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Description
In Poland there is no comprehensive health care system addressed to families with children with disabilities. Parents of children hospitalised in neonatal intensive care units do not receive reliable information nor appropriate support. This experience causes them stress comparable to traumatic stress. They often feel despair, guilt or injustice, and even struggle with depression. There is a lack of multi-specialist centres where the child is in the centre of attention, and where professionals work closely together and consult with each other to determine the scope of treatment. In addition, activities aimed at the child with disabilities usually overlook the aspect of functioning of healthy family members. Therefore, families with children with disabilities very often break up (statistically 8 out of 10 marriages break up after the birth of a child with disability). In this project we want to create and test solutions that will improve the support system for families with children with disabilities in the Wielkopolska Region. We will design a web application, launch a specialized forum and create a network of 10 PRO-BABY – Early Childhood Support Information and Consultation Points. We will conduct an evaluation and elaborate a report on the possibility of disseminating the developed solutions throughout Poland. In creating the network of Pro-Baby Points, we cooperate with such organisations and institutions as: the Department of Neonatal Infections of Poznan University of Medical Sciences, the Rysy Foundation, the Association for Children and Adults with Cerebral Palsy "Żurawinka", the Club of Enterprising Women and the Little Pony Clinic in Suchy Las. Our foreign partners include Centre for Applied Social Sciences (CASS) University of Tartu (Estonia), Gerðaskóli, Suðurnesjabær (Iceland) and the Women''s Issues Centre (Lithuania).