It is about helping children at school, parents at work and everyone together at home. We signed 12 agreements in Toruń today for the recently concluded call for proposals for the Winning Family project. They will be introduced along the lines of the social innovation that was implemented in Warsaw's Kokon Praski. The aim of this innovation was to lift children out of the vicious circle of poverty and give them a chance for a good life,

said Minister for Funds and Regional Policy Katarzyna Pełczyńska-Nałęcz at a press conference in Toruń.

Municipalities providing support to families will receive up to a maximum of £3 million in funding for this purpose. This will enable them to implement new solutions to counteract, among other things, the phenomenon of poverty inheritance in destitute families.

We announced the call for this innovation in February 2024, with a budget of approximately PLN 67 million, one-off support of up to. PLN 3 million and the project duration is approximately three years. There will be a total of 24 projects, including in Bielsko-Biała, Piaseczno, Sochaczew and Toruń. They will enable this innovation to make its presence felt nationwide. The method developed through the Prague Cocoon involves the city and municipality working together with a social welfare centre and an NGO. It ensures that not only a child, but the whole family is cared for. This is what this unique know-how is all about. It provides the whole family with the ability to raise livelihoods. On the other hand, the child receives support in school life and learning,

said Minister Katarzyna Pełczyńska-Nałęcz.

On 28 February 2025, the competition Pilot Programmes for the Empowerment of Young People in Foster Care was also launched. Its aim is to help young people raised in foster care to live independent adult lives.

Applications for project funding will be open to counties in partnership with NGOs. Among other things, it will be possible to use the funds for the renovation and adaptation of premises that are in the stock of municipalities and districts. The competition will be funded by £60m from the FERS programme.

Results of the Winning Family competition

The Winning Family competition has selected municipalities with which the Ministry of Funds and Regional Policy is now concluding funding agreements. The total value of the support is approximately PLN 67 million. In Toruń today, Minister Pełczyńska-Nałęcz signed the first agreements with 12 municipalities worth a total of PLN 33.5 million. The remaining contracts will be signed at another date.

The municipalities will be implementing the winning projects in partnership with local NGOs. The maximum budget for each project is £3 million and the implementation time is approximately three years.

Winning family – help for children and parents living in poverty

The Winning Family model builds on the success of the project entitled Praski Kokon (Praga Cocoon) implemented in Warsaw's Praga Północ district. Its solutions are going to be introduced elsewhere in Poland.
The support is intended to reach specific neighbourhoods or settlements in cities affected by social problems.

The aim is to help children who live in poverty-stricken families, where negative social phenomena occur and where poverty is transmitted to the next generation. At the same time, the concept of poverty does not only refer to a lack of sufficient means of subsistence, but also to a lack of social and cultural norms.

The aid is intended to provide opportunities for children's development in the first two stages of their lives – early childhood and formal school education. Support will focus primarily on improving their social living skills, as well as the parental, social and caring competences of their carers. It is about the family changing their awareness of their life situation, regaining a sense of agency and wanting to make a lasting difference to their difficult life situation.

Assistance to children affected by poverty – assistant, communication learning, health education

At the heart of the project is the active cooperation and sharing of responsibility – both on the part of the targeted families and of those who provide assistance. With the involvement of the local community and external support, families will not be alone in the process of change.

Families covered by the project will receive a basic package of assistance:

• the support of a family assistant;
• support from a child and youth development mentor;
• a series of workshops, e.g. on communication for parents, levelling social competences for children and young people;
• individual communication counselling for parents;
• education for mental health.

If the support is successful, families will be eligible for an in-depth form of support in the form of an extended package. It will include support for adult family members, i.e. parents (e.g. the Assertive Parent workshop, a series of prevention workshops on violence prevention and addiction prevention), children and adolescents (e.g. profiled interest development workshops) or entire families (e.g. Family Finance or Building Family Links workshops).

Pilot empowerment programmes for young people in foster care

Launched on 28 February, the competition will support young people in foster care to learn to live independently. This is a key factor for success in adult life. Properly planned self-empowerment increases a young person's chances of financial independence, coping with everyday issues or being resourceful in life.
Analyses and studies indicate that this process (which is the responsibility of the counties) requires new solutions or improvements to current ones. Problems include starting the process of becoming independent too late (currently from the age of 17), failing to exploit the potential of Individual Self-Advocacy Programmes and the function of the Self-Advocacy Supervisor, insufficient support in obtaining housing and work for those becoming independent. The local communities are also not involved enough in the assistance (i.e. measures for the active professional integration of alumni).

Terms and conditions of the competition

The deadline for applications for the competition is 29 April 2025. Applications can be submitted by partnerships consisting of at least a county and a non-governmental organisation with experience in supporting children and young people in foster care or attending day support centres (e.g. community day centres).

Each project must include support for the empowerment of at least 40 alumni. The maximum aid value for one project is PLN 8 million. No own contribution is required.

New developments in the process of empowering young people in foster care

Empowerment programmes will include:

• empowerment starting at the age of 15;
• providing a place to live to the care-experienced and preparing them for independent living;
• new standards for the creation of Individual Empowerment Programmes and new standards for the Empowerment Supervisor;
• methods not yet used in the county for successful entry and retention in the labour market, based on active experience building directly with employers;
• efforts to build a local coalition and expand the group of friendly adults.

The competition provides funds for the renovation and adaptation of premises (e.g. vacant buildings) in municipal and district resources up to 40 per cent of the project budget.

The outcome of the competition will be the development of several to a dozen innovative programmes for the empowerment of young people in foster care. They will be able to be recommended to other districts in Poland as model solutions.