Day care centre for children and youth with disabilities in Vrnjacka Banja, Serbia
Children and youth with disabilities in small communities all over Serbia are doomed to spend much of their free time inside their homes, depending totally on their parents and other family members. Day care centres where they can socialize, learn and play are very expensive, so not many small municipalities have financial recourses and human capacity to establish these kinds of centres.
In municipality Vrnjacka Banja, Iris member organization “The Association of Parents of Children with Disabilities” is the only organization that gathers and addresses to this specified social group. They were founded in 2011, with financial support of the EU Delegation, first Day care centre in Vrnjacka Banja which provides care of the children during the weekdays, for a period of eight hours, with the provided transportation and meals.
At the moment Day care has 20 beneficiaries with physical, mental and development problems, with light, moderate and multiple disabilities, autism and Down syndrome. However, at the moment the service does not have a license that is defined by law as precondition for selection of the Association as the provider of social services. With the project supported by the IRIS network, this organization succeeded to adapt and renovate the space, rooms for personal hygiene and also to improve infrastructural conditions. These repairs made possible for the Association to meet minimum standards for licensing, so now finally children in Vrnjacka Banja will have a place for themselves.