Most day care centers for children and young people, or adults and elderly people with disabilities, lack professional staff, and those who are already employed are difficult to retain due to stress and low wages in relation to the nature of the work. Some centers would like additional equipment, and in some, as they say, there is not enough space for users to stay and work.
This stems from the responses provided to "Vijesti" by day care centers in municipalities in northern Montenegro, regarding the challenges they face in their daily work.
To somewhat help their work, the "Mentorium" Foundation in Bijelo Polje will organize a humanitarian concert on Monday, June 23rd:
"Branka Šćepanović Popović, Hanka Paldum, Neno Murić, Tanja Šeter and Senada Beglerović Leković will perform, but this time, they are not the stars. The evening belongs to the children. The ticket is 10 euros, and all proceeds go to day care centers for children without parental care and children with developmental disabilities in northern Montenegro," the "Mentorium" Foundation told the editorial staff.
Insufficient space for residents to live and work is a challenge currently facing the day care center in Pljevlja.
"As the number of users of our services increases year after year, the need has arisen to provide more adequate space for users, both rooms for group and individual work and special-purpose rooms such as: an assistive technology center, a sensory room, a sensorimotor polygon, a Montessori cabinet, a 'soft room', a salt room... Therefore, next year we plan to prepare project documentation for the expansion of the existing day center," they told "Vijesti".
The existing capacities are also insufficient for the operation of the “Tisa” day care center in Bijelo Polje. This day care center is licensed to provide day care services for children and youth with developmental disabilities, and day care services for adults and elderly people with disabilities. The institution currently has 56 users, of which 44 are children and youth and 12 are adults and elderly people with disabilities.
"Due to the lack of space, work is organized in two shifts. The priority in the institution's work is the construction of the second floor, and all activities are currently focused on raising funds to achieve this goal," said Director Ensad Omerović.
In Pljevlja, in addition to the accommodation facilities, they are currently also having problems with the transportation service for users, which is currently used by 20 children and young people with developmental disabilities and people with disabilities.
"Transportation is carried out in a special, or adapted vehicle (van) with one seat for wheelchair users. As the number of users of our services has increased, we already need to purchase another adapted vehicle and hire another driver and nurse who will accompany the children during transport from home or school to the daycare center and back to their place of residence," they state.
They added that the vehicle they now have travels about 185 kilometers every day, and 11 of their users live in rural or suburban areas.
"In the coming period, we plan to purchase another adapted vehicle so that the transportation service can be provided faster and so that service users can stay longer in the day care center."
The Pljevlja Day Care Center currently has 39 users. Of these, 25 are in the day care center for children and youth with developmental disabilities (for which they have a license). In the day care center for adults with disabilities, the Pljevlja Day Care Center has 14 users. They have a license for 20.
The management of the day care center in Pljevlja said that the support of the local government, or rather the founders of the Municipality, is significant, but that the most important is the support they receive from the parents, or guardians of the children, who are their beneficiaries.
The Mojkovac day care center, which has a license to provide day care services for children and youth with disabilities and developmental difficulties, has five users. In addition to the shortage of professional staff - speech therapists, special education teachers, child and adolescent psychiatrists, and child physiatrists, which is a challenge in the work of other day care centers, the Mojkovac center also states that they are having difficulty getting parents to accept that their child has disabilities.
An additional challenge, they said, is that the environment itself is stigmatizing. They also cited the fact that it is impossible to get involved in the early intervention program in their own town, Mojkovac, as a challenge.
The Berane day center has 37 users and, among other things, provides transportation, accommodation, individual and group work with users, and treatments. Neither the day center in Rožaje nor the center in Berane reported any particular challenges in their work.
The "Lipa" daycare center from Plav said that they need to replace the equipment in the amusement park, as well as the interior of the facility, and added that it would be desirable if they could provide a vehicle for transporting children, as well as certain diagnostic devices.
"The day care center owns a plot of land on which there is an amusement park, which was donated by TIKA in 2014, and the donated equipment has deteriorated due to the effects of the weather and is quite damaged... The entire park needs to be covered with a rubber cover, a tartan surface. In the rooms where children who use the services stay, the surface is made of hard, slippery material, parquet or ceramic tiles, so for the safety of the residents, all surfaces need to be covered with a non-slip surface," they said.
Although they now have vehicles to transport users, they state that they are not fully adapted to their needs. Therefore, they said, it would be desirable to acquire a specialized vehicle.
"Also, in order for work with our children to be more effective and yield better results, it is necessary to acquire a special aid, the Tomatis auditory stimulation device, which has proven to be one of the most effective for the progress of people with combined disabilities, especially children with developmental problems, who make up the majority of our users," they told "Vijesti".
They added that a Neurofeedback therapy device would also be helpful, which, they explain, is most often used for conditions related to brain dysfunction:
"And it can help reduce impulsivity and inattention, and can lead to a reduction in hyperactivity, which is a common occurrence among our users."
A humanitarian concert with which the “Mentorium” Foundation wants to help the work of day care centers in northern Montenegro will be held on June 23rd, at the “Nikoljac” Sports Hall in Bijelo Polje, starting at 19 p.m.
Bonus video:
