Parenting Is Not Easy – Support Is Needed for Sure!
PARENTING IS NOT EASY – SUPPORT IS NEEDED FOR SURE 2!
PROJECT PARTNERS“Zlatni dani” Association, Štitar
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
The family is the fundamental social institution that has a decisive influence on the fate of the individual. Parents are the ones who give the child its first experiences and opportunities for development and all kinds of learning. A child with developmental disabilities needs its parents more and for longer than other children. Such a child and its parents need the help of the entire community and of all social structures. The lives of parents of children with disabilities are subordinated to the needs of these children, to constant 24-hour care, and to the therapies and treatment that are essential for the children’s progress, and they simply have no time for themselves, their obligations or leisure, nor the knowledge and experience needed to raise such a child.
Numerous studies have been carried out on the quality of life of families of children with developmental disabilities. The results of such studies have shown that families of children with disabilities are more exposed to stress, poverty, poor partner relationships, a reduced social network, physical and psychological strain, depression, etc. (Leutar, Starčić, 2007; Leutar et al., 2008). However, a child’s disability does not necessarily mean a lower quality of life for the parents. There are many protective factors that help parents to accept, and later to live with, their child’s disability more easily (Yau, Li-Tsang, 1999; Brown et al., 2003). To that extent, the process of adjustment can be made easier for parents by open conversations and counselling with their partner, other parents, friends, parents of children with disabilities, professional services and the like.
According to Majnemer (1998, cited in Milić Babić et al., 2014), one of the ways in which the child’s well-being is achieved and the quality of family life is improved is by strengthening parental self-confidence and competences through education and counselling. It is believed that parents who have more knowledge and skills can more effectively encourage the growth and development of their child.
PROJECT GOAL
The basic goal of the project is to empower parents by introducing informative and educational support workshops in Vukovar-Srijem County (the following towns are planned: Vukovar, Ilok, Županja, Vinkovci and rural areas – Štitar). Individual counselling workshops, support groups and educational workshops are planned, as well as a monthly bulletin that would be sent to all parents who are members of the Association and to the parents of the partner organisation. The programmes will be carried out by professional staff of the Vukovar Butterflies Association holding master’s degrees in psychology, and special emphasis will be placed on the support needed by parents of children with disabilities in rural areas, as well as families of lower socio-economic status, dysfunctional families and foster families.
ACTIVITIES
The activities will include:
- Informative and educational workshops for parents of children with developmental disabilities, parents of lower socio-economic status, dysfunctional families and foster families
- Individual counselling as needed
- Psychological support
- Producing 12 Bulletins
Through the workshops, parents will:
- Get to know themselves better as parents and as people in general
- Recognise effective ways of coping with additional burdens and/or stressful situations
- See the ways in which they relate to their child and learn about other possible ways of relating to them
- Develop and strengthen positive interaction with their partner and children
- Preserve their mental health
Understand the importance of leisure activities in the context of relief and coping with stress
CONTACT
Viktorija Matin, project manager
Email: ured@vukovarski-leptirici.hr
Mobile: 098 952 7761
The project is funded by the Central State Office for Demography and Youth in the amount of HRK 60,000 and runs from 1 September 2022 to 31 August 2023.
Bulletins
PARENTING IS NOT EASY – SUPPORT IS NEEDED FOR SURE!
PARTNER ORGANISATION
Town of Ilok
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
Numerous studies have been carried out on the quality of life of families of children with developmental disabilities. The results of such studies have shown that families of children with disabilities are more exposed to stress, poverty, poor partner relationships, a reduced social network, physical and psychological strain and depression. However, a child’s disability does not necessarily mean a lower quality of life for the parents. There are many protective factors that help parents to accept, and later to live with, their child’s disability more easily. To that extent, the process of adjustment can be made easier for parents by open conversations and counselling with their partner, parents, friends, parents of children with disabilities, professional services and the like. By including the partner organisation – the Town of Ilok – we ensure regional coverage of the planned activities and develop the proposed programmes in areas where there are no similar services yet, thereby encouraging regional development and helping to reduce poverty and social exclusion. The planned partnership, which includes local self-government units, also contributes to meeting the needs of users in Vukovar-Srijem County more successfully and defines priorities for the further development of services through joint cooperation. The practice of setting up support groups for parents in the Republic of Croatia has recently become more and more common, although it is not sufficiently rooted in society to have a more significant impact on prevention in the quality-of-life domains mentioned. A possible reason for this is the lack of professional psychological support, as well as insufficient information among parents, but also among professionals in the educational-rehabilitation, educational and medical sciences. In order to improve the quality of life of these families together, the team of professionals has devised interesting and topical subjects that will be presented at workshops held in cycles in line with the work plan and programme that will be created at the beginning of the project. A cycle of workshops is planned in Vukovar for parents who are already our users and whose children attend our programmes, and a cycle of workshops in Ilok for new parents, for whom a support and relief programme will also be provided through a playgroup that will be set up in cooperation with the Town of Ilok and equipped with work tables and didactic equipment.
PROJECT GOAL
The goal of the planned project activities is to create a stimulating environment that will empower and support parents and increase their quality of life, teach them and help them cope more easily with the situations they are in, and at the same time bring positive aspects for the end users – children with disabilities and children at risk of poverty. Strengthening parental self-confidence and competences through education and counselling is one of the ways in which the child’s well-being is achieved, by including other people who are important to the child in the early intervention process, because parents who have more knowledge and skills can more effectively encourage the growth and development of their child. By implementing the programme, the set goals will be achieved, that is, we will encourage the community to support particularly vulnerable categories of parents. They will be able to pass on the knowledge and experience they have gained to other members of their community and put it to good use in creating a richer and more interesting life for our users.
PROJECT BENEFICIARIES
The end users are children with developmental disabilities and children from families of lower socio-economic status, i.e. at risk. The children of all the parents involved will benefit from the project and its activities, but through the planned activities we most want to contribute to and support parents from rural areas.
TOTAL PROJECT VALUE
HRK 50,000.00
IMPLEMENTATION PERIOD
1 September 2021 to 1 September 2022
CONTACT
Viktorija Matin, project manager
Email: ured@vukovarski-leptirici.hr
Mobile: 098 952 7761
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