The Eden Foundation

The Eden Foundation is a non-government organisation established in 1992 which works in partnership with people with developmental disabilities in order to help them achieve full inclusion to the best of their abilities by gaining access to mainstream education, employment and leisure activities, leading to an independent life.

The Eden Foundation is governed by a Broad of Trustees under the presidency of Dr. Josie Muscat who is the founder of the Eden Foundation. The Board of Trustees, which includes parents of children with developmental disability, operates on a voluntary basis.

The Eden Foundation is an educational and therapeutic centre for children, young adults and their families. People come to the Foundation to get what they need so that they can function in mainstream society, within a community that could be a school, the work place, the village or town, the church or even places of entertainment.

Our programmes are designed and run by trained and professional people in the field. These include psychologists, speech therapists, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, teachers and facilitators. Each of these programmes caters for specific learning needs, ranging from Down Syndrome through cerebral palsy and other forms of mental delay, to autism, communication and behavioural problems, attention deficit and hyperactivity and other specific learning challenges. We work almost on an individual basis, targeting all emergent individual needs and bearing in mind present and future inclusion needs. The annual expenditure of the Eden Foundation is Lm800,000 (1.9m Euros) per annum. Of these the parents shoulder 10% and the Eden Foundation contributes 30-40% raised through fund-raising activities and donations. The state picks up the rest of the bill. Of course, one must bear in mind, that not all parents can shoulder their share of responsibility. Generally, these are assisted through special sponsorship funds. No child is ever turned away because of financial reasons.

Today, The Eden Foundation is an established educational facility for specialized programmes & learning incentives that are second to none. During the past years the Eden Foundation has offered therapy and educational programmes to more than 1000 children and 200 adults. It currently educates 350 children and adults with developmental delay problems.

An Important provision in our Statue states that “should the Foundation fail in its mission, all its assets will automatically become the property of the National Commission for the Disabled” and again the same Statutes declare that “we cannot work for profit and we cannot turn away children because their parents cannot afford to pay for the services”.

Official Website : http://www.theedenfoundation.com/