Program for moving infants from public maternity hospitals and rehabilitating them into foster families, with the exclusive support of the SNF

A nurse sits on a stool in the middle of a baby room and feeds a baby in her arms

Source: SOS Children’s Villages

A Press Conference was held on Tuesday, February 7, to launch the program for moving infants from public maternity hospitals and rehabilitating them into foster families. The program is initiated by SOS Children’s Villages and the Social Welfare Center of the Region of Attica, with the exclusive support of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, and deals with the care and rehabilitation of infants from public hospitals, enhancing their prospects of growing up in a warm, safe and supportive family environment, through foster care families.

The objective of the program is to stop the phenomenon of infants remaining in public maternity wards for extended periods, to reduce stigma and the institutionalization of these children, while simultaneously creating a base of suitably trained and prepared parents and guardians, who will receive and bring up the children in the framework of foster care.

The program has already started, as the first infants have already been moved from “Elena” and “Alexandra” Maternity Hospitals to the “Penteli Infirmary”, where SOS Children’s Villages have created a Shelter for Infants, fully equipped to simultaneously accommodate up to 15 infants and toddlers.

For more information on the program, click here. (PR release available in Greek)