In Europe - CIS
February 2009 : Seminar in Almaty (Kazakhstan) dedicated to multidisciplinary approach, Crisis Centres and helplines
From 23 to 26 February 2009, as part of the project "Prevention of sexual abuse and assistance to child victims of abuse and ill-treatment in CIS and Latvia", the sixth seminar of our programme took place in Almaty, hosted by our local partner "Podrugi".
The seminar gathered more than 40 child professionals. Most of them are psychologists, educationalists, directors of Crisis Centre for abused, ill-treated or addicted children, managers of helplines, officials involved in education, health or social issues, NGOs coordinators and police representatives involved in child-related matters.
The project is based on exchanges of experiences and the participants (from Russia, Latvia, Belarus, Moldova, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and France) were thus able to share good practices on various themes such as:
Multidisciplinary approach: reliable assistance to abused children requires a multidisciplinary approach, that is to say a coordination of institutions relevant for protecting children from violence and abuse within judiciary, police, health, educational and social protection systems.
Several of our partners promote and put into practice a multidisciplinary approach. The Almaty seminar was the perfect opportunity to share and exchange about this fruitful method.
Crisis Centres: the mission of a Crisis Centre is to provide a shelter for children who are victims of abuse, neglect or violence. This shelter must be a safe and nurturing environment, staffed by quality care providers.
Crisis Centres directors and managers had the opportunity to bring up good practices regarding child emotional and psychological envelopment during a stay in the Crisis Centre.
Helplines: Helplines, be they local or national, are a remarkable tool for child abuse detection. Helplines managers and officers were able to share their knowledge about giving adequate over-the-phone assistance to suffering children.
