| 4. In which ways is the initiative creative and innovative?
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1. Her Excellency Dr. Fatima Al-balushi Minister of Social Development submitted the idea of creating a center for protection of the abused childrenfor discussion with the institutions , that are involved and that are dealing with cases of child abuse, and also to Dr. Fadheela Almahroos, Pediatrician Physician and head of Child Protection Unit at Alsalmaniya Medical Complex – Ministry of Health, with request to provide a proposal – concept about the center.Dr. Fadheela Almahroosis one of the most experienced specialist in Bahrain in the area ofdetecting of cases of child abuse.
2. Dr. Fadheela Almahroos worked for one year on the proposal for establishment of the center. She developed the concept of the center , based on study of the international experience in the area of child protection and she presented it to the committee of representatives from Ministry of Interior, Justice, Public Prosecution, Education, Health and Social Development.
The proposal was accepted by the committee that agreed on the procedures manual for establishment of the center and on the regulations for involvement of the related institutions in cases of child abuse.
3. The committee decided to transfer the child protection office from Ministry of Interior to Ministry of Social Development and that the Ministry of Health should provide all needed facilities and specialists for medical checkup , treatment and follow up.
4. On13 May 2007 the center was opened.
Principles for child protection and therapeutic intervention :
1. Working as teamwork.
2. Confidentiality.
3. Child best interest.
4. Protect the child during all assessment stages.
5. Interventionbased on Bahraini culture and international experience.
6. Provide comprehensive andmultiple specializedservices.
7. Coordinate with all related intuitions.
8. Quality assurance of the services.
The Center Main Objectives:
1. Providing protection for abused children.
2. Providing confidentiality and safety in the term of investigation.
3. Providing psychological, social, legal services in coordination with all related authorities.
4. Rehabilitation of the family in order to keep the child in hisenvironment as much as possible.
5. Finding a foster care family to take "temporary custody" for children or who are exposed to physical, psychological, sexualabuse or neglect, or the cases of homelessness with the aim of providing care and accommodation for a temporary period of time, also to protect children exposed to domestic violence and abuse and provide them with their living, health, psychological, social care
6. Helping the family of origin to build up healthy family environment for the children in order to ensure psychological and social rehabilitation and contribute their re- socialization after returning back from the foster care family.
7. Raise awareness for the child and community regarding children’s protection and their rights
8.Follow up the implementation and enforcement of laws and treaties on the protection of the children.
Our first steps toward the implementation of this idea were:
1. To raise the awareness of the institutions that are dealing with issues related to protection of children, subjected to abuse and neglect, that Kingdom of Bahrain need special facility to deal with the problems of the abused children and safety place for them, as well, as to support and manifest contribution to the mission of the Child Protection Center.
2. To raise the awareness of the society, schools and health system that child abuse is exiting in our reality and this fact have to be recognized and the related problems to be tackled. As a result of this campaign many more cases of abuse are reported now, compare to the time before the center was established.
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| 5. Who implemented the initiative and what is the size of the population affected by this initiative?
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The Ministry of Health, Interior, Public Prosecution and Forensic Department of Public Prosecution and Ministry of Education are actively involved in the process of ensuring protection for abused children.
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| 6. How was the strategy implemented and what resources were mobilized?
