CasaBlanca is both a physical home and foster care model for unaccompanied immigrant and refugee children. Our mission is to help these young children become part of the CasaBlanca family, as well as provide a stable environment to encourage a smooth transition into their new homeland. CasaBlanca is meant to act as a timeless support system that extends throughout the resident's life, regardless o
f the path that the child takes. Under the current Finnish system, refugee children do not have a proper place in the system, which also doesn't take into account several aspects of their well-being, including their mental health. We have made it our mission to provide special benefits and advantages to these children through a socially responsible model that focuses on the complex needs of refugee children. This new approach will benefit both the children and the Finnish society, as CasaBlanca will enable healthy children to reach their full potential and thrive in their new environment. In the long run, we want our mission and model to spread to other countries in Europe and around the world.
-- The CasaBlanca Model --
We have made it our mission to provide special benefits and advantages to these children through a socially responsible model that focuses on the complex needs of refugee children. One of the unique attributes of the CasaBlanca model is the multilingual and multicultural environment that the children will be a part of. Under the CasaBlanca roof, 13 languages are spoken - Finnish, Swedish, English, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Albanian, Russian, Arabic, Kurdish and Burmese. The children will also become part of a family-based cooperative system that works with cultural mentors in the local Finnish and immigrant communities to provide tailor-made programs for immigrant children, including sports, art, dance and music. The goal is to provide a familiar base to encourage growth, will and identity. In order to address traumatic events that may have happened to the children prior to their arrival, CasaBlanca will collaborate with professionals experienced in dealing with mental health through various approaches to therapy. Each child will be individually catered to and treated with the type of therapy that suits his or her needs. There will be a doctor, psychiatrist, psychiatric nurse, neuropsychiatric coach and several psychotherapists on site and on call. Some of the main therapeutic approaches include art therapy, narrative psychology and psychosynthesis. With the intention of enabling the formation and development of identity, it is important that the children acknowledge their memories as well as the benefits of their own culture. In CasaBlanca, the children will be still connected to their roots, thanks to a team of cultural mentors composed of adult immigrants who share similar backgrounds, cultures and languages with the children. As it may be challenging for the children to relate to the host family at first, immigrant mentors will collaborate with the family by visiting and practicing some of their own traditions and by sharing their own stories. Therefore, the presence of those mentors will help bring a sense of normalcy and stability into the new home environment. The storytelling method is also used, which is taught by story mediators and utilizes metaphors and trigger-questions that stimulate the externalization of important memories. The children will be encouraged to share their experiences and their stories as a way to conceptualize emotions, while also learning how to develop their own story. It addresses the positive aspects of the child’s roots and enables culture validation with integration. Through storytelling, the children will have the opportunity to express (in words) how they want to be identified. This process will allow the children to take pride in the valuable aspects of their culture while consciously build up their identity in their new environment. In addition, by experiencing other people’s stories, the children can learn important tools on how to relate to others through metaphorical thinking.
-- The CasaBlanca Platform --
CasaBlanca is also working to connect people with businesses by providing a platform for foreign companies to enter into the Finnish and European economies. Our goal is to open opportunities for business and cultural exchange for immigrants in Finland and their native countries. In addition, CasaBlanca is made up of a multilingual, multicultural and multi-disciplinary team where 13 languages are spoken – Finnish, Swedish, English, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Albanian, Russian, Arabic, Kurdish and Burmese. We are currently working with representatives in Iraqi Kurdistan and Kosovo, and hope to extend the platform to other regions and countries.
