• Vakıfbank Tarsus Branch, Account Number: 2043297

• Foundation's Mission

According to recent scientific research, families at lower socio-economic levels in society have a proportionately higher level of tendency for having children with mental handicaps. Official records indicate the population of the County of Tarsus to be 219 000. In developing countries, the proportion of handicapped individuals to the overall population is %10. According to this data, it can be asumed that there are over 20 000 handicapped people in our County. If we consider the fact that Tarsus receives a large number of immigrants, the concentration of existing families that are at low socio-economic and cultural levels becomes striking. It is a fact that this situation reflects unto the number of the handicapped population in similar proportions. In short, the present situation in Tarsus shows the severity of its problems in the high number of its existing handicapped individuals and in low levels of the socio-economic and cultural levels of the families here.

In spite of the fact that the number of mentally and physically handicapped individuals in Tarsus is quite high, the number of students who benefit from rehabilitation services is fairly low. In our Tarsus, only 300-350 children receive such services in four private rehabilitation centers that are registered by the Social Services Organization for the Protection of Children. Yet, the only official rehabilitation center of our County has is the 75th Year Rehabilitation and Family Counseling General Directorate, which is administered by a joint agreement between the Foundation for the Training and Protection of Handicapped Children and the Social Services Organization for the Protection of Children (SHÇEK) General Directorate.

Our Tarsus Branch was established under the Presidency of A. Gülten İşcan, on January 14, 1994. Our Branch started offering full education and rehabilitation services in 1996, in a temporary location. As a result of much hard work and efforts, and with contributions from the Governorship of the Province of İçel Social Help Foundation and donations from the helping public, our Branch received a land donation and was able to complete its own Rehabilitation Center building. With a protocole signed in October of 1998, our Branch Center was officially opened on July 13, 1999. It is established and built on a 10 000 m2 land. We offer our rehabilitation and physical therapy services to 87 mentally and physiacally handicapped children, in a three-story building that has approximately 3000 m2 of enclosed and 7000 m2 of open air facilities. The only official rehabilitation center in the County is the 75th Year Rehabilitation and Family Counseling Center Directorate, which is being administered by the joint agreement between the Foundation for the Training and Protection of Mentally Handicapped Children and the SHÇEK General Directorate, as mentioned above.

Currently, the education and training services of the Tarsus Branch are being administered under the leadership of Birsen Batmaz, within the parameters set by the joint protocole with the SHÇEK General Directorate, together with this organization. This has proven to be the best example to the principle of state and public hand-in-hand, demonstrating the close cooperation and coordination between these two organizations.

Tarsus 75. Year Rehabilitation and Family Counseling Center Directorate

Our staff members include the following:

• One Director,
• One Vice Director,
• Two Social Services Experts,
• One Special Education Teacher,
• One Counseling Teacher,
• One Physical Therapist,
• One Master Instructor,
• Six Child Education Staff Members,
• Two Nurses,
• One Employee,
• One Office Personnel,
• Two Work Employees,
• Two Security Personnel,
• Four Cleaning Employees,
• One Driver.

After they are referred to us by the Counseling Research Center, the mentally handicapped children are evaluated by our Evaluation Board, formed by our professional staff, and they are placed in appropriate classes according to their special needs and levels. These are the classes we specify for gaining skills in self care and the education groups that are dedicated to reading-writing, numeral skills, and such learning activities. In addition to these, our students receive work experience in our crafts workshop, while they learn the production of galoshes/overshoes and weaving. Their products from these workshop experiences are offered for sale on the market and their handcrafts are exhibited for sale in the bazaars that we organize from time to time; by turning these efforts into financial gain, some of the necessities of our Branch Center are met. We were able to establish a computers laboratory and move forward into learning supported by computers, with earnings from our handcrafts and food bazaar that we held two years ago. If our SRAP proposal is accepted, we will be able start our experimental Kitchen Application in the Rehabilitation Center; with this project, we aim at having our students gain more daily living skills.

In addition, we give all our disabled children physical therapy service by our physical therapist staff member employed in our Branch Center. Our mentally handicapped students also receive individual education in sessions that are conducted one on one, in special education rooms with observation facilities. Along with these, accompanied by a computers teacher in the computers education unit, every child learns how to operate the computer and all students benefit from the use of education and training CDs, to support the education they receive in classrooms. All of our students also participate in various sports activities, with their physical education teacher. The cafeteria, which is operated by our mentally handicapped children, has been a great asset as a major factor in having them acquire basic living skills; however, we need a special Experimental Kitchen, to have them learn how to cook simple meals and for further kitchen training.

Some of the 85 handicapped children who receive our services in our Center are individuals who come from families that are at low socio-economic levels and those who do not have any social security. The social security organizations our students are affiliated with are as follows:

In summary, every mentally handicapped individual is a candidate for independent living. Many of them will feel the need of caring for themselves, doing housework, getting married and having their own families, being able to use the furniture and appliances at home, cleaning, preparing meals, in short, continuing with their lives independently. When the time is right, the mentally handicapped individuals will face the challanges of separation from their families to have their own homes. As in many countries, those who leave their homes will be able to continue with their lives in various environments, such as houses, apartments, group homes, or care centers. They may have other choices like living independently, in specially supported houses, supported by neighbors, or living with other families. Therefore, the mentally handicapped individuals should be carefully and seriously prepared for independent life in such different living environments. Our main objective in the training and education of mentally handicapped individuals, then, should be to develop their skills for independent living.

A great deal of the responsibility in facilitating the adaptation of mentally handicapped children into society falls upon education. These children must be helped so that they can gain the skills necessary for them to become integral parts of the social environments they live in and to be able to adapt to varying situations. In our society, raising independent children has had problematic results due to the general social tendency of raising children somewhat dependent on their families and having handicapped children remain totally dependent on family support. Because of this, our objectives in the education of individuals who have mental and learning handicaps focus mostly on working towards having these individuals acquire the necessary skills to be able to live independently. With this in mind, certain preparations and provisions should be made for those who have mental or learning disabilities, starting early, at pre-school level, working towards having them gain safe and independent living skills. This project has been prepared specifically for giving our students their independence by kitchen training and learning, and, subsequently, become selfsufficient individuals.

With this project, the population group we specifically target consists of our 85 mentally and physically handicapped children, who receive our services in the Tarsus Branch Center.

For the realization of this project, the efforts of our Foundation Tarsus Branch, the Provice of Tarsus Directorate of the Social Services Organization for the Protection of Children , and the Directorate of the Foundation for Social Support and Assistance will be coordinated and the necessary cooperation will be provided.

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