Provision of social services for children with special needs in Kosovo

Provision of social services for children with special needs in Kosovo

In July 2009, One to One Children's Fund responded to a call for proposals from the European Commission (EC) to provide social services to disabled and vulnerable children in Kosovo and was awarded a grant to implement a 2-year programme filling a crucial gap in the provision of social services for children with special needs in the country.

One to One Children's Fund in partnership with three local organisations, One to One Kosova, SDSF and ASTRA, the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare (MLSW) as well as local services in 5 targeted municipalities, aim to deliver services benefiting the most vulnerable groups of children i.e. abandoned children, children without parental care, children who are neglected or vulnerable to exploitation or abuse, and children who are victims of domestic violence and human trafficking.

The activities will be divided broadly in two complementing components leading to establishment of community based social services:
     
Activities for filling the gaps in service provision will include

• Provision of temporary shelter services and community based housing facility services for the most vulnerable groups of children at risk (e.g. children without parental care who are neglected or vulnerable to exploitation and abuse and children who are victims of domestic violence and human trafficking);
• Improving quality of life and development opportunities through inclusive and participatory practices, including provision of specialised staff for children with learning difficulties and their carers;
• Provision of day care centre services for children with mental and physical disabilities with a particular focus on children with high and complex dependency needs, including activities such counselling of parents/carers, summer camps, networking with relevant local institutions;
• Outreach activities to identify, support and counsel families with disabled children;
• Sensitisation activities to raise awareness among general population for the needs of vulnerable groups of children, with particular emphasize on the need for foster care for disabled children.

Capacity building activities include the following:

• Support and train central and local relevant authorities;
• Assess care needs and mapping and costing of existing services;
• Increase present capacities for data collection, planning, managing and reweaving services;
• Enhance monitoring/supervision;
• Develop care standards;
• Upgrade staff knowledge and skills;
• Develop evidence based best policies and procedures for child placement in adoption or foster care;
• Improve recruitment and training of potential foster families, based on need of child;
• Identify, cooperate and contract social society based services;
• Network with relevant institutions organizations, e.g. rehabilitation, education, health organisations, as well as parent associations and NGOs, in order to strengthening multi-sector and multidisciplinary team work.

This programme is funded by the European Commission and was launched on 15 January 2010.

One to One Children's Fund wishes to create a project model which can later be scaled out to the rest of Kosovo. This project model can easily be build-in within the project scope planned and approved by the EC and will allow One to One Children's Fund to increase the impact of the programme overall and will leave a strong legacy in Kosovo in the field of mental health and social services. For this reason,  One to One Children's Fund also received supplementary funding from the Medicor Foundation to fully equip two day care centres and provide essential special needs training to the local counsellors and day care workers. This model will give national and local mental health and social services the necessary tools as well as an infrastructure to the MLSW and the local centres to continue with the provision of high quality services for vulnerable and disabled children beyond 2011.