Inclusive ECCD: - Consultative Group on Early Childhood Care and ...

CASE STUDIES
development and education problems. It has cooperated
with the Special Education Team, nursery
schools, and district/regional medical
services.
The Development Consultation Team and
the Multi-professional team
The co-operation among the health, education,
and social support sectors, which was informally
facilitated by the most dedicated
professionals in the initial phase of the movement,
was now being officially recognised as
playing an important role in developing services.
Two teams were created.
The Development Consultation Team was created
in 1981, as a continuation of the nursing
consultation programme in the hospital. It includes
participation from a paediatric doctor, an
educator from the Special Education Team, and a
psychologist from the Health Centre. The Multiprofessional
Team, officially created in 1984, was
based in the Health Centre. Both teams are located
in the head office of the region.
The teams were created to play a complementary
role with regard to existing services. They
provide advice and support to parents and health
and education professionals when these institutions
have exhausted their own possibilities of
understanding and solving problems for children
in the borough. They give continuity to the actions
of the informal groups which support
school integration in its initial phase.
Both the Development Consultation and Multiprofessional
Team take a holistic and listening
approach to solving the problems of the parents
and professionals with whom they work. They
place a great deal of importance on the enrichment
and enlargement of the social networks which can
provide both formal and informal support to a
child’s family. They liase directly with specialists
working in the regional services. This ensures
access to information and other kinds of resources,
and guarantees co-ordination in relation to a child
and his/her family’s problems and needs.
Community-based Programmes
In 1982 educators began to work with children
outside school, in the context of their daily life.
An evaluation of children’s relationships and the
roles they adopt outside school highlighted educators’
interest in social interaction and the importance
of informal social support networks for
the children. The work of itinerant special educators
began to focus on these experiences and resources,
leading to the rapid creation of
community-based groups.
By 1988 there were more than 500 children
(with 20+ children in each group) in the region
who were participating in these groups. All
groups had found a meeting and working space
(in abandoned houses, small rooms inside churches,
private underground rooms, places used to
keep decorations for religious feasts, etc.), and
every group had its own name.
Most of the children’s parents, regardless of social
background, were involved in the group’s activities
and involved themselves in the
improvement of the environment (repair work,
recycling school material, needlework, etc.).
Each group has already created some means of
raising funds to support their activities. Fundraising
activities include selling sweets and painting
pots and other handy work made from naturally
occurring local materials or waste from industry
and/or local commerce. Recovering public spaces
and cultivating small kitchen gardens was simultaneously
a significant educational activity for the
children and a means of improving the quality of
their experiences.
In 1990 Bela Vista set up a project team, in cooperation
with the Health Centre, the special education
team, and local authorities. The project
team’s role was to work closely with the community-based
groups. This activity was financed by
two foundations.
In 1994 the work done with children, families,
and social agents of each community, prompted
existing social centres to open access for the
groups and facilitated the creation of nine new local
associations which began to develop child
support services. In 1995 the community-based
groups were re-formed and became social-educational
groups. At the same time, the target population
for the services also changed. It expanded
to include people of all ages from “at risk” groups.
The risk of negative discrimination that leads
to the need for additional support services is particularly
great for young people who are held
back at school and/or who, (in a few exceptional
cases), are secretly sent out to work to help their
families. These services are also needed for young
mothers from “at risk” social groups who seek
help from unofficial sources because they do not
have access to and/or cannot maintain a lasting
link with the social centres. Services are needed
for children of incapable or inadequate parents
who have health problems, or who are in trouble
with the law. Children of migrant families and
ethnic minorities (gypsies and Africans) also face
hardships because their parents find it difficult to
fulfil the basic conditions of life—housing, social
aid and a secure job—and are prevented from settling
or returning to their original home.
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