
The Daniel Centre is helping Ionut to make a new start
Daniel Centre offers stability to young adults brought up in care
At 20, Ionuț has already had an incredible variety of jobs. He has worked in a casino, in a care home, in a petrol station, in a supermarket and in an airport.
But for all his breadth of experience, he lacked stability and that is one of the benefits he appreciates at Blythswood’s Daniel Centre near Cluj, Romania. “The Daniel Centre has helped me a lot,” he acknowledges. “It has helped me not just to get a job but to keep a job.”
After a series of jobs which didn’t last, Ionuț is now working, training to be a firefighter. Luiza Fechita, a social worker at the Daniel Centre, is in regular contact with his supervisor to pre-empt potential conflicts.
From the age of three to 16, Ionuț grew up in state-run care facilities. Consequently, as a young adult he found himself without the guidance and security of normal family relationships.
“At school I liked maths, chemistry and information technology,” he says. “But I only finished eighth grade and did not take exams. At 16, I was working in a casino, pretending to be 18. Then I went to Vienna where I spent a year caring for old people.”
Some of the care-home residents spoke Hungarian, a language which Ionuț had picked up as a child whilst in care. “The old people were open with me and told me about their past,” he says. “Some had been firemen and that is my ambition now.”
Ionuț initially came to the Daniel Centre in March 2022 but left after four months. For a time he stayed with a girlfriend in Targu Mures but returned to the Daniel Centre in January of this year, recognising the need for stability in his life, and determined to take advantage of the opportunity it presents.
“I need help to make a new start,” he admits. “Now I have started saving from my wage each month. I want to become a fully qualified firefighter and one day I want to have a family of my own. Now I feel more integrated into society.”