Ionut’s story

Ionut has already had an incredible variety of jobs, and he is only 20. 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. “The Daniel Centre has helped me a lot”, he acknowledges. It has helped me out not just to get a job but to keep one”.

After a series of positions which didn’t last, Ionut 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 3 to 16, Ionut 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 Ionut 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”.

Ionut 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, 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”.

Calin’s story

When Calin left a government-run care home at the age of 18, he thought he could manage on his own. “The truth was, I couldn’t”, he admits, looking back 15 years at that most vulnerable stage in his life. “I soon found myself living on the street and I didn’t know what to do”.

So how did he get to where he is now, with a wife and a steady job and his own home? He traces his success back to the two years which he spent at the Daniel Centre. “I learned about the Daniel Centre in 2010 from a friend who had been there”, Calin remembers, “The programme helped me a lot. I learned to cook, to manage my money, to be a good worker and to save money so that I could get my own home”.

Asked what his best memories of the Daniel Centre were, Calin mentions the times of Bible study. “Even before that, when I was on the street, I once went into a church and the message affected me in a big way”, he says. “Now I attend a Pentecostal church in Floresti and have a few words of encouragement for the congregation.

“Before I came to the Daniel Centre I was scared to talk to anyone. It taught me to interact with people. It was the right help at the right time. Elvira and Otilia (the Daniel Centre’s social workers at that time) were a great help to me. My life is rich and really blessed”.

Today the Daniel Centre continues to provide practical training and Christian guidance to those who lack the support normally provided by family. Social worker Daniel Ciupe says that young people leaving the protection system may find themselves facing responsibilities for which they are unprepared. “At the Daniel Centre we offer a safe and guided environment where they can develop the skills toward a stable and independent life”

Emil’s story

You are in your late teens or early twenties. Your first job hasn’t worked out. You can’t afford the flat-share. You are about to become homeless. So, what do you do? You go home to mum and dad. Isn’t that what you would want your child to do?

But some young people don’t have that option. Especially not young people brought up in care in Romania. Emil’s story illustrates perfectly the need for such a place of safety, a place to which he could return.

When he was 11, the woman who ran the foster home in which he had lived for eight years took ill, and he was transferred to a second foster family. At 18 he went to Floresti, near Cluj to learn to be a baker. That course was disrupted by the pandemic and lockdown and when he finished, he couldn’t find a job. He went to Bucharest, and then to the Netherlands where he worked for seven months in an auto parts factory. Then to the Czech Republic where he worked in a shop, then back to Romania where he found himself homeless. It was a social worker who put him in touch with Blythswood’s Daniel Centre. “I felt so insecure, having no place to stay,” Emil admits. Luiza, who was then the social worker at the Daniel Centre, counselled him and taught him how to budget. Emil felt ready to go it alone, left the Daniel Centre and again took a job at an auto parts factory. The factory closed, he became homeless and his former foster family didn’t want to know him.

“I’m so glad that Emil came back to the Daniel Centre,” says staff member Dani Ciupe. “He had made good progress the first time and he was ready to try again.”

Now 23, Emil has had a roof over his head and wise mentors to talk to while he trains and works in supermarket security. “Emil is a hard worker,” Dani says. “He wants to do more baking but right now is in charge of a security team and ready to take responsibility.”

“I hope to live independently,” Emil says. “I want to find a girlfriend and have a family of my own.”