Visit to KEPEP and plans for future partnership

On February 12 a delegation of our members Dimitris and Alma, represantives from the Greek NGO Tandem and members as well as medical professionals from the British and Romanian NGOs EEDA and Asociatia BILC visited KEPEP.

 

We talked about a future volunteer program carried out by EEDA that will bring in qualified volunteers who can help to develope conclusive care plans for each resident. Those care plans would reflect independence, integration, medicines management, education, communication, consultation and most importantly individual rights.

And there was also time for fun for the residents of KEPEP! Together with local volunteers and by the volunteers of Tandem we organized an evening with games and dance for the kids of KEPEP.

The children of the School of Lechaina send their best wishes to the kids in KEPEP

Good news for KEPEP: Meeting on deinstitutionalisation in Athens

From January 25 to January 26 we atttended a closed meeting on Deinstutionalisation in Greece. The meeting brought together stakeholders from the Greek government, non-governmental Hellenic child protection organisations, Jan Jařab, from the European Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Greek Ombudsman.

At the end of the conference Dimitrios Karellas, Secretary General of Ministry of Labour, Social Insurance and Social solidarity announced the first deinsitutionalisation project which will take place at KEPEP Lechaina! The project will be carried out by the international NGO LUMOS halong with Institute of Child’s Health Athens (more information here)

The NGO LUMOS is an organisation founded by J.K. Rowling which aims for deinstituionalisation and community based care all over the world.

In the last year LUMOS has conducted research on child residential care in Greece which they also shared at the conference. LUMOS representives interviewed staff in seven different institutions of different type and legal status, including a baby institution, institution for children with disabilities and a church-run institution (more information here  and here ). LUMOS' research came to the same conclusion as ther researchers from the „Opening Doors for Europe's Children“ campaign: Children and people with disabilities who can't live with there families are mostly placed in large institutions with little or no monitoring of quality. Foster care and community based care services that support families are underdeveloped.

See here the resulting recommendations for reforms of the system:  Recommendations from LUMOS

The need for giving up large instutions and to develope community based care structures has now been recognized by the Greek government. The Ministy of Labour, Social Insurance and Social Solidarity has buildt a new working group on child protection.

Read an interview with Mary Theodoropoulou, head of the Roots Resaerch Center and member of the new working group in which she tells about new developments and furture plans for instutionalized children and their families, including the new minimal requirements that institutions have to follow.: http://www.openingdoors.eu/child-abandonment-can-be-prevented-weve-opened-the-public-authorities-eyes-on-this-opening-doors-greek-coordinator-says/

Thank you for more than 2000 signatures!

Today we delivered our petition to the secretary of Welfare from the Greek ministry of welfare and social security! We want to thank you for every signature!
With the peition we demand from the Greek government to:

- Immediately recruit in house dedicated and specialised medical staff, such as a doctor, psychologists, special education teachers, social workers, speech therapists, occupational therapists, physiotherapists and respectable numbers of trained nurses.

- Provide extensive and professional training for the current nurses in caring for disabled people and their specific conditions and mental health problems.

- End the practice of restraining, sedating and keeping residents in caged beds, cells or locked rooms. Instead get professionals in to teach alternative options to allow the staff to cope with any challenging behaviours in a professional and respectful manner.

- Re-launch and re-organise the volunteer programme which was discontinued in 2011.

- Relocate the residents to smaller care homes or to community-based care so that their living environment, the medical and therapeutic care will be appropriate to their needs.

- to implement a legal framework in Greece that sets minimal requirements for any existing place housing disabled people and that promotes de-institutionalisation as well as community-based care. The legislation must ensure and promote human rights for persons with disability according to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities for which Greece is a signatory.

Report to the District Attorney of Athens

After the recent personal testimony of disabled activists “Zero Tolerance“, based on their findings the NGO „Greek Helsinki Monitor“ filed a report to the District Attorney of Athens.

They were quoting the points 9 and 10, and recommendations 49 and 50 of the concluding observations of UN Human Rights Committee for 2015 (find it here). These points specifically comment the situation of KEPEP Lechainon

They demand an immediate investigation and that the District Attorney will demands from the Ministry of Labour and Welfare the immediate stop of this inhuman practice.

For more information (in Greek) visit here!

Occupation of KEPEP by disabled activists „Zero Tolerance“

On November 4 the activist group Κίνηση Χειραφέτησης ΑμεΑ: "Μηδενική Ανοχή" (Emancipation Movement of people with disabilities: „Zero Tolerance“) occupied the KEPEP peacefully for four days.

The activists of „Zero Tolerance“ documented once again the deteriorating situation in KEPEP.

Antonis Rellas, one of the activists said:

"This institution is a warehouse of children's souls. What we saw when we entered the institution stretches the limits every fantasy. Children tied with straps, imprisoned, tied to in their beds, closed into cages were begging us to liberate them. These pictures of shame internationally expose our country which attempts to cover this issue up for years by imposing silence. "

 

This action of „Zero Tolerance“ brought KEPEP into the spotlight of the national media again. The occupation was covered by the national TV channels ERT (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIiNxDKd4xs) and SKAI, by the radio channel Alpha 98.9 FM and by several print and online media.

The activtists of „Zero Tolerance“ also filed a complain about the conditions with the district attorney of Amaliada.

The activists and the media coverage again highlighted the need for imediate change in the institution as well as the need for an alternative model of care – promoting deinstitutionalisation and community based care!

Visit the facebook-page of Κίνηση Χειραφέτησης ΑμεΑ: "Μηδενική Ανοχή" for more information, photos and videos:

https://www.facebook.com/mideniki.anoxi/

Please sign our petition in order to put more pressure on the Greek government:

https://www.change.org/p/marina-koutsouri-provide-human-rights-for-children-and-young-adults-with-disabilities-in-lechaina-greece

Support the fundraising for projects in KEPEP Lechaina with a simple vote!

Our friends from Charity Challenge Luxembourg (https://www.facebook.com/charitychallenge) are fundraising money for KEPEP Lechaina.

Please support their chance to win 1000€ by voting for them in this competition:

https://www.ing.lu/ING/FR/Particuliers/INGauLuxembourg/INGinSociety/detailassociation/index.htm

(1) find the charity challenge logo (if you don't find it press top right "aide humanitaire international")
(2) click "Je vote pour cette assiation"
(3) fill the form and click "valider"

(4) Don't forget to check your mails and confirm your vote!

Thank you!

Study: Greece's forgotten Children

After months of research, the Opening Doors Europe campaign and their national Greek coordinatior Mary Theodoropoulou from the Rootsresearch center NGO has released a study showing that almost 3000 children in Greece are stuck in institutions. Disability is one of the main reasons for the admission to institions!

We found out that almost 3000 #children are stuck in institutions #Greece @kepepvolunteers @chloehadj @Avramopoulos http://t.co/tC8MjMJDoD

— Opening Doors (@openingdoors_eu) 28. September 2015

We strongly support their conclusion that the Greek government urgently needs to adopt a national strategy and implementation plan to support a transition from institutional to family and community-based care! The first phrase of the press release anotes to the BBC article by Chloe Hadjimatheou that brought KEPEP Lechainon back into the spotlight.

The study turned heads as Ms Theano Fotiou, Deputy Minister of Labour, Social Insurance and Social Solidarity agreed to meet Roots Research Centre! At the results launch the Greek children’s ombudsman Mr George Moschos supported Roots Research Centre’s call for immediate change in the child protection system.

Read the press release here: http://www.openingdoors.eu/greeces-forgotten-children-almost-3000-children-stuck-in-institutions-new-study-says/