news Nov engl_2007_2

The Next Step - Children of the Caucasus

Patron Mary Robinson

The Next Step was registered as a charity in Ireland in 2001

and in the United Kingdom in 2005. These charitable

foundations support the work of their sister

NGO, The First Step. They do this by running

fundraising events and they receive significant

funding from private individuals and

charitable private foundations.

The First Step Our vision: A Georgian society that provides equal opportunity to all to fully realize individual potential; to increase personal well-being; to contribute to common welfare; and, to ensure that children with intellectualand physical disabilities are a fully empowered part of society.

The First Step (TFS) was founded in 1998 in response to the horren-dous living conditions of disabled orphans living in the state-run Kaspi Institution in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia. Nine years later, we are proud to have grown and accomplished so much to help these children lead meaningful lives through better living conditions and proper care. Their lives are enriched thanks to our charitable work and the selfless donations of our worldwide donors. Today, these chil-dren’s eyes are filled with hope instead of despair as they reach for their personal potential as constructive members of society.

Newsletter November 2007 T h e F i r s t S t e p F o u n d a t i o n

Our mission:To promote social inclusion of intellectually and physically disabled children, to improve their level of care and living conditions, to remove the stigma which society continues to harbor against physical and intellectual imperfections in children, and to raise awareness and tolerance of their special needs through provision of services to the children and their families.

Our children have been studying arts and crafts for several years now and have compiled quite a bit of work. In addition to painting they have been mastering needlework and pottery too. Girls tend to enjoy bead work and jewelry while boys prefer ceram-ics and painting flowerpots. However Dato, who is 17 years-old, has picked up photography as a new hobby.

Through diligence and determination, the children instigated Pro-Credit Bank Branch representatives and The first Step development team to organize the art fair.

The fair was held at Tagis Art Hall, a prominent exhibi-tion space in Tbilisi, on April 21-22, 2007. The event attracted many guests including journalists and was a great success, as much of the work was sold. As a re-sult, the children have become even more motivated to work harder and create more art.

Fair of Children’s Works

In September 2007, occupational therapist (OT) of the First Step Foun-dation, Rusudan Lortkipanidze, had the opportunity to visit one of Ire-land’s most prominent service providers for the disabled, St. Michael’s House (SMH), and explore both its occupational therapy department and OT work itself (mainly in pediatric area).

Rusudan was hosted by the Manager of SMH Occupational Therapy De-partment, Ms. Eilin de Paor, who produced an intensive and effective schedule for her. In addition to familiarizing herself with SMH work, Ru-sudan filled her two weeks by visiting the Assessment Clinic at Stewards Hospital and the CRC in Clontarf. She also underwent two days of in-tensive training in “Manual Handling” and “Sensory integration,” which she intends to introduce to the staff of the First Step Foundation.

What is more, SMH and CRC have provided TFS with various types of adaptive equipment, wheelchairs, literature, assessment tools and teaching materials, which will be very useful not only for the children of TFS but for the entire professional development staff as well.

Rusiko Lortkipanidze, TFS occupationa Therapist and

Eilin de Paor, Manager of OT Department, St. Michael’s House

Capacity Building of TFS Staff Occupational Therapy Training in Ireland

The First Step Foundation’s daycare center psychologist, Giorgi Demetrashvili, was one of the few Georgians selected in a world-wide study competition to attend the International Summer School at the University of Oslo in Norway.

Organized by the Ministry of Education and Science, the NGO “Tanadgoma” and the “Georgian-Norwegian partnership,” the

July 2007 program was titled “Education For All” (EFA) and was dedicated to Special Needs Educa-tion in Inclusive Settings.

Course subjects comprised of: Towards Inclusion; Preventive Work of Police; Preventive Community Activities; and Sensory Impairments. The participants also learned much about one of Norway’s most successful inclusive educational systems, how it started, developed, the challenges it faced and how they were overcome. As Georgia is now implementing its own inclusive education reform, this knowl-edge and awareness is crucial to people working in this field.

Capacity Building of TFS Staff TFS Psychologist at Summer School

The First Step (TFS) Room 504, Tel . : (995 32) 25 25 19; Emai l : t f s@tfs .ge 74a Chavchavadze ave. 23 01 40 www.nextstepchi ldren.org Tbi l i s i , 0162, Georg ia Fax: (995 32) 25 25 19

Can you help? Help us to give more children a better life.........We would be most grateful for any assistance you can give towards our work.Don’t forget a little money goes a long way in Georgia.Whatever you can spare, we can use. Do contact us and help a child.

