FICE Croatia launches fundraiser to rebuild children’s home

The children’s home in Vrbina was destroyed during the earthquake and children were relocated to another city.

FICE Croatia has launched a fundraiser to rebuild the children’s home in Vrbina in accordance to European standards.

The Residential Home Vrbina Sisak, founded in 1954 and operating in poor conditions, was destroyed during the earthquake in December 2020. It was home to eleven children aged between 5 and 17 years old.

Children from Vrbina were immediately relocated to the Lipik Community Service Centre, adding the stress of adapting to a completely new environment and new people to the situation.

Despite having a deinstitutionalisation strategy in place since 2006, progress in Croatia has been very slow due to a lack of transparency and communication from national authorities on available funding and potential cooperation. The deinstitutionalisation process is mainly financed through European funds, such as the European Social Fund and the European Regional Development Fund.

FICE Croatia is seizing this opportunity to fundraise and build a new family and community based centre for the children, who can’t wait to go back to their city and to their new home.

To learn more, read FICE Croatia’s campaign letter