The Ministry of Social Development has placed 922 people with disabilities in family and community settings under its alternative care programme, moving them out of residential institutions. Of those, 485 went to alternative families.
اضافة اعلان
The figure marks an increase of 216 since April, when Al-Ghad reported the total at 706 on the Ministry's own account.
The programme's purpose is to reduce reliance on residential institutions and support the right of people with disabilities to live within their families and communities, with independence and inclusion as the objective. It runs in coordination with the Higher Council for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities under approved frameworks and procedures.
Two routes into family care
The Ministry told Al-Ghad that placement follows one of two tracks.
The first returns a person to their biological family, or supports them to remain in it. Eligibility here turns on the family's need for support, the severity of the disability, and how many people with disabilities the family already cares for, with the intention of directing resources to the most vulnerable cases.
The second places a person with a qualified alternative family. That family may be related, a sibling, aunt or uncle, or cousin, or unrelated, and the process runs under approved regulations and standards in coordination with the Sharia courts and other authorities.
What families receive
The Ministry was specific about the money, and about a misunderstanding around it. The JD400 monthly payment is not a general allowance for people with disabilities and does not apply across the Ministry's programmes. It goes to alternative families under this programme alone.
An alternative family caring for one person receives JD400 a month. A family caring for two receives JD600, and two is the maximum any family may take. The payment covers care and basic needs and is meant to give the arrangement the stability it requires.
Two hundred applications from people wishing to become alternative carers sit on the Ministry's waiting list, according to previous official statements.The Ministry and the Higher Council are working toward implementing the National Strategy for Alternative Care by the end of 2027.
Source: Al-Ghad. Reporting by Hadeel Ghabboun.
