The L.i.f.e Foundation

Supporting child development, improving communication skills and bringing much needed love and attention to people with disabilities living in Government care.We work with abandoned children who live in Family Type Homes (FTHs - these are Government care homes where 4-8 children live in 2 or 3 bedroom flats, with 1 or 2 carers working shifts to look after them). We use a mixture of play and interactive techniques, physiotherapy and medical intervention to support motor and intellectual development of disabled children.Our relationship with many of the children continues into adulthood when they are transferred to state institutions, where they spend the reminder of their lives. The adult institution we work in has around 80 residents of varied developmental, physical or medical needs. Many of the adults show signs of institutionalised behaviour due to growing up in large orphanages. Our small team based work on this project year round. To provide additional input we recruit volunteers to visit the project on short trips during summer months. We recruit qualified healthcare, social care and education professionals annually in June to create care/development programmes for identified individuals and to train local care staff.