Making Life a Safe Adventure project 2009
The “Making life a safe adventure” project was launched in 2009 by a consortium of (umbrella) organisations in 9 European countries active in the field of disability. The project has targeted non profit private organisations (parents associations, social cooperatives, NGOs) with the aim of raising awareness of domestic violence against children with disabilities as an issue of global concern and a phenomenon whose incidence can be reduced through the development of appropriate strategies in which the targeted organisations themselves can play an active and catalysing role. The project has sought to generate a heightened awareness of the need for preventive strategies and measures that reduce the risk of maltreatment of children with disabilities within the family among the various actors in the field of disability (parents organisations, service providers, policy makers), while emphasising the importance of strengthening the family as an indispensable prerequisite for success.
At national level, partner organisations have been engaged in activities aimed at promoting prevention and testing and designing instruments and strategies with a view to defining good practice. Both professionals and families have been involved in workshops and seminars with the objective of assessing strategies, reviewing outcomes and developing tools which have also included films. This work of contacting and directly involving stakeholders has been facilitated by the fact that the consortium could build upon earlier work done in Daphne projects.
The consortium, which takes the form of an informal European network uniting national organizations under its banner and logo, has continued to expand its network and to recruit new member organisations in other European countries. Booklets produced by the core partners in the course of earlier projects have been revised, adapted, translated, and distributed in new languages by new partners in those countries. A short film produced for international distribution has proved to be useful not only for consciousness raising but also as an excellent tool for training purposes and for introducing and channelling discussion in parents associations and associations of people with disabilities. During an international seminar in November 2009 in Bologna the consortium met representatives of European and Italian stakeholder organisations. The materials, films and presentations are downloadable from this website.