Abstract of R. Goldiner lecture


R. Goldiner


SUPPORTIVE COMMUNITIES FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES:
DEVELOPING A FAMILY-ORIENTED SERVICE


R. Goldiner
JDC, Israel


The Supportive Community for People with Disabilities is designed to
provide solutions for the diverse needs of disabled people through a
basket of services that include social workers, community parents,
social activities, connection to an emergency call center, and a variety
of additional services for emergency situations. During the program
development process an emphasis was placed on providing solutions
for the ageing disabled and in families where parents have died,
children grew and left home, a spouse who left due to disability of the
spouse. During the implementation of the program, we learned about
the needs of families in which one or both parents are disabled with
young children at home. When a person acquires a disability in midlife,
it brings about dramatic changes in the family. Young children
need an explanation of what happened to the parent and emotional
support. The rehabilitation service system provided focuses in majority
on the parent who became disabled and partial attention is being
given to the spouse and children. Therefore, we expanded the basket
of services to the whole family, such as social activities geared to
families, volunteers for the children, emergency medical services for
the children, etc. The program, which began in 2002, is a partnership
of JDC-Israel, the Ministry of Social Services and Social Affairs, the
Ministry of Health, the National Insurance Institute, and the
municipalities. It is currently being implemented in 23 sites, serving
1,700 people with disabilities, including 100 couples with disabilities
with children, 200 people with disabilities who are single parents to
their children. In all, there are 700 children up to the age of 18 living in
families with at least one parent with a disability.

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