POLAND Many cases of child abuse can be avoided through preventive support to parents. January 2008, Nobody´s Children started a pilot project for parents with small children in Warsaw with support from World Childhood Foundation and Vattenfall, who is a Major Partner of Childhood. Since then, more than 1000 parents have received support, and the project will now be spread over Poland.

Being a parent is not always easy, and it is even more difficult for families living in socially vulnerable situations. Poverty, unemployment, abuse of different kinds, and other social problems affect families in many ways, and support is sometimes needed for parents to cope with parenthood. In Poland, this kind of help has been hard to obtain; parental skills education is expensive, and seldom reaches out to families who need it the most.

For more than 17 years, Nobody´s Children has been working with children and youth at risk and socially vulnerable families. For a long time, they saw the need for a support system for parents with children under three years of age. In January 2008 their vision became reality, and with financial support from Childhood, the pilot project Good Parent – Good Start was launched in the Warsaw district Praga. The idea was to find a way in which health care clinics and social welfare centres could cooperate to identify children at risk. Now, support is offered at an early stage to strengthen the parents.

– When parents have a difficult life situation, they often raise children who in turn also have problems. If you make an early intervention, this vicious cycle can be stopped, says Agnieszka Izdebska, psychologist at Nobody´s Children.

She is one of the psychologists who are running workshops and individual consultations for parents at Nobody´s Children´s family support centre in the district of Praga. Parents are referred to the centre by social workers, health care staff, and psychologists who have been receiving training to be able to identify children who are at risk of becoming victims of abuse.

Happy mothers
It´s an afternoon in March, and a group of mothers just finished their fifth lesson at the Nobody´s Children family centre. Together with two psychologists, they have been discussing parenthood during ten Wednesday sessions. While the mothers are in class, their children are playing in the room next door, supervised by Nobody´s Children staff. The lesson today was about handling feelings such as anger, fear and sadness in children.

– This is my first child, and she doesn´t speak yet. I need help to read her signals to understand her needs, says one of the mothers.

They all have faith in the class leaders, and enjoy the lessons.

–I feel safe here. Nobody is judging me as a parent, and I am never left alone with my problems, says another mom with a little girl in her arms.

Since Good Parent – Good Start was launched a year ago, almost 1000 parents have participated in workshops and trainings, and more than 100 parents have received individual consultations by Nobody´s Children. Around 300 doctors, nurses, midwifes, psychologists, social workers, child care workers, and police officers have been trained to recognize signs of maltreatment and abuse of children, and to know how to act when they suspect a child is at risk.

Easier to help when you cooperate
Nurse Marzenna Romańska is one of the health care workers who have been trained by Nobody´s Children. She is working at one of the health care clinics who are participating in Good Parent – Good Start, and is coordinating the project at her clinic.

– 40 percent of all children up to three years of age come to our clinic. Today we are cooperating with two social welfare centres, and we contact them when we believe that a family is in need of support, says Marzenna Romańska.

Thanks to Good Parent – Good Start, health care workers, psychologists, and social workers know each other better, which makes it easier to know who to contact when there is a need to refer a family.

– It is not as difficult to help families as we believed it was before we started working together, says Marzenna Romańska.

Every month, Nobody´s Children arrange a meeting with representatives from health care clinics and social welfare centres who participate in Good Parent – Good Start to discuss difficult cases. Case descriptions are sent in advance to Nobody´s Children, and their legal expert and psychologists prepare comments. At the meeting different solutions are discussed together.

Want to spread all over Poland
Reaching out to families at risk can be a hard task, project manager Karolina Lewandowska says. Parents who need it the most often have no time, energy or motivation to seek help. To better reach these families, Nobody´s Children are planning to develop the project.

– We are going to start with open days every two weeks, when parents don´t have to announce their visit, and during spring and summer we´ll arrange outdoor picnics. We are hoping this will make it easier for the parents to take the first step and come meet us. In the beginning of 2010 we will also start a home visiting program for vulnerable families, says Karolina Lewandowska.

The results from the pilot project during 2008 have been closely evaluated. From the beginning, the goal was to spread the model all over Warsaw, and in the long run all over Poland. In cooperation with Warsaw City Hall, further city districts have been invited to participate. The plan is that by 2013, the project will be spread all over the city. Already, Nobody´s Children are working on adapting the model to conditions in smaller cities.

– We are cooperating with another organisation that is helping us to spread the project in the countryside, and this year we will start pilot projects in three smaller cities. We are hoping to make our method a part of the social safety system for children in Poland within six years, says Karolina Lewandowska.

Gisela Ivarsson, project manager at Childhood, has no doubt that they will succeed.

– This is a project at the forefront of models to help parents, carried out by a very professional organisation. From the beginning, Nobody´s Children engaged local authorities and ministries to ensure the sustainability of the project, which is a very important aspect. Thanks to their work, many Polish children will have a happy childhood without abuse, says Gisela Ivarsson.

NOBODY´S CHILDREN IN POLAND
Project: Good Parent – Good Start; prevention of maltreatment and abuse against children trough support to families with small children.
Location: Warsaw, Poland
Target group: Children at risk under 3 years of age, their parents, and health care workers, social workers, psychologists, midwifes, police officers, probation officers.
Cooperation with Childhood: Since January 2008
The support goes to: Salaries for a project leader, a psychologist, a pedagogue, and a web-editor. Costs for educational material, education for parents, and administrative costs.

MAJA SVENONIUS