Young people who leave residential care face significantly harder outcomes than their peers: higher rates of homelessness, unemployment and physical and mental health difficulties, a pattern seen across many countries, and one that hits hard in Chile, where thousands of children and adolescents are currently in residential care with no family safety net to fall back on once they age out. Chilean law already requires programmes to prepare young people for this transition, but implementation lags well behind what the law promises, and residences rarely offer the kind of stable, ongoing relationship with a trusted adult that evidence shows actually helps.
The project
Rumbo Propio continues the mentoring bond already built through Sembrar Futuro's residential support work, giving each young person the same tutor they already know rather than a new figure at the point of greatest vulnerability. The programme pairs 20 teenagers aged 14 to 18 with 20 volunteer mentors who have already completed a year in that role, meeting weekly through a structured curriculum built for this transition.
Alongside regular mentoring, the project gives young people direct exposure to the world of work, including visits to real businesses, while the young person leads decisions about their own study, work and future, with the mentor's support rather than a prescribed path.
Who the project is for
The project's direct beneficiaries are 20 adolescents aged 14 to 18 and the 20 mentors paired with them, all already part of Sembrar Futuro's mentoring network.
Its impact reaches further, to the staff of each residence and to participants' families, and more broadly to the wider goal of helping young people leaving residential care build a stable, independent life.
Project name: Rumbo Propio
Proposing organisation: Fundación Sembrar Futuro
Area of intervention: Inclusion & Social Development
Country: Chile