The Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) is implementing a project to increase the availability of educational social services for children with disabilities in Georgia. The project includes creating three care centres located in Gori, Tbilisi and Kareli; as well as coordinating advanced training for the staff of these centres.
During the course of the project, ADRA Georgia will renovate the premises of the existing institutions by providing new equipment and furniture to provide the necessary conditions for the proper care of the students. The existing Child Care Centre, which is supervised by the local non-governmental organization, Centre for Development and Welfare, is the only institution of its kind in Karelia to care for children with disabilities. Unfortunately, the rented premises, in which the centre is currently located, is too crowded for its 15 students. To solve this problem, and create conditions for a larger number of students, local authorities donated a more spacious site of eight rooms, in which there is enough space for a large number of children.
It will be overseen by the local non-governmental organization (The Child and the Environment), which currently oversees the care of 41 students. All of these students currently undergo rehabilitation, physiotherapy and psychological treatment in the Central Children’s Hospital in Iashvili. While the hospital is not a great distance from the existing centre, approximately 8.5 km, the organization does not have its own transportation. The children must take a public bus with two transfers on the way and, for children with disabilities, this is a challenging trip.
They often miss classes at the centre on the day of their hospital visit due to the length of the trip. They could also be forced to skip treatment at the hospital if no family member is available to take them. In the new centre, which will be on a different floor of the building, students will be able to receive qualified rehabilitation assistance and other necessary care on the spot, without having to go to the hospital. The services of the new centre will be available not only to the students of the organization, but to other children as well.
The third centre, created under the project, will be the Daily Care Centre for Children with Disabilities in Gori. This centre is designed to implement the Early Child Intervention program for children with various physical and psychological disabilities, who are under the age of seven years.
