A social service of protected housing for persons with disabilities has been launched in Cantemir

Four people with intellectual disabilities from Cantemir district who had been in residential institutions for a while will live in a house specially purchased for them in Baimaclia commune, where the social service of protected housing was created. This service is intended for adults with mild intellectual disabilities and a high degree of personal autonomy. Through this service, people are integrated into the community, do household chores together, and can even find a job, being guided by a social worker and a service manager. This form of assistance to people with disabilities helps avoid isolation and develop the skills of independent living.

The social service of protected housing has been developed by the public association Aachen-Moldova Partnership and Cantemir District Council as part of the project “Civil Society Organizations Act for Better Social Services”, financed by the European Union, co-financed and implemented by Soros Foundation Moldova. The project resources were used to buy the house where the beneficiaries will live, which was equipped with the necessary furniture and appliances, and the Cantemir District Council will continue financing the work of the service.

“Such a service was very necessary for the district, where we have people at risk of being placed in residential institutions. Here we have created good living conditions for them, so that they feel they are not people with disabilities, but ordinary members of the community,” said Natalia Dediu, President of Aachen-Moldova Partnership, at the launch of the service.

“Protected housing, as a specialized social service, has the mission, on the one hand, to prevent institutionalization, so that people do not end up in huge institutions, placement centers, or boarding schools, and on the other hand, to support those who leave these institutions. Protected housing means ordinary houses. We will not see sign plates at the gate, for example. They are ordinary houses, in which people with disabilities are guided, provided with support, assistance, especially in the first months, to form life skills, and subsequently, after young people get support and acquire certain skills, they can work in the community, find jobs, cook their own meals, participate in all community activities, at various holidays. Through protected housing we also get closer to people in the community, so they better understand what disability and tolerance mean,” explained Marcela Dilion, Program Manager at Keystone Moldova, the organization that provided training and mentoring in the creation of this social service.