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>> What is Villa Clementina? Villa Clementina is a day-care centre. We provide a daily care
from Monday to Friday from 7:30 A.M. to 6 P.M. It is a day-care where we take care of
22 children. What is special, is that a third of these children have a serious to very serious
handicap. What makes our project unique, is that we put all the children in de the same
group. This means that all groups are mixed, with children that have or do not have a handicap.
>> PREPARATIONS TO CHANGE THE WORLD
>> The idea was generated from the daily confrontation with families with young children that come
to the Centre for development disorders to get advice on their child's condition and
how to look after them. Doctor Katleen Ballon and myself noticed that there were few facilities
in the region of Zemst and Vilvoorde where children with complex disabilities and care
can get help. These children do not have a place for normal day-care centres, so their
parents cannot go back to work, cannot build up their family lives. We wanted to create
a day-care centre where we can welcome children that are not ready to start in an educational
setting or that need extra support because of their medical situation. This way, the
parents have the time to sort out their child's future.
>> I met Katia Verharen. Mieke and I already had the idea fora n innovative care concept.
We clicked immediately with Katia, who was working in the business world. This was a
big advantage. Our different backgrounds, Mieke as a remedial educationalist, me as
a paediatrician, gave us a big substantive network in social services, Katia had the
same in the business world.
>> I had a domain at my disposal, but because of my previous history, I did not know what
was going on in the social sector. The domain was to lovely to rent it out. The previous
owners wanted to sell it. I asked them if I could look for a social purpose for this
domain. They agreed and then I looked for a possible social purpose. I had no idea of
the needs of the region. That is why I contacted different politicians, centres for social
welfare, different Social Service Departments and this way I met Tom Dehaene, who was the
chairman of the Social Service Department in Zemst at the time. I told him there was
a villa with a domain at their disposal, but that I did not know the needs. Tom then made
the link to Katleen and Mieke. Katleen Ballon is a paediatrician at the Centre for development
disorders and Mieke is a remedial educationalist. They also dreamed of set up a children's day-care
centre for children with and without a disability. Last year in February, we met for the first
time. They presented their dream to me. There was a direct click. We were very enthusiastic,
I agreed immediately. There were definitely obstacles when we started
everything. We quickly found out that there would be a call from Kind & Gezin asking to
create extra spots. After that, everything went fast: we created a non-profit organization
(VZW), in which Tom Dehaene is active as a board member. My youngest brother Michel Verharen
and Katleen's brother also are board members. So we quickly set up a NPO to register with
Kind & Gezin t have those extra spots. Later, we run into a lot of difficulties. We went
to Kind & Gezin and told them we wanted to establish a children's day-care for children
with and without a disability. They told us that there were some extra resources, but
absolutely not enough. Then we went to the Flemish Agency and asked them the same question,
but they also told us that they could not contribute because we were talking about a
day-care centre. So we ran into a lot of difficulties.
>> SOCIAL INNOVATION THROUGH SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP
>> Right now, the core business is running, but it constantly has to be adjusted. We are
actively doing so. There are weekly team meetings to see what we can adjust. The next project
will be the pool. We want to create a therapeutic pool, but, again, it has to be an inclusive
therapeutic pool. This way, pregnant women can come for a swim, but seniors can also
come to do some aqua jogging, for example. Our children can swim here or take water confidence
lessons. This is also possible for the other children. But right now, that is still a dream.
>> I truly believe in the right for education for all children, besides their possibilities
or disabilities. Right now, we still live in a reality in which a lot of children that
are in day centres miss that specific approach. And yet I believe in the importance of a teacher
as part of working goal-oriented, working step by step and working development-oriented.
We do not question the importance of this for toddlers of 2,5 years old, so why should
we question this for disabled children? This is why we thought it was important to integrate
this in our activity. Especially because the children stay here until they are six years
old, and that is a critical period in their development. We searched and came to a collaboration
with two schools in normal education, special education and their centres for student counselling.
This is innovative, because right now there is a loophole in the law to be able to realize
this education for these children. They do not fit the existing boxes that are made to
subsidize and pay for this education. The fact that this education is taught and organised
outside of a 'normal' school setting, is also new in the field of education. So this steered
up things, but we were able to try and realize it for some children. We hope to grow and
to use this experience to meet important partners and to put it on the agenda of the Flemish
Ministry of Education.
>> CREATING SOCIAL CHANGE
>> The mission and vision of Villa Clementina is that every child has to be welcome in a
day-care centre and that no one can be excluded based on their economic or social background.
That is why it is important to us that we have spots that are income-related. This means
that parents pay according to their income and that we get a fixes amount of money from
Kind & Gezin to offer this. It is also important to us that every child, regardless of his
or her medical background is accepted. That is why we have our multidisciplinary staff
at our disposal.