The Next Step - Children of the CaucasusReg Charity No in Ireland: CHY 13956

5 Clanwilliam Square, Dublin 2, Ireland Email: [email protected] Tel.: (353) 1 6619911http://www.nextstepchildren.org

The Next Step - Children of the Caucasus Reg Charity in England and Wales: No 1109599

40 Uverdale Road, London SW10 OSR, United KingdomEmail: [email protected].: (44) (0)207 352 7071http://www.nextstepchildren.org

Are you a Georgian Tax payer?If so, you can reclaim a tax rebate on your donation to TFS. Please contact Keti Melikadze at TFSTel.: (995) 32 252519 / 230140

Are you a UK Tax payer?We can benefit from UK Gift Aid on any donationyou make to TNS, if you are a UK tax payer.Please contact Edith Deacy for [email protected]

Are you an Irish Tax payer?If you are a PAYE taxpayer we can reclaim tax on your donation. If you do not pay PAYE but pay other personal taxes you can reclaim tax on your donation.Please contact [email protected]

In the previous newsletter, we provided information on First Step’s social workers’ efforts. In this new issue, we decided to highlight the changes and trends that have taken place in the last six months.

One of the main aims of children’s social work has been to reintegrate children with their biological families. Presently, prevention of abandonment rather than reintegration have become a current priority. This has become possible since the Ministry of Education and Science introduced a resolu-tion to mitigate entry to children’s institutions. Currently if a family decides to put a child into an institution, they must directly apply to the Ministry of Education and Science first. In accordance to an agreement between The First Step Foundation and the Ministry, our social workers are im-mediately informed of such cases and they begin to work with families to help prevent a child from being institutionalized.

Social workers of The First Step Foundation have helped several families keep their children in their natural home environment. In recent months, two children avoided institutionalization, which was a particular cause of happiness for us. Both families had faced such severe domestic problems that the only apparent solution appeared to be handing the children over to the Kaspi Children Institution. Much to the credit of our social workers, their prompt response meant problems were quickly identified and an action plan was worked out and applied; in short, due to their timely intervention we can say we are glad to see the happy faces of two more children.

“After this woman appeared in our family, I felt hope that everything will now be ok!” said one of the children to her mother after the social worker’s first visit.

Furthermore, social workers are also involved in the education process. Our country is in its first year of running bachelor’s and master’s programs in social work. In addition to their current capacities and responsibilities, our social workers are also actively engaged in train-ing students for practical work: The First Step Foundation organizes a variety of training courses established with the direct involvement of our social workers. Besides one of them is enrolled in Master degree program herself.

It can be said that First Step Social Work is valuable not only to our organization, but to others too; as well as the development of social work in Georgia.

N e w Tr e n d s i n F i r s t S t e p ’ s S o c i a l Wo r k

AcknowledgementsParticular thanks go to Dee Byers (a great supporter of the First Step Foundation) for inviting Rusudan to Ireland and providing her with the invaluable opportunity to observe OT work in Ireland - Dee’s great kindness and hospitality is deeply appreciated.Many thanks to TFS Trustee Anne Davy, for the care, kindness and support given during Rusudan’s stay in Ireland. All involved with TFS/TNS are deeply appreciative to everyone at St. Michael’s House for their support.

Niniko had been known as a dedi-cated and focused housekeeper until she became the first person at TFS to master a com-puter program de-signed by one spe-cial teacher Maka Chankvetadze for

the study of reading and writing.

With this teacher’s help, she assiduously studied computer and by the end of the year could inde-pendently switch it on, find the correct program and work with it. She learned reading, writing and building sentences. At an open lesson she was able to complete the tasks given her by the guests.

Niniko’s success has inspired the rest of the chil-dren who now want to learn to work on the computer.

For this very purpose, we plan to establish a com-puter class equipped with computers provided by Normal Crowley, a member of the Board of Trus-tees of Next Step, a major donor for TFS.

Niniko’s Computer Success On May 15, 2007, Public School N10 played host to the 11th grader’s gradu-ation party – the “Last Bell”. Here, the

integrated class members congratulated graduates, presented gifts and took part in a concert which featured Georgian folk musical instruments. It was an emotional party full of warmth and the anxious desire of younger classmates announcing, “I want to graduate from school too!”

