About 1.5 thousand Lithuanian children of various ages, who do not have the opportunity to grow up in their biological family, currently lives in a care institution. A child in such a situation is extremely vulnerable, so it is very important to give him environment and a sense of security.

Siauliai city municipality, according to all national legislation and implemented reforms at national level, aims to deinstitutionalize the social services for children left without parental care. Municipality aims to find as more as possible carers and on-call carers which help to take children out from institutions or prevent the risk for them to get into the institution during different crises.

There are far too few people who want to become guardians. The problem is that child custody is still shrouded in various unfounded myths. Older children from 9-10 years of age are especially reluctant to take care of them. The prevailing view is that the personality of such children is already formed, they will follow in their parents’ footsteps, have behavioral problems and, if they are allowed into their home, only trouble awaits. Another stereotype that deters many from the idea of ​​adopting a child for foster care is the belief that they will have to fill out a bunch of papers and go through a lot of bureaucratic processes.

In order to destroy myths and educate the public on child care issues, an information campaign was carried out during the implementation of the Project “Risk Children”, No. LLI-491 activity “Help for carers (caregivers), on-call carers, adoptive parents and family members”. During informative campaign were organized 4 publicity events. During the events, the society were introduced to the possibilities of child care, possible help for guardians. Also the good experience existing guardians shared their best practices and answered the questions. In addition, informative articles in the press, posters and leaflets promoting child care are published in Šiauliai institutions and public spaces. The created informational video clip was broadcast on the public transport of Šiauliai city.