On March 28-29, 2018 in Moscow region was held an International Scientific and Practical Conference Improving the System of Social Services for Children and Young People with Severe and Multiple Developmental Disorders “Everyone matters”. The organizers were the regional non-profit social organization “Center for Curative Pedagogics” and the Ministry of social development of Moscow Region under support of the Ministry of labor and social protection of the Russian Federation. In the conference which was held in the building of the Moscow Region Government took part 443 participants from 4 countries and 55 Russian regions.
Participants and experts of the conference discussed current issues of new approaches development in the practice of support and social integration of persons with severe disorders as well as implementation of new effective techniques – early support, developmental care, alternative communication and many other questions. They also covered the topics of interinstitutional and interdisciplinary interaction concerning support for children and adults with severe disorders and reviewed system solutions in the sphere of support of families having children with special needs.
Among the participants of the sessions and discussions there were members of the Government Council on guardianship in the social sphere, chairman of the Synodal department for charity, head of orthodox assistance service “Miloserdie”, bishop Panteleimon, director of regional non-profit social organization “Center for Curative Pedagogics” Anna Bitova, co-chairman of the Coordination council for children and other persons with disorders by the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation Elena Klochko, director of the department for demographic policy and social protection of the Ministry of labor and social protection of the Russian Federation Svetlana Petrova, the Minister of social development of Moscow Region Irina Faevskaya and many others.
The participants of the conference indicated that after the ratification of UN Convention on the rights of persons with disabilities in 2012 Russia confirmed its intention to align the life level of persons with disorders with international standards.
In the last years in Russian legislation have been made changes that provide opportunity to implement a wide range of rights for children and adults with disorders, although meanwhile these rights are not fully implemented. Following the results of the conference will be prepared recommendations concerning living and social services for this category of people which will be addressed to the Ministry of labor and social protection of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of education and science of the Russian Federation, as well as executive bodies and heads of children and adults boarding facilities.
Director of regional non-profit social organization “Center for Curative Pedagogics” Anna Bitova:
“We had an important meeting of different regions and different specialists – representatives of the state sphere, boarding facilities, social and parents’ organizations as well as media. The conference gave all of us opportunity to see and to understand each other. It seems to me that we made progress in understanding what can be done for children and adults with severe and multiple developmental disorders. I have a very positive impression. We managed to communicate with many participants; there were interesting presentations and rather heated discussions, some things that we thought over and discussed can be implemented. I hope that this conference will cause a lot of good. And we will think about the idea of its repetition next year.”
Partners of the conference:
St. Petersburg Charitable Social Organization “Perspectivy”, Institute for the Study of Childhood, Family and Parenting of the Russian Academy for Education, Moscow State University of Psychology and Education, Bread for the World –Diakonie, Department for Labour and Social Protection of Moscow, Charitable Foundation “Way of Life”, CAF Russia.