Many of these junior integrated classmates share the same future dreams as their graduating friends. Such was the case with one boy who aspires to be a doctor, just like his graduating friend Gio, who plans to go to medical school.

Most presents given to the graduates by our integrated class children were hand-made, with memorable lines, notes, wishes and drawings on them. Stu-dents were clearly rooting for the 11th grade graduates and burst into cheers and applause as soon they received their diplomas. And then, of course, came the first declaration for a bright, healthy and successful future.

Tamuna from the integrated class hopes to see her friend play a significant role in making her dream come true, although she’s determined to make it on her own regardless. “When I’ve graduated from school, I’m going to be a singer. Temo shall study to be a doctor. Then he’ll be able to heal me out of the wheelchair... If not, I’ll sit in the wheelchair on stage and sing!”

The “Last Bell” turned out to be a most beautiful day with its surprises, joy and bitter-sweet, yet hopeful good-byes.

“These children have become part of our lives,” said one graduate. “We have become better persons because of them! No matter what university we may study at or what we may become, we’ll never cut ties with them. We are friends for life!”

Speech-language therapy is the most common treatment for children with speech and/or language disorders. This is the first year the First Step Foundation has worked with a professional speech-language pathologist (SLP) to treat children with difficulty producing sounds (speech disorder) and those who have problems understanding or putting words together to communicate ideas (language disorder).

“I’ve been working for the First Step for a year now and never realized that one year spent here could bring so much joy,” says SLP Eka Kutateladze. “I can talk endlessly about my children,” she adds of the seven children now receiving speech therapy.

Eka explains the challenges in achieving positive results with adolescents because speech therapy is generally most effective when applied to children at an early age. Nevertheless, two First Step children in particular, have made great strides in speech-language development, despite their age and obstacles.

When 14-year-old Khatia arrived at First Step in June 2006 from the Kaspi Children Institution, she could not utter a sound.

“No one could have imagined what she has achieved!” Eka asserts. “Working with her has been extremely engaging and full of novel surprises. Each time we met she accomplished more.”

Eka says that at the First Step, Khatia appeared somewhat “born again;” her looks improved, countenance changed and she became an active person. Khatia was eager to start speaking in a short time. She uttered her first word while playing ball and can now pronounce all the vowels and some consonants as well. She knows lots of simple words and can combine them with one another. She likes being commended and verbalizes each sound correctly. We believe Khatia can go far thanks to her enthusiasm!

Meanwhile, Giorgi is a striking example to the simple truth that determination, hard work, perseverance and deep interest can achieve success despite overwhelming odds!

Says Eka: “Giorgi started attending speech therapy courses when he was 12. At the beginning he was deeply introverted, locked up in his own narrow world, and unable to clearly enunciate words. But at the end of the year, at an open lesson, he surprised everyone! Undaunted by the audience that had specially come to listen to him, he enthusiastically presented his entire “repertoire”.”

The number of the names of plants, animals, fruits and vegetables that Giorgi has learned by heart is truly amazing. The effort that he puts into correctly pronouncing each word is commendable indeed and attributes to his firm determination. It was only due to his hard work that Giorgi could achieve this.

“Every single achievement is a cause of joy for the children,” affirms Eka “As for me, I am happy to have the opportunity to work and be around them; to have the opportunity to open a door to their mind. It is indeed, such great happiness!”

Opened two years ago, the TFS Day Dare Center is distinctive for its architectural beauty and vibrant colors, chosen to reflect the bright spirit in the world of children.

Because children who attend the Center require special attention, the educational process is administered in accordance to each child’s particular developmental needs. Here, children are welcomed in a family-like environment where the warmth and care received from the Center’s teachers and staff positively affect their future development.

The education process is significantly simplified to devel-op children’s primary skills and knowledge. With the use of rich visual aids and special materials, learning is not only more pleasant and interesting, but easier to comprehend as well.

Meanwhile, excursions and other extra-curricular activi-ties stimulate children’s intellectual capacities. The selec-tion of these activities is based on the parental input of their child’s personal needs and correspond to the learning process at the center.

Each age group is comprised of 6 children and 2 teachers. Classrooms are equipped and designed to suit the specific needs of students and teachers.

Maintaining a supportive, yet demanding atmosphere pro-vides each child with a sound foundation to face or overcome his/her disability.

