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We have a long association with Family Type Homes for Children and Adult Institutions in the Oltenia region. As a charity committed to promoting quality of life for all individuals, we recognise the long term impact of institutionalisation and are committed to do what we can to reduce the impact and promote community living. We fund and support a multi-disciplinary team (MDT) which over the years has included nurses, a physiotherapist and a psychologist. 

We aim for all individuals within Government institutions to have a personalised care plan to help carers support them in the best way possible, and for individuals to have access to activities and resources required to meet their needs. Examples of items previously provided to date include wheelchairs, sports equipment, nutritional supplements and creative materials.

In addition to the day to day support we offer to our multidisciplinary team (MDT), we plan and arrange regular trips for UK professionals and other volunteers to travel to Oltenia to help deliver local projects. Each year, we plan with Government services what the priorities are and design our professional trips to meet these priorities. Previous trips have focused on behaviours of concern (challenging behaviour), safe feeding and improving the physical environment. 

During these trips, training has been provided to carers from the Family Type Homes and Adult Institutions, as well as consultation to the Romanian MDT on complex cases. Wherever possible, we liaise with local healthcare providers and offer joint training with Romanian specialists. 

We are also committed to making links with other charities in the sector, to share learning and work collaboratively to enhance our offer to beneficiaries. 

Our long term commitment to providing support to Institutions in Oltenia has led to individuals in the community finding out about us and asking for help. We are committed to supporting individuals and families in the community, so institutionalisation can be avoided wherever possible. We have provided advocacy to ensure that individuals with additional mental, psychological and physical needs have access to the right input and have successfully supported individuals to receive life changing interventions. We also offer professional input from our MDT where this is appropriate and possible, and provide specialist resources and equipment such as wheelchairs and nutritional supplements. 

We are currently seeking additional funding to expand our offer to the Oltenia community, to continue to support individuals to avoid institutionalisation.