>> We definitely feel that we give extra opportunities to the parents. When we launched the idea,
13 children immediately registered. We opted to tell that every child can come three days
a week. This way, all 13 children can come at least a few days. This gives the parents
the opportunity to go back to work, to study, basically to come out of their social isolation.
It gives other parents the opportunity to take some time to process everything, to accept
their child, because it is not that easy. And because they can bring their children
to a peaceful, rather normal environment, this gives them the possibility and some time
to process.
>> When we heard that Katleen Ballon was starting this project with Mieke and Katia, we immediately
taught to ourselves: Lenn has to go there. There is a physical therapist, the speech
therapist can work with him, there is a nurse and the supervision is superb. We are very
happy that we do not have to send him to school, but that we can come here, because we think
he is still too little to go to school.
>> CONNECTING WITH STAKEHOLDERS
>> I think that Villa Clementina gives a very wide meaning to the word inclusive. If you
look at the literature where the word is used, it generally means the inclusion of one specific
group in society. But here, we want to include all groups of society, so we want to be very
inclusive, not only for people or very young children with a disability, but also for disabled
young adults, so they can work here as a volunteer. We also want to focus on seniors or very young
families, so that every section of society, with or without a disability, is welcome to
have a nice day, to come and enjoy the domain or to use the day-care facilities.
>> The activities we do show us that the neighbourhood cooperates very actively. When searching for
sponsors, we do not have to look far, because the companies in the area support us as well.
They also see the added value of Villa Clementina. Companies can also have parties on the domain,
this gives us an extra income. So the neighbourhood is very active and very supportive.
>> IMPACT AND QUALITY ASSURANCE
>> The impact on the children and the quality assurance are two different things at this
moment. In any case, we have a quality control from Kind & Gezin. It is a measuring instrument
that Kind & Gezin created and that we check and test on a regular basis. We look at each
child individually, but also at the entire functioning. The instrument is called ZIKO
and was created by Kind & Gezin. It has to be followed up, and we do this. We had an
inspection from Kind & Gezin and it was positive. It is something we work on regularly. We often
take the documents to check everything thoroughly. The impact on children with or without a disability
is unknown at this moment, because we cannot measure it. We try to objectify it one way
or another, because subjectively we see what happens on a daily basis, but we cannot objectify
it. That is why a scientific committee was created. Different professors of the University
of Leuven will carry out research. There are making a survey to see how we can measure
this objectively, to see what the consequences are for children with a disability and for
children without a disability.
>> ENGAGING PEOPLE AND MANAGEMENT
>> My role with regard to the children is to follow them up , to sometimes look at the
activities that are really based on the stimulation of development, but another important aspect
is the team counselling: helping the team to think about how to organize the activities
efficiently so everything is aimed towards stimulating the children with or without a
disability. Another important task for me is the counselling of the parents: "Which
steps do we take with our children? Where do we have to bring in possible other assistance?
What is the perspective of these children?"
>> In any case we work with volunteers. That is a must here, because we are short-handed.
We have a team of permanent volunteers, like for instance our cooking ladies, our permanent
companions, that help our children on fixed days, but we also have a lot of free volunteers
that help us out during events. All the volunteers, especially the permanent ones, are all screened.
They have to have a certificate of good standing and a medical certificate to work with the
children or in the kitchen. We always have an interview in advance to see what the volunteer's
motivation is, what he or she would like to do, what their talent or effort is and what
their added value to Villa Clementina would be. So everything is fully discussed in advance.
>> Several people have voluntarily signed up to do some jobs here at Villa Clementina
on certain days. Some have signed up to work in care, some are 'Bob the Builders', so they
do some chores or work in the garden. So it was a very interesting project for myself,
but also for other colleagues, to see how Villa Clementina works.
>> I definitely think you have to give your everything. When we started the project, we
only knew for 2 per cent what we started with. But those 2 per cent were sufficient to get
started and gradually we are growing. Things are moving, and we are sometimes surprised
b the help we get and which people come up with ideas. For me, it is an enormous enrichment
of my personal life as well. The skills that I had to learn, that I discovered and did
not know I had, that is such an enrichment! Can you be happier than when you see your
dream come true? I don't think there is anything more beautiful.
>> BEING FINANCIALLY DURABLE
>> By our constant lack of money, our organisation has become an event bureau as well. We organize
a lot of events for the benefit of Villa Clementina. We have organized a jazz concert, a living
room concert,... Our latest event was Villa Expo, an exposition with 24 professional artists.
Actually, it has become part of the job and it will remain this way.
>> You can describe Villa Clementina as a social enterprise in the next phrase: We don't
earn a lot, but we get very rich, and we hope that many other people, our stakeholders,
will get rich of it as well. First and foremost the children that we take care of everyday,
and definitely their parents and families, that we give some peace and trust. But also
the parents of children with a disability that we help in their process. And also the
entire neighbourhood, because we notice that Villa Clementina receives a lot of support.
We hope to change the vision on handicap and disability and on children with a disability
and their families.