One of our most successful communicative methods employed is the creation of art. Among the many things we learn through this medium are children’s desire to live, love and be honest.

Our Center is the home of many fine pieces of art and aims to continue this tradition.

In the realm of art, dreams are visualized and come to life with each touch of a hand.

T h e L a s t B e l l

Re a d H o w S p e e c h a n d L a n g u a g e T h e r a p y c a n C h a n g e a C h i l d ’ s L i f e !

S p i r i t o f t h e C h i l d r e n ’ s W o r l d

The melancholy atmosphere of an empty school immediately changes on September 17th as children return from their summer holi-days. First, we meet in the yard, hug and catch up on our personal news.

“Are you happy to resume your classes?” we ask, and the response are all affirming smiles.

It is 10 am and four young gentlemen, Roma, Soso, Akaki and Vano, all enter the school bearing flowers, but upon seeing so many smiling faces are hesitant on who they should hand them out to first. The girls are wearing white blouses. While Olia jumps up and down out of joy, Marika, in her customary way is trying to maintain order. Everything changes however, as soon as the bell rings.

This year pupils will discover a much more diverse program than before. In an effort to make school more interesting and fun,we have established classes for sport, music, art and scientific activities. Classes have also become more mobile with plans to visit museums, galleries and other cultural events to facilitate children’s integration into society. This new

format makes for a more team-based format than before. Every teacher now works each child and most parents are also actively involved in the learning process, which makes the time spent at the day care center much more enjoyable for the child.

By 3 pm the children are already tired and hungry. Everyone rushes to wash their hands as Ms. Mzia has prepared a tasty dinner for them. Several minutes pass and Ms. Mzia rings the dinner bell. In uniformed respect, the children sit down at the table and are served their dinner. The silence is broken only by Giorgi’s thrilled exclamation: “this is so tasty!”

The end of dinner also marks the end of the first day of school. It is time for Uncle Dato to take the children home.

B a c k t o S c h o o l a t t h e D i g o m i C h i l d r e n ’ s V i l l a g e

We can serve you breakfast…

Please, try our Churchkhelas ...

The warmest snowflakes gather individually here…

We can travel in a sea world...

And on land too... in the most beautiful warm places...

Niniko had been known as a dedi-cated and focused housekeeper until she became the first person at TFS to master a com-puter program de-signed by one spe-cial teacher Maka Chankvetadze for

the study of reading and writing.

With this teacher’s help, she assiduously studied computer and by the end of the year could inde-pendently switch it on, find the correct program and work with it. She learned reading, writing and building sentences. At an open lesson she was able to complete the tasks given her by the guests.

Niniko’s success has inspired the rest of the chil-dren who now want to learn to work on the computer.

For this very purpose, we plan to establish a com-puter class equipped with computers provided by Normal Crowley, a member of the Board of Trus-tees of Next Step, a major donor for TFS.

Niniko’s Computer Success On May 15, 2007, Public School N10 played host to the 11th grader’s gradu-ation party – the “Last Bell”. Here, the

integrated class members congratulated graduates, presented gifts and took part in a concert which featured Georgian folk musical instruments. It was an emotional party full of warmth and the anxious desire of younger classmates announcing, “I want to graduate from school too!”

Many of these junior integrated classmates share the same future dreams as their graduating friends. Such was the case with one boy who aspires to be a doctor, just like his graduating friend Gio, who plans to go to medical school.

Most presents given to the graduates by our integrated class children were hand-made, with memorable lines, notes, wishes and drawings on them. Stu-dents were clearly rooting for the 11th grade graduates and burst into cheers and applause as soon they received their diplomas. And then, of course, came the first declaration for a bright, healthy and successful future.

Tamuna from the integrated class hopes to see her friend play a significant role in making her dream come true, although she’s determined to make it on her own regardless. “When I’ve graduated from school, I’m going to be a singer. Temo shall study to be a doctor. Then he’ll be able to heal me out of the wheelchair... If not, I’ll sit in the wheelchair on stage and sing!”

The “Last Bell” turned out to be a most beautiful day with its surprises, joy and bitter-sweet, yet hopeful good-byes.

“These children have become part of our lives,” said one graduate. “We have become better persons because of them! No matter what university we may study at or what we may become, we’ll never cut ties with them. We are friends for life!”

