National campaign for social inclusion of disabled children

published on 1/16/12 1:05 PM

Photo: BGNES

Bulgarian Children Help Their Coevals with Disabilities – that is the slogan of a nationwide campaign for popularization of the Childhood for Everyone project. It was launched a year and a half ago by the ministry of labor and social policy and the state agency for child protection. The initiative aims at a gradual closure of the social facilites for disabled children and their accommodating at family-type homes, foster families, or, wherever possible – with their relatives. The project is a part of the government’s overall strategy for taking children without parental care out of social homes, which are often outdated facilities that lack personnel. All experts agreed that the process should start from special homes for disabled children, both due to the higher degree of vulnerability of those kids and also because of the inspections made, proving poor conditions and inadequate medical care at some of these places.

“Our aim is this one: disabled children and all young people from these specialized institutions to start living in the society till 2015,” Head of Childhood for Everyone Mrs. Donika Koleva explains. “We cannot make any plans for children with disabilities without paying any attention to their individual necessities. We made an assessment end-2010 to all 1,797 disabled kids and young people that reside in specialized institutions. This became possible due to the multidiscipline teams formed that included social workers from the child protection departments, physicians from regional healthcare inspectorates, representatives of homes for medical and social care etc. Diagnoses had to be cleared, additional examinations had to be done, along with consultations, change of therapies… The result – a significant improvement of the overall condition of many of the kids has been observed, which is a major step forward, according to us.”

The Childhood for Everyone project also aims at a prevention of the abandoning of children with disabilities. Psychologists, social workers and representatives of different NGOs talk to the relatives of children that risk abandonment. “This large-scale reform wouldn’t be possible without the support of the entire society. A national department has been formed with representatives of the state agency for child protection, the agency for social support, the ministry of healthcare and the one of labor and social policy,” Mrs. Donika Koleva says.

“We also have the support of major NGOs, such as UNICEF, the Lumos – Bulgaria Foundation, the Oak one etc…. Concrete social services are recommended for each of the disabled children that have to replace institutional care", Koleva further explains. "We distributed these services at a National Municipalities’ Map. We plan the building of 149 family-type homes for children and young people with disabilities, who lead a relatively independent life. The creation of centers for art therapy, social rehabilitation and integration is provided. Most of the municipalities, included in the map have prepared draft projects for the creation of family-type homes. Those apply for funding under the Regional Development Operational Programme.

English version: Zhivko Stanchev

По публикацията работи: Diana Hristakieva

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National campaign for social inclusion of disabled children

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