Dear Ms Dzene!
Dear staff!
Dear parents, family members and participants!
It is a great honour for me to be part of your celebration today!
The name of Kapseļu Street Child Care Centre is known to all people in Latvia who care about children. I am talking about the parents and relatives of these children. About people who work here. About people who care about the lives of each and every child. I am convinced that it’s the majority of society.
When this centre was founded one hundred years ago, it was a modern institution. It was a modern institution in terms of its mission, its building and its equipment. Its mission was to help children who had been marginalized in their life.
This institution was established only four years after the founding of the Latvian state, and only two years after Latvia had won the War of Independence.
This shows that social solidarity was then an important value in Latvian society - and I am sure it always has been.
In recent years, we have celebrated the centenary of several important institutions, such as the University of Latvia, the National Library and the National Theatre of Latvia.
Today, we all appreciate the contribution these institutions have made to the development of the Latvian state, and we are aware of how much more difficult times were and how far-sighted and courageous the decision-makers of that time were.
I wish us all the same courage to face the challenges of the future.
Over time, the understanding of how these children should be helped has changed.
What used to be considered good and right has often been discarded. Because over time, new insights have emerged, both in Latvia and elsewhere.
Today, social care institutions have embarked on a course of deinstitutionalisation. This means that the best interests of the child, which include emotional, physical, mental, educational and other interests, are at the centre of attention.
The primary goal is for each child to grow up in a family where he is loved and learns to love himself.
Time will tell whether this goal can fully be realised.
There will probably be circumstances when a certain number of children will need such a centre in the future, often only as a temporary solution.
However, the care centre of the future must be a place that is not isolated from the surrounding society. It must be a place with open doors for residents and visitors, inviting interaction with a wide variety of people, holding festivals and events.
As with all social workers, the daily life of the centre’s staff is not easy. Working here is not just about work.
Working here also means loving. Loving children who have experienced emotional trauma in early childhood, who express their emotions in a unique way, whose communication is not through language but through their eyes.
We can all be grateful that you are here and that you are doing what is needed for the children of this centre, for their parents and for the entire community.
I also thank the parents and family members. Your situation is special. You deserve the solidarity of society.
I wish everyone - children, parents, relatives and staff - to continue to be strong!
I wish the participants fruitful discussions and concrete results. We remember the founding fathers of the country!
I wish us all to experience the wonder, light and joy of Christmas!