Speech-language therapy is the most common treatment for children with speech and/or language disorders. This is the first year the First Step Foundation has worked with a professional speech-language pathologist (SLP) to treat children with difficulty producing sounds (speech disorder) and those who have problems understanding or putting words together to communicate ideas (language disorder).

“I’ve been working for the First Step for a year now and never realized that one year spent here could bring so much joy,” says SLP Eka Kutateladze. “I can talk endlessly about my children,” she adds of the seven children now receiving speech therapy.

Eka explains the challenges in achieving positive results with adolescents because speech therapy is generally most effective when applied to children at an early age. Nevertheless, two First Step children in particular, have made great strides in speech-language development, despite their age and obstacles.

When 14-year-old Khatia arrived at First Step in June 2006 from the Kaspi Children Institution, she could not utter a sound.

“No one could have imagined what she has achieved!” Eka asserts. “Working with her has been extremely engaging and full of novel surprises. Each time we met she accomplished more.”

Eka says that at the First Step, Khatia appeared somewhat “born again;” her looks improved, countenance changed and she became an active person. Khatia was eager to start speaking in a short time. She uttered her first word while playing ball and can now pronounce all the vowels and some consonants as well. She knows lots of simple words and can combine them with one another. She likes being commended and verbalizes each sound correctly. We believe Khatia can go far thanks to her enthusiasm!

Meanwhile, Giorgi is a striking example to the simple truth that determination, hard work, perseverance and deep interest can achieve success despite overwhelming odds!

Says Eka: “Giorgi started attending speech therapy courses when he was 12. At the beginning he was deeply introverted, locked up in his own narrow world, and unable to clearly enunciate words. But at the end of the year, at an open lesson, he surprised everyone! Undaunted by the audience that had specially come to listen to him, he enthusiastically presented his entire “repertoire”.”

The number of the names of plants, animals, fruits and vegetables that Giorgi has learned by heart is truly amazing. The effort that he puts into correctly pronouncing each word is commendable indeed and attributes to his firm determination. It was only due to his hard work that Giorgi could achieve this.

“Every single achievement is a cause of joy for the children,” affirms Eka “As for me, I am happy to have the opportunity to work and be around them; to have the opportunity to open a door to their mind. It is indeed, such great happiness!”

Opened two years ago, the TFS Day Dare Center is distinctive for its architectural beauty and vibrant colors, chosen to reflect the bright spirit in the world of children.

Because children who attend the Center require special attention, the educational process is administered in accordance to each child’s particular developmental needs. Here, children are welcomed in a family-like environment where the warmth and care received from the Center’s teachers and staff positively affect their future development.

The education process is significantly simplified to devel-op children’s primary skills and knowledge. With the use of rich visual aids and special materials, learning is not only more pleasant and interesting, but easier to comprehend as well.

Meanwhile, excursions and other extra-curricular activi-ties stimulate children’s intellectual capacities. The selec-tion of these activities is based on the parental input of their child’s personal needs and correspond to the learning process at the center.

Each age group is comprised of 6 children and 2 teachers. Classrooms are equipped and designed to suit the specific needs of students and teachers.

Maintaining a supportive, yet demanding atmosphere pro-vides each child with a sound foundation to face or overcome his/her disability.

One of our most successful communicative methods employed is the creation of art. Among the many things we learn through this medium are children’s desire to live, love and be honest.

Our Center is the home of many fine pieces of art and aims to continue this tradition.

In the realm of art, dreams are visualized and come to life with each touch of a hand.

T h e L a s t B e l l

Re a d H o w S p e e c h a n d L a n g u a g e T h e r a p y c a n C h a n g e a C h i l d ’ s L i f e !

S p i r i t o f t h e C h i l d r e n ’ s W o r l d

The melancholy atmosphere of an empty school immediately changes on September 17th as children return from their summer holi-days. First, we meet in the yard, hug and catch up on our personal news.

“Are you happy to resume your classes?” we ask, and the response are all affirming smiles.

It is 10 am and four young gentlemen, Roma, Soso, Akaki and Vano, all enter the school bearing flowers, but upon seeing so many smiling faces are hesitant on who they should hand them out to first. The girls are wearing white blouses. While Olia jumps up and down out of joy, Marika, in her customary way is trying to maintain order. Everything changes however, as soon as the bell rings.

