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Implementation period: December 2011 – June 2012

Funding: Foundation “Bulgarian Charities Aid Foundation”

Role of the organization: leading

Precis

The preservation of a highly medicalized approach to children with special needs continues to discourage family-based care by focusing on the dangers and disadvantages and encouraging the institutionalization of children who can be cared for at home provided that families have access to advice and practical support provided by mobile, responsive multidisciplinary teams and informal networks.

Objective

To demonstrate the genuine potential for children with special needs to be cared for by loving families by developing the capacity of the team at Ruse complex of social support.

Method

  • Training of personnel with different skills in early intervention techniques
  • Start early intervention programme for children with special needs aged 0-6
  • Start mutual support group – Special Parents for Special Children and provision of access to SOS Parents support network

Results

  • 4 trained specialists – physiotherapist, social worker, psychologist, medical professional
  • Work with 10 young children and families
  • Successful formation of support groups

Conclusion

This project provided the impetus for the development of an approach that has expanded as a component of the social services provided via the Ruse complex and it has proved invaluable in the context of DI. EQ has pioneered the placement of children with significant special needs in foster care and we have developed a highly active support group for parents, foster carers and adoptive parents.