Space for Communication
Project "Patronus"
Main values
Geography: Whole Russia
CSS contribution, rubles
Total budget, rubles
Implementation period, months
Project idea
Since 2010, specialists of the Patronus project have been providing free legal assistance to parents raising children/young adults with disabilities. The project team provides consultations, helps to correctly prepare documents, drafts claims, and, if necessary, accompanies families in court. Qualified specialists deliver lectures and create educational materials.
In legal terms, people with functional limitations and their families represent a vulnerable category of the population not only due to weak inclusion and the inconsistency of existing legislation but also because of low legal awareness among citizens, incompetence of state service representatives, and instances of direct violations of citizens' rights.
Objectives of the Patronus project:
-Establishing a nationwide free remote legal assistance service for families of children with disabilities, providing all types of legal services offered by a team of qualified lawyers.
-Enhancing the competence and awareness of parents raising children with disabilities in the field of law enforcement, teaching them step-by-step instructions for solving legal issues to achieve social integration.
Relevance
The vast majority of Russian families raising children with disabilities face discrimination and difficulties in exercising their civil rights, which results in children often having significantly fewer opportunities for socialization, education, and access to quality medical care.
It is evident that such families require specialized legal support providing free qualified assistance.
To ensure proper support for families raising children with disabilities, a high level of qualification, mastery of the specifics of the topic, and prompt familiarity with legislative updates are critically necessary.
The lawyers at Patronus are highly qualified and experienced in implementing the full range of rights for people with disabilities.
Social effect
Improving the quality of life for families with children and young adults with disabilities by assisting in the realization of their rights
KPI
KPI
Project Results
During the reporting period, legal services were provided to families from the regions of the Russian Federation. During the project, 663 new inquiries were received from 38 regions of the Russian Federation (Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug–Yugra, Republic of Tatarstan, Republic of Kalmykia, Republic of Crimea, Krasnoyarsk Krai, Krasnodar Krai, as well as from the following regions: Smolensk, Novosibirsk, Voronezh, Tomsk, Omsk, Samara, Kaluga, Yaroslavl, Nizhny Novgorod, Chelyabinsk, Amur, Rostov, and others).
The beneficiaries of the project were provided with legal services, such as oral and written consultations, clarifications, drafting complaints, applications, as well as procedural documents in cases where applicants required judicial protection. Assistance was mainly provided online, and in complex cases, in person.
In addition to these activities, significant attention was paid to enhancing the competence and awareness of parents raising children with disabilities in the field of law enforcement, teaching them step-by-step instructions for solving legal issues. As part of this task, two webinars were conducted for the beneficiaries of the CSS Charity Foundation, namely: On November 28, a three-hour webinar was held for the “Yom-Yom” Inclusive Center, St. Petersburg, attended by both parents and center specialists.
The lawyers of the Patronus project are conducting a campaign to protect parents of children with disabilities who were not timely informed by employees of the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation about their right to receive a carer's allowance for a child with disabilities. The Pension Fund's debts to parents amount to significant sums, starting from 250,000 rubles. One of the court cases ended in our favor, eight similar cases are pending, and three cases are at the pre-trial stage.
On November 23, 2022, the lawyers of the “Patronus” project participated in the Congress of Parents of Children with Disabilities and Young People with Disabilities in Moscow. We consulted 19 people and participated in the work of the sections.
Project progress after CSS funding
There is a very high demand on legal assistance from families with children with disabilities, so our lawyers will continue their work.
We a very thankful for CSS for providing financial support for our project.