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First: Human Resources:
The tables no. (1,2,4 , 4,5 and 6) below describe the number of Staff in the period from 2007 to 2012
Table no.(1)
Position Number of Staff in 2007
Center Director 1
Rehabilitation Specialist 2
Psychologist 1
female police officers 3
Receptionist 1
Driver 2
Total 10
Table no.(2)
Position Number of Staff in 2008
Center Director 1
Rehabilitation Specialist 2
Social Worker 3
Psychologist 2
female police officers 3
Receptionist 1
Driver 1
Total 13
Table no.(3)
Position Number of Staff in 2009
Center Director 1
Social Worker 3
Psychologist 3
female police officers 3
an administrative 1
Driver 1
Total 12
Table no.(4)
Position Number of Staff in 2010
Center Director 1
Social Worker 3
Psychologist 2
female police officers 3
an administrative 1
Driver 1
Total 11
Table no.(5)
Position Number of Staff in 2011
Center Director 1
Social Worker 4
Psychologist 3
Helpline and child support staff 3
female police officers 3
an administrative 1
Receptionist 1
Driver 1
Total 17
Table no.(6)
Position Number of Staff in 2012
Center Director 1
Social Worker 7
Psychologist 5
Helpline and child support staff 4
female police officers 3
an administrative 1
Receptionist 1
Driver 1
Total 23
Second: financial Resources:
Startup Expenses:
Table(8): Explains the Startup Expenses in Bahraini Dinars
Aspects Amount of Money in BD
Building BD200000
Staff Salaries BD7000
Utilities + Stationary + transportation+ other expenses BD20,000
Total BD227000
Operational cost:
Table(9): Explains the Operational cost in Bahraini Dinars
Aspects Amount of Money in BD
Staff Salaries BD80000
Utilities + Stationary + transportation+ other expenses BD50000
Total BD130,000
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| 7. Who were the stakeholders involved in the design of the initiative and in its implementation?
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1. Psychological services
We provide two and half years of consistent training for the psychologist and we build up a system for psychological services. This actions improved noticeably the quality of the psychological services. As a result the children and their families are able to cope with the trauma. Our customers are expressing their thankfulness and satisfaction from the job of the psychologist
For further improvement of the quality of the psychological services, as we mention in the previous paragraph, we are planning to develop programs for therapeutic intervention for abused children and to provide training for our psychologist in the area of clinical and forensic psychology.
2. Campaign for promotion of the mission and services of the center
We are applying survey for the different segments of the society that are subject to our campaign for promotion of the mission and services of the center. They all are expressing their appreciation of the realization of the initiative for establishment of Child Protection Centre.
As a result of the campaign that’s started in 2008, the mission and services of the center are well known to the society.
3. Significantly improve is noticed in the area of communication with related institutions as Interior Ministry , Ministry of Justices and Public Prosecution.
We have to mention that before one year the public precaution did not consider our social and psychological reports for the issues related to the defense of the abused children. Now the reports from Child Protection Center are playing significant role in the process of child defense.
The Interior Ministry is increasing its cooperation with the Centre in the areas, related to issuing security of the staff and the abused children.
4. Hot Line – It is giving easy access to the services
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| 8. What were the most successful outputs and why was the initiative effective?
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The services in the center are monitored trough the QA system set by CSB and trough NQF system for management of the programs that will be implemented soon.
To measure the real progression and benefit from the services and the interventions applied to the abused children towards coping the trauma from the abuse and achieving maximum re-socialization of the victims of abuse, we are applying also:
1. Check list forthe psychological status of the children before and after the intervention.
2. Feedback from the parents of the abused children and from the schools where they are studying.
3. Feedback from the society. We collecting their opinion about the services of the Centre and their promotion trough a survey
4.We are preparing yearly report analysis about the services we are providing and about the achievements in insuring protection for the abused children. The results are comparative with the one from the previous years.
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| 9. What were the main obstacles encountered and how were they overcome?
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1. Poor cooperation by the related government agencies
Ways to overcome the problem:
- Letter on ministerial level to the related institutions,
- Meetings with the board of the Child Protection Center and discussions.
2. Some needed families are refusing psychological evaluation, treatment or corporation to the treatment and follow-up process. Ways to overcome the problem:
According to the new law for child protection the families should follow – up with the intervention suggested by the Child Protection Center.In case of refuse the Public Prosecution has the legal right to interfere in the interest of the child. Before we had no power to deal with these cases but now the new law is protecting the required intervention toward the abuse children.
3. We were struggled for issuing agreement with Ministry of Justice that will allow the presence of social workers and psychologist of the Child Protection Center on the court cases to defend the interest of the child.
Ways to overcome the problem
Letters on the ministerial level to the relevant intuitions and meetings with the board of Child Protection Center were carried on.
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