In June, 2016 Equilibrium signed a contract with Byala Municipality for the management of the Centre for Family-Type Accommodation for Children and Young Adults and the Centre for Social Rehabilitation and Integration.

We were taking the challenge of providing better living conditions and development for 8 children that were removed from institutional care and placed in the small-group home in Byala. It is indeed a challenge, given the heavy burden of these children from a very early age and the consequences of institutional care. Our main mission is to provide children and young adults with a family-type environment and constant care for every child / young adult according to their needs and in accordance with their opinion, interests and preferences.

We are constantly striving to improve the children’s living conditions so they can have opportunities for independence and privacy and at the same time to live in the small-group home as a family – in comfort and a sense of community.

Each child has his/her own plan for development – according to their interests, hobbies, strengths and dreams for the future.  We encourage them to believe that they are talented and valued and can achieve anything they want with effort and persistence. And, no matter how hard it is for them, they try to make steps forward and to fight their own barriers and distrust that they built against everything and everybody (as a result of their stolen childhood) and to meet new challenges in a constructive and positive way.

 These children have an enormous need for love, safety and support to develop, feel at home and believe in themselves.

The Centre for Social Rehabilitation and Integration in Byala is with a capacity of 20 users. The main focus of the service is the support of individual development, upkeep and acquiring of new abilities and independence of youths with different disabilities, as well as support of children and young adults from different risk groups through targeted activities for integration and prevention of social exclusion. We support parents and caregivers to be better informed and help them to be more confident in raising their child / young adult with special needs. The service includes various advisory, therapeutic and rehabilitation activities aimed at the creation, support and development of social skills, as well as training of independent living skills.

The mobility of the service is an extremely important component for Equilibrium. The provision of specialised support and help for the children with special needs and their families in their homes, especially for those who live in the small communities of Byala Municipality is essential.

Both centres are managed by Equilibrium which gives the opportunity for flexible use of material and human resources so that the experts – a social worker, an occupational therapist, a physiotherapist, nurses, a psychologist and a speech therapist – can support children with disabilities and their families, as well as the children from the Centre for Family-Type Accommodation.

We organise events and campaigns that can involve the team, the children and the community of Byala in the mission of the organization – to support children, young people and their parents to build optimism, to develop their personal resources and to take responsibility for their own futures.