In Croatia the issue of child abuse was brought to public attention 20 years ago, establishing one of the most advanced models of providing integrated and specialized services to children affected from severe forms of abuse and trauma with a dedicated focus on long term diagnostic and treatment services.
Considering the well-established model of service and the long-term experience on October 20th, a group of 7 Albanian professionals from central and local level visited the Child and Youth Protection Center of Zagreb.
The exchange visit was organized as one of the key activities UNICEF and its Implementing Partner, Terre des Hommes are supporting to ensure the best models and practices of service provisions are considered in responding to Albanian children affected from severe forms of violence. Croatian colleagues shared with the frontline professionals working in the One Stop Centers in Fier and Shkodra the best practices and successful strategies currently implemented in Croatia in identifying, assisting, and rehabilitating children witnesses or survivors of severe forms of violence.
For Edliri Doko, the coordinator of the One Stop Center in Fier, this visit served to understand the significance of integrated services.
“The visit to the Zagreb Polyclinic made me realize that despite the difficulties and endless challenges we face in the treatment and provision of services for victims of sexual abuse or severe forms of violence, we must understand that systems need to be integrated and function as a unified entity.”
The coordinator of the One Stop Center in Shkodra, Angjela Radovani, described the exchange of experience in Croatia as professionally inspiring.
“We came out with a new vision and inspiration from this study visit to improve ourselves for the sole purpose of providing direct assistance and concrete services to victims of sexual abuse or severe forms of violence. The importance of intersectoral cooperation and fulfilling the duties that each actor in the child protection system has leads to the reduction and minimization of re-traumatization of victims as well as immediate provision of relevant services.”
This study visit was organized within the program "𝑇𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑁𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑅𝑒𝑠𝑝𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝐻𝑢𝑚𝑎𝑛 𝑇𝑟𝑎𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝐴𝑙𝑏𝑎𝑛𝑖𝑎", implemented by Tdh, led by UNICEF Albania and supported by the British Embassy Tirana.
