One of the agencies helping to organise this event is the Better Care Network. The Better Care Network (BCN) is an interagency network committed to facilitating global information exchange and collaboration among organizations and other actors working on the issue of children without adequate family care. BCN has an ongoing relationship with CIF and nominated Srey Ny to speak after recognizing how the work of the ABLE program aligned with the focus of this event.
Children in Families (CIF) is very pleased to announce that Srey Ny Sorn, our ABLE Project Manager, is speaking on March 5 at a United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) side event in Geneva.
As part of the 40th Council session, The UNHRC will be holding a full day meeting. The theme is “Empowering children with disabilities for the enjoyment of their human rights, including through inclusive education.” The side event “Promoting quality family and community-based care for children with disabilities” will focus specifically on preventing unnecessary separation and institutionalisation of children with disabilities and promoting family based care. This event will be supported by the Permanent Mission of Italy to the International Organisations in Geneva and it’s interagency partners.
Our ABLE project is an umbrella project that works with children across all of our family-based care programs. No matter a child’s living situation, if they have a disability or a serious illness, our ABLE staff provide them with follow-up and therapeutic care. The ABLE team also provides training to our carers and families so that children receive the support they need daily, not just when our staff come to visit. We have seen some wonderful cases of improvement and development in children with profound difficulties.
Srey Ny has worked on our ABLE project for 6 years. With Lisa Yunker, our ABLE Technical Adviser, she has developed the project and led the vision for where we are today. She continues to advocate strongly for children with disabilities to grow up in loving families and inclusive communities. She is responsible for training our community rehabilitation team, placing children in the right families, managing project logistics, and using her physiotherapy skills to do direct practice with children. Under her leadership, ABLE has been instrumental in helping families foster children with disabilities and in shifting community attitudes towards children with disabilities and their families.
Children in Families is very proud to be recognised for the work that the ABLE project has done to facilitate family-based care for children with disabilities in Cambodia and we are excited to represent South East Asia at this event in Geneva. We are grateful to share the lessons we have learnt about how to create inclusive communities that support children with disabilities and the families that care for them. We look forward to learning from the other organisations represented at this event and together, see children with disabilities thriving in loving families and communities, where they belong.