Leaves of Hope - Abandoment Project

The Abandonment Project

The Prevention Project is now in its last funded year. We are due to be “inspected” by the Big Lottery Fund in January. In the meantime we continue to work hard to reduce the rate of abandonment and to provide programmes of education and training for professionals working in health and social care settings throughout the country. So far we have ‘trained’ more than 350 professionals and worked with over 250 Mums who either wanted to abandon or whose babies were vulnerable. At a conference in November eminent academics and professionals were promoting the team’s training materials! The team’s work was acknowledged publicly. It was wonderful! Professional practice is changing – slowly. We will never be able to thank our team enough for their commitment and the truly excellent training courses they have promoted. They have provided professional inspiration for professional colleagues. Without them the project could not have succeeded.

Presentation of certificates British Embassy November 06

The political environment continues to be hostile but the evidence suggests that attitudes are also changing. New legislation is in place; resources are improving; the foster care network is growing; and parents are beginning to feel more empowered. Our project workers have provided friendship and support to bewildered mums, helping them sort out for themselves and in their own minds what they really want for themselves and their babies.

We have provided temporary foster care while they have tried to make suitable arrangements, we have given cash grants for baby clothes, cots, buggies and other equipment and we have continued to provide considerable support with nappies, milk, food supplements and drugs and medical equipment when necessary. We can only do this with the generous support of so many volunteers who work hard to raise funds and who continue to make regular donations. We are so, so grateful to you all.

Our project workers have featured regularly on Belarusian television and radio and their work has been the subject of a number of national newspaper articles helping to give exposure to our work and continuing to encourage attitudinal change

The project has also funded the publication of a number of information leaflets for parents of children with disabilities giving them access to robust sources of information and help.

Mum felt she had no alternative but to abandon this baby- until she met our project worker…

We feel that we have now given as much as we can to Belarus and will not be seeking funding for another project after our dissemination event next year. We feel that both are projects have contributed to sustainable change in Belarus. It’s been the most fantastic experience but we all agree it’s time to let go. We have to let ‘our babies’ grow up and begin to fend for themselves.

THANK YOU EVERYONE AND A VERY, VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Margaret Bamford
January 2007