This year pupils will discover a much more diverse program than before. In an effort to make school more interesting and fun,we have established classes for sport, music, art and scientific activities. Classes have also become more mobile with plans to visit museums, galleries and other cultural events to facilitate children’s integration into society. This new

format makes for a more team-based format than before. Every teacher now works each child and most parents are also actively involved in the learning process, which makes the time spent at the day care center much more enjoyable for the child.

By 3 pm the children are already tired and hungry. Everyone rushes to wash their hands as Ms. Mzia has prepared a tasty dinner for them. Several minutes pass and Ms. Mzia rings the dinner bell. In uniformed respect, the children sit down at the table and are served their dinner. The silence is broken only by Giorgi’s thrilled exclamation: “this is so tasty!”

The end of dinner also marks the end of the first day of school. It is time for Uncle Dato to take the children home.

B a c k t o S c h o o l a t t h e D i g o m i C h i l d r e n ’ s V i l l a g e

We can serve you breakfast…

Please, try our Churchkhelas ...

The warmest snowflakes gather individually here…

We can travel in a sea world...

And on land too... in the most beautiful warm places...

The Next Step - Children of the Caucasus

Patron Mary Robinson

The Next Step was registered as a charity in Ireland in 2001

and in the United Kingdom in 2005. These charitable

foundations support the work of their sister

NGO, The First Step. They do this by running

fundraising events and they receive significant

funding from private individuals and

charitable private foundations.

The First Step Our vision: A Georgian society that provides equal opportunity to all to fully realize individual potential; to increase personal well-being; to contribute to common welfare; and, to ensure that children with intellectualand physical disabilities are a fully empowered part of society.

The First Step (TFS) was founded in 1998 in response to the horren-dous living conditions of disabled orphans living in the state-run Kaspi Institution in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia. Nine years later, we are proud to have grown and accomplished so much to help these children lead meaningful lives through better living conditions and proper care. Their lives are enriched thanks to our charitable work and the selfless donations of our worldwide donors. Today, these chil-dren’s eyes are filled with hope instead of despair as they reach for their personal potential as constructive members of society.

Newsletter November 2007 T h e F i r s t S t e p F o u n d a t i o n

Our mission:To promote social inclusion of intellectually and physically disabled children, to improve their level of care and living conditions, to remove the stigma which society continues to harbor against physical and intellectual imperfections in children, and to raise awareness and tolerance of their special needs through provision of services to the children and their families.

Our children have been studying arts and crafts for several years now and have compiled quite a bit of work. In addition to painting they have been mastering needlework and pottery too. Girls tend to enjoy bead work and jewelry while boys prefer ceram-ics and painting flowerpots. However Dato, who is 17 years-old, has picked up photography as a new hobby.

Through diligence and determination, the children instigated Pro-Credit Bank Branch representatives and The first Step development team to organize the art fair.

The fair was held at Tagis Art Hall, a prominent exhibi-tion space in Tbilisi, on April 21-22, 2007. The event attracted many guests including journalists and was a great success, as much of the work was sold. As a re-sult, the children have become even more motivated to work harder and create more art.

Fair of Children’s Works

In September 2007, occupational therapist (OT) of the First Step Foun-dation, Rusudan Lortkipanidze, had the opportunity to visit one of Ire-land’s most prominent service providers for the disabled, St. Michael’s House (SMH), and explore both its occupational therapy department and OT work itself (mainly in pediatric area).

Rusudan was hosted by the Manager of SMH Occupational Therapy De-partment, Ms. Eilin de Paor, who produced an intensive and effective schedule for her. In addition to familiarizing herself with SMH work, Ru-sudan filled her two weeks by visiting the Assessment Clinic at Stewards Hospital and the CRC in Clontarf. She also underwent two days of in-tensive training in “Manual Handling” and “Sensory integration,” which she intends to introduce to the staff of the First Step Foundation.

What is more, SMH and CRC have provided TFS with various types of adaptive equipment, wheelchairs, literature, assessment tools and teaching materials, which will be very useful not only for the children of TFS but for the entire professional development staff as well.

Rusiko Lortkipanidze, TFS occupationa Therapist and

Eilin de Paor, Manager of OT Department, St. Michael’s House

Capacity Building of TFS Staff Occupational Therapy Training in Ireland

The First Step Foundation’s daycare center psychologist, Giorgi Demetrashvili, was one of the few Georgians selected in a world-wide study competition to attend the International Summer School at the University of Oslo in Norway.

