The Special Mothers Project’s Home Care Assistants Programme

The Special Mothers Project in the year 2018 is starting/piloting a programme called the Special Needs Home Care Assistants Programme.

Under this programme the project is recruiting to-be graduates, graduates pursuing a course in Community Based Rehabilitation and Disability Studies, Psychology or a study programme related to caring for Children with Special Needs. Our focus will however be on children with cerebral palsy

These recruits will be trained with the Getting to Know Cerebral  Palsy manual as well as other training materials to enable them work with families raising children with cerebral palsy.

The aim is to enhance the lives of families raising children with cerebral palsy.

BACKGROUND

Majority of children with cerebral palsy in Ghana are kept at home, most of the time mothers bare the brunt of taking care of these children. The search for a reliable, passionate and affable person to even take care of a child with cerebral palsy usually proves futile.

Most mothers tend to be frustrated and desperate due to the fact that they are unable to work. Usually the Mothers life tend to be tied around the child leaving mum stressed and frustrated.

We all know that no frustrated mother will produce a healthy and happy child.

Many have depended on the traditional “house help system” but it has failed them continuously with many having bitter experiences to share

The Special Mothers Project has thus decide to pilot a system where graduates are recruited with a specific terms of reference to work with families or with homes to ease the burden on especially the mother.

THE PROGRAMME

Under the programme the graduates will be trained with the Getting to know cerebral Palsy manuals as well other documents and also trained based on the experiences of parents to support families with child care and other activities as well as selected house chores that ultimately aims at helping the families to achieve inclusion.

This programme will also serve as a mini respite where the mother does not have to be doing the work all alone, knowing that sometimes having someone around alone is a great source of relief.

To ensure safety and security of families the Special Mothers Project will facilitate medical tests of the selected applicants as well as security checks.

We will do an initial assessment of the client home and agree on specific duties of the Care giver within the normal working hours.

Among the Terms of Reference for the people we engage are the following:

Family Values – When you go to a home ask about any family values and respect it.

You will assist the child with cerebral palsy in eating, help with toilet training and have basic physiotherapy with the child (With the guidance of the family since every child with cerebral palsy is unique)

You will help with other siblings if any with the aim of helping integrate the child with cerebral palsy not just with the family but with the society at large

You will help train the child in basics: learning letters and figures and possibly teach rhymes even if they are un-responsive

You will also engage the child and siblings (If any) in play therapy – children learn a lot through play

Please assist (If possible) with simple house chores like helping with the utensils, tidying home etc

You will work with the family for an eight hour working period, unless otherwise agreed between you and the family

The family will provide you with Lunch or an equivalent of 5 cedis

On days that you are not working with family you may be assigned other duties such as helping the Executive Director in an assigned advocacy work

You may be requested to join in meetings of the Special Mums and Dads group and help provide care giver services when needed

You will be giving periodic professional training to enhance your skills and services

Please note you will be given a minimum contract of six month and you will be required to give one month notice should you at any time wish to stop working with us or your Monthly allowance withheld

The Project will also register the persons engaged with Ghana’s Social Security system to enable us contribute to their social security.

The Services will not be free, clients requesting for such services will pay an affordable fee to facilitate the work and also ensure that the care givers are given a respectable allowance

The Special Mothers Project’s Home Care Assistants Programme will also serve as a mini respite for mothers who usually do not have any break at all in terms of taking care of their children with cerebral palsy.

Please support this programme by donating to

The Special Mothers Project Account

1011010126145301 ADB, Ring Road Central Branch

Swift Code: ADNTGHAC

OR  Contact us on Facebook Special Mothers Project in Ghana. 

Also visit our website www.specialmothers.org

We are only asking for Inclusion – Special Mothers Project

The Special Mothers Project, an advocacy and awareness creation programme on cerebral palsy is asking for policies that considers children with cerebral palsy and their families

Mrs Hannah Awadzi, Executive Director of the Project announced this on Saturday when members of the group joined a keep-fit club at Shop N Save Supermarket Adentan branch as part of their awareness creation programme.

