REHABILITATION CENTRE FOR HANDICAPPED CHILDREN OF ATTICA

General description and legal frame: Attica’s Rehabilitation Center for Disabled Children (Short: PAAPAV), formerly known as PIKPA Voulas, is a public institution, which today accommodates about 80 children and youngsters with a variety of disabilities. It is an annex of the public institution Social Welfare Center of the Region of Attica (KKPPA) and lies under the supervision of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs. PAAPAV is located in the southern suburbs of Athens in Voula. Originally, PIKPA was established in 1914 to care for victims of war and later transformed into a rehabilitation center for children with disabilities. Target group: The children and youngsters living in PAAPAV were either abandoned or removed by legal actions from their families, most have little or no contact with their families. The majority of the residents have different degrees of physical and/or intellectual disabilities or come from traumatic family backgrounds. The ages of the children and youngsters range from 3 years to about 25 years. Depending on their level of autonomy, gender and age, the children and youngsters live divided into five different wards inside the facilities of the institution. Main activities: PAAPAV offers the target group full time care as well as education and rehabilitation. Its staff consists of nurses, who take care of the hygiene and daily care of the residents as well as of physiotherapists, logotherapists and occupational therapists, who provide daily therapies and facilitate rehabilitation depending on the needs of the children and youngsters. Furthermore, the staff consists of psychologists working with the children and youngsters as well as a psychiatrist. Apart from that, PAAPAV’s staff also incorporates special education teachers working in a special school located inside PAAPAV. This school educates and teaches around 15 children and youngsters of the institution and also consists of a special kindergarten, where PAAPAV’s youngest children are educated. The other children and youngsters attend special schools outside of the institution. Another member of the staff is a sports teacher, who organizes and offers a variety of sports activities, depending on the interests and abilities of the youngsters, such as boccia, jiu jitsu, swimming and dance. Moreover a number of social workers are responsible for taking care of the children and youngsters files and advocate in their best interest. Aims: PAAPAV’s aim is to provide high quality care for the children and youngsters it is taking care of, while offering them education and rehabilitation in order to assist them in growing up to become independent, autonomous and responsible adults, living integrated into society. Achieving this goal is also part of the national deinstitutionalization strategy, which is being applied as well in PAAPAV. Nevertheless, institutions can provide little individual attention and mostly the heavily disabled children and youngsters still stay with little stimulation during their free time, especially in the afternoon hours. Thus PAAPAV gladly accepts volunteers, as these are able to offer the children extra individual attention, stimulation and activities, apart from the care, education and rehabilitation provided by its staff.