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The Person Within Project:
A Vision for the Year 2000

THE VISION FOR THE YEAR 2000 is to make a substantial contribution to the creation of effective community-oriented family and child services that include the protection and prevention of abuse and neglect of children and young people with disabilities. Prevention of child abuse and protection of all children contributes to the quality of community life. Emotional and psychological abuse of children and young people with disabilities is an ongoing problem and strategies of prevention need to be clearly identified. The BCIFV has accepted this challenge and produced an effective video and handbook titled "The Person Within".

The vision for the year 2000 is to make the public education campaign of "The Person Within" project resoundingly effective by awakening public awareness, clarifying the issues and building bridges between generic and specialized services agencies.

Emotional abuse is a component of all other forms of abuse and damages or substantially reduces the creative and developmental potential of the child. It is our vision to see an end to punitive and depriving living environments, where children with disabilities are segregated and isolated and face endless, boring hours deprived of communication and social activities. Such environments are harmful and serve to reinforce dependency, passivity and a sense of helplessness. Isolation, restraints and other punitive measures are often disguised as treatment and are rarely reported. And sadly, a child's lack of progress is blamed on his or her disability, not on the depriving environments.

Social policies that mandate inclusion need to be implemented by strategies and services. What we envision is what we wish for all children and that is proactive planning as opposed to crisis management. Children's needs do not come in neatly packaged containers which coincide with professional compartments. Confusion among service providers has prevented the kind of holistic and coordinated planning that is needed.

Prevention of abuse and neglect requires cooperative efforts between and among child and youth services, hospitals, law enforcement personnel and the judicial system. The BCIFV can be instrumental in building interagency collaboration. Providing information to advocacy groups and professional organizations will go a long way in facilitating the Integration of services.

The vision for "The Person Within" Project is to help build bridges between children and young people with disabilities, their families and the community at large. We hope to see "The Person Within" video and handbook widely circulated and a continuation of workshops for child care workers, teachers, social workers and others involved in the lives of children and young people.

Our vision is to play an active role in the creation of a safe community for all children and young people.