Meeting of employers and parents of children with special needs at Karin Dom

On November 20, we held a meeting between employers and parents of children with special needs that we introduced to the Karin Dom communing platform: www.rabota.karindom.org and the opportunities it provides.

We created the platform for employers and parents of children with special needs so that they can connect, and also they all can register. Our goal is to facilitate the future realization of the parents of children with special needs and at the same time to help the business to find qualified employees.

If you have not yet signed up for the platform, you can do it from here.

At the meeting, employers’ representatives learned about the new qualifications that parents received thanks to the project and their desire to be active participants in the labour market. Mothers expressed their concern that they could hardly find suitable employment, as most employers offer an 8-hour work day and rarely offer home-based work. A lot of the mothers said that as a result of their education and motivational training in the project, they felt more confident and competent in seeking professional realization.

Kristina Ilieva, a representative of the Taxback Group, said that mothers are highly valued employees in the company because they are very loyal and responsible at work. She also pointed out that the company offers an excellent working environment for mothers, a possibility for a flexible working time as well as additional health insurance. Currently, however, most of the jobs offered are 8 hours a day.

 

Maya Doneva, CEO of Karin Dom, explained that most of the companies she was in touch shared that the parents of children with special needs are a truly vulnerable group that has great potential for participation in the labour market and they could think in the direction of opening jobs with reduced working hours and conditions appropriate to them. Businesses feel shortages of skilled workers, while young and skilled people remain out of the labour market because of the need to spend more time on their children with special needs.

Darina Raikova, Employer Relations Coordinator of the project, presented the capabilities of the platform to parents and employers – “The platform enables employers to register their jobs and publish employment announcements and parents have the opportunity to apply information about their skills and competencies and to figure which of the offered positions corresponds to their demand and accordingly to apply. The platform is a good opportunity for employers and parents of children with special needs to detect their interests and search, communicate and establish contact with each other. ”

Orenda, a non-governmental organization, said they were also thinking about offering a job to parents with children with special needs and are currently offer employment to 8 people with special needs engaged in the production of training materials.

Karin Dom has the ambition to continue to develop partnerships between the sides and to continue the active communication with companies in order to offer appropriately qualified employees to the parents of children with special needs and an exit from the isolation they fall into.

The platform is built under the project “Support for parents of children with disabilities for social and professional realization”. Under the project, Karin Dom also provided free trainings for parents of children with special needs in the following professions: “Social Worker”, “Internet Applications Organizer” or English. While parents were trained and during the motivational training, Karin Dom also provided therapeutic activities for children.