The Zakarpattia Regional Military Administration hosted a roundtable discussion on creating a sustainable system of supported living services for people with disabilities at the level of territorial communities in Zakarpattia Oblast. The discussion of challenges and solutions in this area was moderated by Olha Travina, Head of the Regional Department of Social Protection of the Population, and Eric Bloemkolk, Executive Director of the SOFT Tulip Foundation.

At the meeting, Nataliya Kabatsiy, Director of the Medical Aid Committee in Zakarpattya, presented a project to transform the Vilshany Children Orphanage into a Center for the Provision of Comprehensive Social Services for Children and Persons with Disabilities, which was jointly developed by the administration of the institution and CAMZ experts.

"We are currently working on creating conditions for the opening of two new facilities, namely a supported living facility and a facility for bedridden children of the institution. Part of the planned work is being realized within the framework of the project " Improving the Protection of Children in Emergencies in Ukraine by Providing Safe Shelters, Food and Non-Food Items, and Psychosocial Support ", which is being implemented by the Committee with the support of "terre des hommes Deutschland e.V." and funding from the Federal Foreign Office of Germany", Nataliya Kabatsiy said during the discussion.

In the future, on the basis of the Center, it is planned to establish a day care unit for children and people with disabilities living in families of Drahoro and Kolochava communities, small group houses, a respite unit for parents, a rehabilitation unit and other facilities to provide the region with appropriate comprehensive quality services.

The expressed intentions and ideas are supported by the Committee’s many years of experience in creating a healthy environment for children/persons with disabilities in social institutions. To date, the cases of the functioning of the Social Abilitation and Rehabilitation Centre "Parasolka" (Tyachiv), creative and labor workshops both in "Parasolka" and Vilshany, and the involvement of foreign highly qualified specialists who systematically conduct practical master classes in physiotherapy, special education, art therapy, weaving, candle making, felting, pottery, etc. have been successful. Therefore, guided by the provisions of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the National Strategy for Reforming the System of Institutional Care and Upbringing of Children for 2017-2026, and the novelties of domestic legislation, the launched processes can be developed, moving towards childhood protection, the introduction of successful approaches from international practice of protection children’s rights, and the creation of conditions for upbringing and development of children in a family or an environment as close to a family as possible.