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This research is based on a stock-taking of the current situation. It is based on a comprehensive literature review and a genuine primary research with service users as well as policy makers, service providers, children and families. The exercise aims to develop recommendations for the further development of the Bulgarian Child Protection System in its different components that provide child protection services, both in prevention and intervention.
Three themes are consistently pursued throughout the report, namely violence against children, children deprived of parental care and justice…
This research is based on a stock-taking of the current situation. It is based on a comprehensive literature review and a genuine primary research with service users as well as policy makers, service providers, children and families. The exercise aims to develop recommendations for the further development of the Bulgarian Child Protection System in its different components that provide child protection services, both in prevention and intervention.
Three themes are consistently pursued throughout the report, namely violence against children, children deprived of parental care and justice…
The main finding of this report from Disability Rights International (DRI) is that Bulgaria has replaced a system of large, old orphanages with newer, smaller buildings that are still operating as institutions. While the new facilities are officially referred to as “family-like” residences or “small group homes,” DRI’s investigation finds that they are neither small nor are they family homes. In fact, they are mostly 14 bed facilities. Many group homes are run by one local authority, leaving a few administrators responsible for dozens of children. In one case, DRI investigators observed…
Abstract
The present study addressed institutionalised children and staff members' perspectives about bullying in Residential Care settings (RCs) in five European countries (Bulgaria, France, Greece, Italy and Romania.). Interviews and focus groups were conducted respectively with 123 institutionalised children and adolescents (age range: 6–18) and staff members (N = 95; age range: 23-63). Thematic analysis was adopted to analyse the data. Overall, findings indicated that participants were not fully aware of the specific features of bullying. Children and…
The Opening Doors 2018 country factsheets provide an update about the progress with the transition from institutional to family- and community-based care (also known as deinstitutionalisation). The new generation of country snapshots covers 12 EU Member States, 2 EU pre-accession and 2 EU neighbouring countries. This factsheet highlights the developments and challenges still ahead in Bulgaria and offers key recommendations to the EU and the national government to ensure that children are cared for in family-based settings.
Abstract
In the 1990’s Bulgaria had one of the highest numbers of abandoned children with living parents among European member states. Our question of departure was how the European Union membership has changed the post-communist heritage of institutional care and we focus on the transformation of orphanages through the deinstitutionalization reform. Furthermore, this doctoral research compares the development of the Bulgarian deinstitutionalization reform to the British one, and offers an insight into the role of the European Union in the transformation of social policies of child…
An estimated eight million children still live in institutions across the world. Deinstitutionalisation involves strengthening and developing services to prevent children being separated from families. It involves closing down institutions; including children in society and in their communities; and giving them their right to a family. This film from Lumos is about the people who know that there is an alternative to institutional care, and who are working hard to make it happen. These are their stories, in their own words.
The video highlights work to transition institutions in…
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Experiences of abuse and violence have devastating consequences for children, and in some cases, these consequences are lifelong. Loss of trust, feelings of rejection and abandonment, trauma, fear, anxiety, insecurity, and shattered self-esteem are just some of the impacts of ill-treatment on the wellbeing of children. Consequences are far-reaching, extending well into adulthood, and they include increased prevalence of mental health issues, a higher likelihood of experiencing violence from a wider range of perpetrators and high socio-economic impacts and costs. Further,…
Abstract
This article reports the findings of a multi-country study of medical professionals' perceptions and evaluations of children. The primary aim of the study was to establish the perceptions medical professionals working in three Eastern European countries (Romania, Bulgaria, Moldova) hold toward children identified as “typical”, “at-risk” and “with disability”. A second aim was to explore the existence of country-level differences in medical professionals' perceptions of children. The third aim was to examine the pattern of associations between attitudes toward children and a change…
This country care review includes the care-related Concluding Observations adopted by the Committee on the Rights of the Child and the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The Committees' recommendations on the issues relevant to children's care are highlighted, as well as other care-related concluding observations, ratification dates, and links to the Universal Periodic Review and Hague Intercountry Adoption Country Profile.