Rada Vranješević" Home. She remained in employment, completed her internship, and today works at that institution.

The Home as a Support Centre

Nada’s story is not just the story of one young woman. It is a story about how an institution for housing children transforms into something completely different.

Since 2018, the "Rada Vranješević" Home has been in a process of transformation. The transformation plan, adopted by the Government of Republika Srpska, envisages seven new social protection services: a counselling centre for families in crisis, early intervention services, support for foster families, day care for children with developmental disabilities, supported housing (the one Nada lived in as a student), home help services, and outreach social services.

The goal is not to close the Home. The goal is to change its purpose – from a place where children come to live, to a place from which families receive support to stay together.

This process is being carried out by the Ministry of Health and Social Protection of Republika Srpska and the Public Institution Institute for Social Protection, with the support of UNICEF and funding from the European Union (IPA 2020). The project "Strengthening the Social and Child Protection System to Provide Inclusive Services and Prevent Institutional Placement of Children" is being implemented.

Every Child Needs a Family

For years, UNICEF in Bosnia and Herzegovina has advocated one clear message: every child needs a family. That is why one of the key goals of the transformation is to strengthen the foster care system. More foster families mean fewer children in institutions. More support for foster carers means more stable placements. And more investment in prevention means families are not separated before anyone has offered them a helping hand.

Nada works today. She has a job, pays for her own accommodation, and has a plan. She speaks with Darijana every day – not because she must, but because over those years a bond was formed that is not merely professional. It is the bond between a child who had lost hope and an adult who refused to give up.

Because every child has the right to grow up with love, security, and hope. Every child needs a family.

If you are interested in foster care or supporting families in crisis, please contact your nearest Social Work Centre. Every child needs a family, and you could be that family