The Karin Dom Center for Children with special needs was officialy inaugurated in June 1996 but actually started working with children from 1994. It was founded on the idea and with the help of Mr Ivan Stanchoff, former Bulgarian Ambassador to the UK and the Republic of Ireland, ex-Minister of Foreign Affairs and Ambassador at Large. After the restitution in Bulgaria in 1993, the Stancioff family offered the family house built by Mr Stancioff's grandfather on the Black Sea coast, to be used by the Karin Dom Foundation. "Karin Dom" means Karin's Home. It was named after Karin, a cousin to the Stancioff, who suffered from cerebral palsy Karin Dom is an NGO, a charity funded by donations. It is a Day Center for children with special needs. The centre provides: - therapy for children whith physical disabilities and mental and learning problems from earliest possible age (the aim is early intervention); - each child is assessed by a multidisciplinary team at Karin Dom, followed by individual plan including work with the child and parents and where possible group work with other children; - training of parents and staff; - a parents' support group - meeting with a psychologist; - introducing the Neurodevelopmental method (the Bobat method) for children with cerebral palsy and related conditions with the help of specialists from UK; - toy library for children with special needs, whereby the child is given toys to take home for certain period of time on the advice of the special needs teachers, so as to develop various skills; - free transport for children to and from Karin Dom; - swimming therapy - children, parents and Karin Dom staff; - integrated activities of the children with special needs with other children (ciblings from the family, children from mainstream schools, boy and girls scouts, etc), so as to integrate children with special needs and their families into society; - joined project with other Bulgarian and foreign NGOs; - A fostering programme and lobbying for a law for the child; - an awareness programme - with the help of the local and national media; - setting up a data base for the incedence of children with physical disabilities and mental problems in the Varna region. The long term objective is the replication of such day centres in Bulgaria, so as to encourage parents to care for children with special needs in the family with the help of day centre, rather than leave them in institutions. The centre is working on an EC sponsored project with "Save the children" - UK. Following lectures and seminars at Karin Dom, there has already been interest in starting day therapy units in the towns of Shoumen, Dobrich, Gabrovo and Sofia. Achievements Due to the successful treatment in Karin Dom, two children are able to walk again, enjoying every minute of their childhood to the full. One of them is a six-year-old girl, brought to the centre last year. As a result of long months, lying paralyzed in bed, large area of her head has become hairless. The girl had also communication and visual problems. After the complex therapy, the child was brought back to life, happy to join friends for a walk in a specially designed frame-walker. Letter from Karin Dom We - children, parents and Board of Directors of Karin Dom - would like to express our gratitude to all of you - friends and sponsors for your generosity. You made it possible to enlarge the scope and diversity of services, offered in Karin Dom, to children with special needs and their parents. Children integrated in mass schools Swimming therapy Children from Karin Dom participating in Special Olympics Read in Bulgarian