Whilst the numbers of children born with disabilities increased in the wake of the Chernobyl disaster, attitudes to disability remained much as they were in Victorian Britain. Changing this attitude and helping to create opportunities for children and young people with disabilities has long been a major, and very effective, part of our work. Enabling Children to go to School In Gomel City a new school has been built which has a lift, ramps and all needed facilities for children in wheelchairs. We have twinned the school with an experienced school in Manchester which has been integrating children with a wide variety of special needs for over 20 years, so that their knowledge and experience can be shared. The school lacks a minibus and the education department budget is unable to fund this in the near future. Without a specially equipped vehicle, only the children with well-off parents who have a suitable car will be able to get to school. For most families it will be impossible. We will purchase an appropriate minibus, fit ramps and wheelchair fixings and deliver the vehicle to Gomel with one of our aid convoys. Providing Respite Care Five years ago we established a respite care centre in Gomel to support families with profoundly disabled children. As the Centre was such a resounding success, Social Services agreed to take on much of the responsibility for the day to day running of it. However, they currently have no budget for transport, which means that many children would be unable to make use of the excellent facilities without our help. We would like to continue collecting children from their homes and enabling them to have short breaks at the Mayflower Centre. This would enable more families to access the Centre giving both children and their families a much needed break. Helping Children to Find a Family Many children who have been living in orphanages have recently been either re-united with their birth families or have been found suitable foster families. This has not been happening for children with special needs, and we would like to provide some of the extra support which is needed to enable some of these children to find a happy future with either their birth parents or a loving foster family. We would like to fund a specially trained social worker to locate families and facilitate reunions or support new foster parents. We would also like to fund a widespread local publicity campaign promoting the idea that children with disabilities need and deserve the love and care of a family just as much as any other child. Changing Attitudes Training and Exchange visits are vital in bringing about changes in attitude and developing new skills. Every official, Director, teacher or social worker who has visited the UK has returned with new ideas and the desire to bring about change. We plan to include several such visits in our work for disabled children in 2010. Budget Purchase, adaptation and delivery of Minibus for school £11,500 Driver, fuel and maintenance costs for Mayflower transport (1 year) £2,500 Training, salary, expenses and publicity for ‘Finding Families’ £6,000 Exchange visits and training to improve care and education for disabled children £5,000 Total £25,000 This sum would enable us to radically change the lives of many individual children, and even more importantly, to bring about further positive changes in the attitude to children with special needs within Belarussian society.