Today, in an offline format, the first working meeting of the Public Sector Interaction Platform, initiated by the Coordination Center for the Development of Family Education and Child Care, took place. The purpose of the event was to acquaint Platform participants with the center’s activities, and to present the project “Strategies for ensuring the right of every child to grow up in a family environment.” Mechanisms of interaction between the public sector and authorities at the central and local levels were also discussed in detail.
In particular, Iryna Tulyakova, who is the head of the Coordination Center, told those present about the main directions of implementation of the strategy of supporting children and families with children, which ensures the fulfillment of the right of every child to family education. Mrs. Iryna singled out five main areas of work, these are:
- Strengthening the ability of families with children to care for and raise children.
- Providing children with alternative forms of family care and education.
- Creation of conditions for the return and integration of forcibly displaced, deported and evacuated children.
- Transformation of the institutional system of care and upbringing of children.
- Socialization and integration of children who have experience of staying in residential institutions.
An important achievement of the center was the creation of an information platform, https//dity.gov.ua, which provides comprehensive information on family types of adoption and forms of upbringing, legal and psychological consultations on preparation for adoption, and provides a lot of useful information on the site for future parents and guardians
The coordination center is engaged in the development of online courses for future parents and adoption courses. The center also pays great attention to and develops an information campaign on the adoption of teenage children, family groups and children with disabilities. After all, only 10% of the surveyed future guardians are ready to take into their family a child with a disability or two children who are related to each other.
Kateryna Novokhatnia, Deputy Minister of Social Policy and First Deputy Head of the Coordination Center, also spoke at the event. Kateryna spoke about the important steps in the development and implementation of the strategy, the determination of priorities in the updating of strategic reform documents, and the creation of expert groups that will help in the development and monitoring of adoption and the provision of educational services to future parents and guardians.
Halyna Didula, project manager of the Coordination Center, shared information about the work algorithm of the Public Sector Interaction Platform, the main purpose of which is to create: advocacy for the implementation of the Strategy for ensuring the right of every child to grow up in a family environment at the national, regional and local levels, unification and coordination of efforts of the public sector and interaction with authorities and development of the capacity of organizations to implement the measures envisaged by the strategy.
The created Platform provides an opportunity to: analyze legislation and problematic issues requiring changes; taking part in information campaigns to form a better understanding of the tasks of the Strategy by society; participation in monitoring and the opportunity to provide an assessment of the effectiveness of the implementation of reforms at all interregional levels.
Kateryna Frolova, CDTO of the Coordination Center, spoke about the types of consultations and support provided to potential guardians, named parents and adoptive parents within the framework of the functioning of the National Platform for the Development of Family Forms of Education and Adoption, and presented the informative multifunctional dashboard of the Platform’s participating organizations, which contains information about their activities and contact details.
And Jean Choi, head of the child protection section of the UNICEF representation in Ukraine, told the audience about the grant mechanism for supporting non-state providers of social services within the project, which is being developed by UNICEF with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for Commonwealth Affairs and Development of Great Britain.
The head of the international charity organization “Partnership for Every Child” Vasylyna Dybailo and the head of the public organization “Care in Action” Iryna Shymechko shared their own experience of interaction with state authorities and local self-government bodies.
At the event, it was decided to hold quarterly meetings of representatives of the Platform’s participating organizations to exchange information on progress in the implementation of the Strategy, and to discuss best practices and key challenges and ways to overcome them. In particular, this information will be important and interesting for international partners and donors.
