Community Services to Vulnerable Groups: OVC Quarterly Report January-March 2011

The project targets 'social orphans,' children whose parents are living but unable to provide proper care, or children of parents who have been denied parental rights. The project's activities focus on working with families and social service professionals to maintain and reintegrate children within their original family units. The project has three main objectives: improving access to and furthering development of an integrated system of community-based prevention and rehabilitation services for families and at-risk children; improving the quality of training and education available to social service providers and building awareness of community members surrounding the development of favorable family environments for children; and promoting de-institutionalization of children through technical assistance to national child welfare agencies in strengthening the national regulatory and methodological base. During the reporting period, the project continued to expand its geographic reach, with the total number of localities influenced by the project increasing to 112. Community specialists who participated in capacity-building events in Grodno, Mogilev, and Minsk Oblast Re-Training institutes started new services and programs, including Parenting Skills Enhancement programs and the PRIDE model for recruitment and development of foster and adoptive parents. About 94% of these services were provided using local community resources. The project served 726 children and 1,041 parents between October 1, 2010, and March 31, 2011, exceeding annual targets. Specialists trained on a Family-centered Approach to Child Protection Services submitted five project proposals that were subsequently funded during the reporting period. Vitebsk and Brest Oblast Re-training institutes, in partnership with ChildFund, started implementing a training program on a Family-centered Approach to Child Protection Services, which involved 23 new communities from these oblasts. The pilot communities demonstrated sustainability of previously developed services to prevent institutionalization, with Zhodino and Chaussy maintaining their 0% institutionalization rates, and Kobrin achieving a 0% rate for the first time. The average countrywide indicator of institutionalization was 24%, while in the targeted communities it decreased to 3.5%. The project also faced several challenges, including the program designed by the National Adoption Center to train prospective foster parents creating impediments for PRIDE program implementation at the community level. ChildFund Belarus developed a new action plan for PRIDE legalization through partnership with the Minsk Oblast Re-training institute to address this challenge. The project also encountered economic deterioration, which is aggravating social problems and increasing the probability of poverty and unemployment, affecting the lives of the most vulnerable groups, including at-risk families and abused and neglected children. The shrinking financial resources led to the Government of Belarus eliminating the implementation of some state programs, including the National Program "Belarus Children" for 2011-2015. The project also experienced a high level of staff turnover among specialists from Socio-Pedagogic centers, requiring additional capacity-building efforts to train their replacements. This gap can be addressed by their timely inclusion in ToT programs implemented in partnership with oblast Re-training institutes. Lessons learned from the project include the importance of training for child protection specialists in Re-training Institutes being accompanied by capacity-building events for their supervisors and other stakeholders at the regional and community levels. Workshops for the Heads of the Committees on Juvenile Delinquents proved to be effective in building common understanding between all parties involved and eliminating barriers for child protection reforms at the community level.