The Centre for Children without Parental Care “DUGA” was built in 1999 thanks to a group of enthusiasts gathered in the HO Schutzengel Gesucht from Germany. Children were admitted to the Centre for the first time on 1st November 1999, when The Duga officially started its humanitarian work.
The main objective of The Duga Centre is the care for children from their birth to six years old, who were temporarily or permanently left without parental care, as well as assistance and support to children in their psychomotor development.
Capacity of The Centre is 24 children divided in three age groups, each with maximum 8 children in each group:
1st group – from birth to 15 months old
2nd group – from 15 to 36 months old
3rd group – from 36 months to 6 years old
Admission of children is made at the request of the Centre for Social Work with the necessary documentation and findings of a pediatrician. Expert team of The Duga Centre process each application and decide on admission.
This vulnerable category of children is under 24/7 care of professionally trained workers, among whom are:
– 4 pedagogical workers, 4 medical nurses and 4 nurses.
Everyday activities in The Duga Centre are also performed by: 2 cooks, 1 maid, 1 handyman (driver), 1 administration & management officer.
Employed staff is educated and exchanging experiences with experts from our country and neighboring countries: Germany and Hungary.
The Duga Centre provides permanent engagement of external experts such as pediatricians, speech therapists, psychologists and other experts.
Employed staff spends great effort and commitment to establish a genuine and stable relationship with each child because each child is a special story.
The Duga Centre has about 370 m2 of closed area for accommodation, play and educational work with children, an apartment for accommodation of adoptive parents, and with 200 m2 of supporting facilities and approximately 1,200 m2 of decorated yard for children to reside and play. The yard is equipped with various facilities for children of this age, which greatly contributes to their proper psychomotor development.
The Duga Centre for Children in the past 22 years admitted 329 children and 308 children on the decision of the Centre for Social Work were moved to the following forms of care:
-return to biological families – 106 children
-adoption of 138 children
-placement in other institutions of the family-care type – 64 children
In case of return of children in biological families, we retain contact and monitor children’s development, and in case of need we help families in dealing with everyday life problems.
The Duga Centre is funded exclusively by funds collected from a variety of fundraising events that are organized in Germany and Bosnia and Herzegovina, from which we would sort out:
-Installing money-boxes in business facilities,
-The art colony and the auction of donated paintings,
-Printing calendars and holiday greeting cards.
With our friends from Germany in 2009 we founded The Foundation “DUGA ART CENTRE”, which, together with HO Schutzengel Gesucht, works on promotion and improvement of the Centre and conducts activities, whose ultimate objective is securing the material and financial conditions for enabling proper work of The Centre for Children Duga.
Finally, we can state that The Centre for Children Duga has grown into the most modern facility of its kind in this part of Europe, which provides suitable living conditions and provides a comfortable and healthy environment necessary for normal psychomotor development of children.