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A major ministerial conference on ending the placement of children under three in institutional care was held in Sofia, Bulgaria on 21 and 22 November 2012. Organized by the Government of the Republic of Bulgaria in collaboration with UNICEF, it brought together representatives of twenty governments from Eastern Europe and Central Asia, experts from the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, international and local NGOs and the academic world to discuss strategies and emerging good practices to support vulnerable families…
This summary report describes the project UNICEF has undertaken with the government of Bulgaria to establish a nationwide regional approach to foster care development based on its pilot experience.
The implementation of the project involved building partnerships at national and local levels to develop a common approach to foster care provision, improve quality of foster care, build supportive network for foster parents. The project also managed to establish and apply common understanding on foster care principles, procedures, roles and responsibilities. 9 regional foster care…
This report gives an overview of the documentary reality TV series, “Life as it is-foster families,” which UNICEF in Bulgaria launched in 2010 as a part of its agenda to stop children under 3 years of age from being placed in institutions and to close the infant homes for institutional care. The TV series filmed real life stories of 11 foster families for about seven months, showing the positive outcomes for the children living in foster care as well as challenges foster families face to take care of a child who is coming from an institution.
The TV series aimed to raise public…
This document is a Bulgarian language summary brochure of the Manual of Good Practice titled ‘Child Abandonment and its Prevention in Europe,’ specific to child abandonment in Bulgaria. For the complete manual (in English) please click here.
©In collaboration with: For Our Children Foundation, Life Together Association, University of Copenhagen, University of Lyon, Family Child Youth Association, Paramos Vaikams…
Article 7 of the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child (CRC) states that every child has “the right to know and be cared for by his or her parents.” When a child is abandoned, this right is violated. Infants and young children are those most at risk of being abandoned There is a distinct lack of research in understanding the extent, causes, and consequences of child abandonment. Such studies are essential in order to develop effective prevention programs and strategies aimed at protecting children most vulnerable in the European society.
This comprehensive manual provides an overview of…
This text describes “promising practice” mobile services for children and parents suffering abuse, neglect poverty and disability in Bulgaria. The text explains its nature, the history of its development and its effectiveness in: promoting multidisciplinary approach to child care, prevention of institutionalization, achieving empowerment of parents; providing quality service to children at risk.
This document features some of the most notable innovations and lessons learned from UNICEF’s programme reporting, highlighting the innovative initiatives UNICEF and its country-level partners are undertaking to improve children’s rights and development.
Particularly relevant to alternative care issues is the highlighted section on the Bulgarian experience of using television to raise awareness and funds for children in care. The programme integrated advocacy, fundraising and communication in order to influence the deinstitutionalization of children without parental care…
This report was prepared by Dr Andy Bilson, Professor of Social Work at the University of Central Lancashire, at the request of the UNICEF Regional Office for CEE/CIS. This report looks at children who enter institutional care because of being without parental care, children with disabilities, child victims of abuse and children in conflict with the law. The aim is to identify key routes through the systems in order to understand the nature of the difficulties that lead children to be placed in institutions and thereby to be able to identify alternative strategies that will better support…
WHAT: Guidance and forms on preventing institutionalization of children and promoting family unification. It presents Save the Children and partners’ experience of deinstitutionalization via the Take Me Home 2 project (2002-2005). The manual includes good practices and lessons learnt, training plans, care planning forms, and assessment guidance.
WHO: Social workers, staff of institutions and their managers.
WHERE: Based on a Bulgarian project, but universally relevant.
WHY: Provides…
The following is a summary of the Bulgarian experience in implementing a comprehensive reform of the care and protection system for children at-risk.
It shows the achievements as well as the lessons learned during this challenging process, exploring identification and implementation of reform priorities, the Bulgarian experience of reducing rates of institutionalization, capacitating the social welfare sector and citizen constituency to support foster care development, and responding to social attitudes around at risk children and family and community based care.