A day center for children with intellectual disabilities was inaugurated in Balti
At least 60 children with intellectual disabilities, including those with autistic spectrum disorders from Balti Municipality and other localities in the north of the country will be able to use free ABA cognitive behavioral therapy services, sensory integration therapy, play therapy, and socialization within the framework of the “Balti Municipality Day Center for Children with Intellectual Disabilities.” The center was developed by the “Autism Hope” Public Association with the financial support of the European Union within the “Civil Society Organizations Acting for Better Social Services” project co-financed and implemented by the Soros Foundation Moldova.
Within this project, Balti Municipality Day Center for Children with Intellectual Disabilities was renovated and received sensory equipment. Therefore, the Center has premises for group and individual activities, including a room for conducting ABA therapy, i.e. applied behavioral analysis therapy which is aimed at understanding and improving human behavior and us typically used for children with autism. Besides, the center has a recreation room and a sensory room equipped with various types of stimuli and specialized equipment for rehabilitation of children with developmental and behavioral disorders. Sensory integration therapy corrects, improves, and compensates for sensory integration disorders in children. The center will be working in the daytime and will offer activities for both children and their parents. To ensure the quality of the services, the “Autism Hope” Association organized training courses for specialists on such topics as “Sensory Systems” and “Modern Integrated Intervention Techniques for Treating Autism and Other Associated Disabilities.”
“As a community of parents with children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, we were very eager to develop high-quality services focused on children’s needs right here, in our town. We have been working very hard for the last two years to achieve this purpose. While creating the Center, we conducted information and fundraising campaigns to cover the financial needs which emerged during the project implementation. Thus, we have convinced we have lots of friends and supporters whom we would like to thank,” Liuba Baciurin, “Autism Hope” PA Project Director and President, said at the inauguration event.
“We would like to congratulate Balti Municipality residents on the occasion of inauguration of this Center which is really demanded. We are glad for the support from the European Union Delegation to Moldova and the Soros Foundation Moldova which was granted to the local authorities, as it opens new opportunities for consolidating social services. I would like to thank the project implementation partners and the local public authorities for their support and generous assistance provided while creating this specialized social service,” Nadejda Crijanovschi, representative of Balti Municipality General Directorate of Social Assistance, Health, and Family Protection, said.
While attending the event, Irina Besliu, Project Manager at the European Union Delegation to the Republic of Moldova, mentioned that civil society organizations create stable partnerships with the public authorities, and high-quality social services necessary for the country’s communities are created with the financial support of the European Union.
The day center for children with intellectual disabilities in Balti is the second social service developed with the support of the European Union in Balti Municipality within the “Civil Society Organizations Acting for Better Social Services” project. “We are glad to see this open-minded attitude at the local level, and thus, the services developed are sustainable,” Diana Teaca, Soros Foundation Moldova representative, said.
The project for creating the Center has a budget of 52 thousand Euros from the resources of the European Union and co-financing from “MAD-Aid” Association from the United Kingdom – 5 thousand pounds, and the contributions from the “Autism Hope” Association – 117 thousand lei and from Balti Municipality Council – 10 thousand lei. This social service is one of the 40 services created within the “Civil Society Organizations Acting for Better Social Services” project financed by the European Union, co-financed and implemented by the Soros Foundation Moldova in partnership with the Keystone Moldova Association and the Institutum Virtutes Civilis PA.
