A Child, an Orphan with a Disability, Should have a Chance to Live in a Family

The theme of the seminar was interesting for its relevance and practical content. Intermediate results of their work were shared by representatives of Ivenets house-boarding institution and the main Department of education  of Minsk Regional Executive Committee. In Ivenets institution, the number of children with disabilities decreased from 45 to 28. 10 foster families living in Minsk region were familiarized with the block of knowledge necessary for the formation of readiness to raise children with disabilities, more than 80 specialists got acquainted with the modern understanding of disability, approaches to readiness assessment children and families in integration/reintegration.
Representatives of the Main Department of Education of Minsk Regional Executive Committee presented the results of a survey that was conducted among foster families. 283 substitute parents from 22 districts of Minsk region and the city of Zhodino took part in this survey. According to the results of this survey, the majority of families said that they are well informed about the possibilities to raise a child with a disability (75.6 percent) and know the specifics of upbringing such children (62.5 percent). Half of them are well aware of the support system for families having such children. The results of this survey also showed that there is a group of foster parents who are ready to take and give care to children with disabilities.
As methods of developing the readiness of substitute parents to raise children with disabilities, the format of a theoretical additional block on preparing parents for upbringing and a practical block on getting to know the child before transferring him to the family was proposed.

At the seminar there  was a discussion about the vision of the future placement of orphans with severe multiple developmental disorders which was of great importance. As a result, we came to the understanding that life in the family to such children is a chance that we simply must provide.