On March 21, 2017 a general meeting of baby home #1 employees took place in the conference hall of Sun City Premium. On this meeting the strategy of the organization was presented. The meeting was moderated by Olena Reshetnyak and Mykhailo Dovgopol. Nazgul Cholponbayeva, UNICEF Ukraine child protection officer, and Victoria Milutina, Kharkiv Regional Council deputy, greeted the participants.

The first part of the meeting was devoted to the discussion of topical issues of baby home functioning. The baby home’s employees worked in mixed groups, which consisted of doctors, nurses, educators, rehabilitation specialists, administrative and support staff.

Several families that receive services of the baby home were invited. Parents shared their experience of receiving services in various organizations in Ukraine and abroad. They made some suggestions how to improve the services of Kharkiv regional specialized baby home #1. In particular, they said about the need to discuss the results of the diagnosis of a child together with his/her parents. Also the meeting was attended by partner organizations. They described their current cooperation with baby home and formulated the key factors needed for its expansion.

A group of baby home specialists, which was engaged in strategic planning, presented to the audience the mission, values, vision, strategic priorities and goals of the new transformed baby home #1 for further discussion. Moreover, the employees of the organization with the help of Olena Reshetnyak and Mykhailo Dovgopol worked on a list of actions needed to achieve the intended goals.

The meeting was conducted under the Project “Creating a new model of family-and-community oriented services for children with special needs” supported by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).