CCP(UK) supports children and families in the contaminated regions of Belarus by bringing children to the UK for recuperative holidays; particularly focusing on teenagers and children who have had cancer. We organise holidays in a clean part of Belarus for disabled children from orphanages and we deliver four convoys of humanitarian aid to Minsk and Gomel Region every year. We have set up a small family home for four young adults with physical disabilities who grew up in an institution, and a second home for five young children with special needs, who were living in a large orphanage.

We work closely with the Belarusian Children’s Hospice and are responsible for the palliative care team in Gomel. We organise exchange visits between Britain and Belarus for hospice staff, teachers, doctors, physiotherapists, directors of institutions and officials from local, regional and national government. For the last five years we have organised a training programme in Gomel Region for staff from institutions which has helped to get many children fostered into local families. In 2004 we established the first overnight respite care centre in Belarus. The Mayflower Centre provides week long stays for children with severe disabilities, giving their parents a much needed break.