Mrs Awadzi said: “We want corporate Ghana and individuals alike to think about children with cerebral palsy and their families when planning events or organizing programmes.”

We also want people to take up careers as professional care givers and do things that support families raising children with cerebral palsy.

The Shop N Save Supermarkets supports the project by creating platforms and avenues where the group could advocate about their activities.

Mrs Awadzi said the project as part of its fund raising efforts have placed boxes on the tills of all Shop N Save Supermarkets, urging people to look out for the boxes and donate to support the advocacy work.

One of the participants at the keep fit activity expressed concern about parents who uses their children with cerebral palsy as a means to exploit people and said that kind of behaviours put people off.

He commended the Special Mothers Project for taking a different approach and urged Ghanaians to support the worthy cause.

Parents call for support services for children with cerebral palsy

 Parents of children with cerebral Palsy are calling for social support services that will enhance the lives of families raising such children.

The Parents mostly mothers, at a meeting  on Saturday,  said the lack of services such as professional care giver support, lack of educational support and the absence of community based rehabilitation centres make it difficult for them to feel part of society.

Parents of children with cerebral palsy interacting

Mrs Hannah Awadzi, Executive Director of the Special Mothers Project, an advocacy and awareness creation programme on cerebral palsy said the parents were ready to engage with government and offer suggestions that will enhance the lives of families raising children with cerebral palsy.

Cerebral palsy is a neurological condition that affects the movement and sometimes speech of children. It is the number one cause of disability in children.

Mrs Awadzi said majority of parents of children with cerebral palsy do not have access to the disability fund, usually when they are talking about disability issues parents or children with cerebral palsy are ignored

She called on the government to engage parents when drafting policies that affects them, saying, the mothers especially are in a better position to suggest practicable policies that will enhance the lives of families raising children with cerebral palsy.

Mrs Gifty Iddrissu, Coordinator of the Special Mothers Project advised parents to invest time and effort into making their children with cerebral palsy independent.

She said “Transform your home into a therapy centre, let therapy be part of your daily routine.”

The Parents used the meeting as an opportunity to network, share words of encouragement and had fun.

The Special Mothers Project also serves as a peer counseling platform for parents of children with cerebral palsy.

The Special Mothers Project’s advocacy plan for the year 2018

The Special Mothers Project an advocacy and awareness creation programme on cerebral palsy in the year 2018 will focus its advocacy on  getting people be it individuals or organizations to develop services that suits the needs of families raising children with special needs and in our case cerebral palsy.

We realize that there is very little in terms of services that are beneficial to families raising children with special needs and cerebral palsy in particular.

The Project will be looking into developing appropriate and affordable care giver services. We have partners who are already doing wonderfully well.

Multikids Academy and Foundation is almost a one stop shop, therapy services are available to the public every Wednesday

With God Cerebral Palsy Ghana is a centre where children with disability are accepted to enable especially mothers to work. Ellen Affam- Dadzie, Executive Director of the Centre says it is an educational facility for the children, she is working to make it inclusive and ready to employ two special mothers to work as care givers in the facility.

ICRF is an educational facility at Kanda that is pursuing an inclusive centre for children between the ages of Zero and Five. She has a professional nurse and is ready to employ two special mums to work as care givers. She has a bus to pick up and drop off children at her facility

ShareCare Ghana operates a day care centre and does free physiotherapy services for children with cerebral palsy and adults as well.

The Special Mothers Project wants more of such services to lessen the burden of especially mothers in caring for their children with cerebral palsy.

The Project’s major aim is to empower especially mothers to engage in effective advocacy and do away with the attitude which attracts pity and hands out from on-lookers

Our First meeting for the year 2018 is on 6^Th January at the Press Centre, Time is 2PM prompt.

We now have a website www.specialmothers.org do take some time to explore