Organized by the Ministry of Education and Science, the NGO “Tanadgoma” and the “Georgian-Norwegian partnership,” the

July 2007 program was titled “Education For All” (EFA) and was dedicated to Special Needs Educa-tion in Inclusive Settings.

Course subjects comprised of: Towards Inclusion; Preventive Work of Police; Preventive Community Activities; and Sensory Impairments. The participants also learned much about one of Norway’s most successful inclusive educational systems, how it started, developed, the challenges it faced and how they were overcome. As Georgia is now implementing its own inclusive education reform, this knowl-edge and awareness is crucial to people working in this field.

Capacity Building of TFS Staff TFS Psychologist at Summer School

The First Step (TFS) Room 504, Tel . : (995 32) 25 25 19; Emai l : t f s@tfs .ge 74a Chavchavadze ave. 23 01 40 www.nextstepchi ldren.org Tbi l i s i , 0162, Georg ia Fax: (995 32) 25 25 19

Can you help? Help us to give more children a better life.........We would be most grateful for any assistance you can give towards our work.Don’t forget a little money goes a long way in Georgia.Whatever you can spare, we can use. Do contact us and help a child.

The Next Step - Children of the CaucasusReg Charity No in Ireland: CHY 13956

5 Clanwilliam Square, Dublin 2, Ireland Email: [email protected] Tel.: (353) 1 6619911http://www.nextstepchildren.org

The Next Step - Children of the Caucasus Reg Charity in England and Wales: No 1109599

40 Uverdale Road, London SW10 OSR, United KingdomEmail: [email protected].: (44) (0)207 352 7071http://www.nextstepchildren.org

Are you a Georgian Tax payer?If so, you can reclaim a tax rebate on your donation to TFS. Please contact Keti Melikadze at TFSTel.: (995) 32 252519 / 230140

Are you a UK Tax payer?We can benefit from UK Gift Aid on any donationyou make to TNS, if you are a UK tax payer.Please contact Edith Deacy for [email protected]

Are you an Irish Tax payer?If you are a PAYE taxpayer we can reclaim tax on your donation. If you do not pay PAYE but pay other personal taxes you can reclaim tax on your donation.Please contact [email protected]

In the previous newsletter, we provided information on First Step’s social workers’ efforts. In this new issue, we decided to highlight the changes and trends that have taken place in the last six months.

One of the main aims of children’s social work has been to reintegrate children with their biological families. Presently, prevention of abandonment rather than reintegration have become a current priority. This has become possible since the Ministry of Education and Science introduced a resolu-tion to mitigate entry to children’s institutions. Currently if a family decides to put a child into an institution, they must directly apply to the Ministry of Education and Science first. In accordance to an agreement between The First Step Foundation and the Ministry, our social workers are im-mediately informed of such cases and they begin to work with families to help prevent a child from being institutionalized.

Social workers of The First Step Foundation have helped several families keep their children in their natural home environment. In recent months, two children avoided institutionalization, which was a particular cause of happiness for us. Both families had faced such severe domestic problems that the only apparent solution appeared to be handing the children over to the Kaspi Children Institution. Much to the credit of our social workers, their prompt response meant problems were quickly identified and an action plan was worked out and applied; in short, due to their timely intervention we can say we are glad to see the happy faces of two more children.

“After this woman appeared in our family, I felt hope that everything will now be ok!” said one of the children to her mother after the social worker’s first visit.

Furthermore, social workers are also involved in the education process. Our country is in its first year of running bachelor’s and master’s programs in social work. In addition to their current capacities and responsibilities, our social workers are also actively engaged in train-ing students for practical work: The First Step Foundation organizes a variety of training courses established with the direct involvement of our social workers. Besides one of them is enrolled in Master degree program herself.

It can be said that First Step Social Work is valuable not only to our organization, but to others too; as well as the development of social work in Georgia.

N e w Tr e n d s i n F i r s t S t e p ’ s S o c i a l Wo r k

AcknowledgementsParticular thanks go to Dee Byers (a great supporter of the First Step Foundation) for inviting Rusudan to Ireland and providing her with the invaluable opportunity to observe OT work in Ireland - Dee’s great kindness and hospitality is deeply appreciated.Many thanks to TFS Trustee Anne Davy, for the care, kindness and support given during Rusudan’s stay in Ireland. All involved with TFS/TNS are deeply appreciative to everyone at St. Michael’s House for their support.