Dear Families and adoption practionioners,
Since 2001 I have visited Bulgaria five times in order to have a personal
experience with the adoption process and most importantly, with the orphanages.
I would like to share with you the exciting information about the children
and the conditions in the orphanages.
There are more than 30 orphanages in Bulgaria with between 50 to 150 healthy
children in each home, under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Health.
Why were
these children given up for adoption? Based on the statistics published in
the Bulletin of the State Agency for Child Protection: 67% is due to poverty.
The country has a high unemployment rate and a struggling economy.
Families are not able to provide enough for a second or third child. Another
large group is single, usually young mothers, that don't receive sufficient
support. Only 11% are given for medical reasons. I was pleasantly surprised
to see the entire philosophy and excellent care of the children residing in
the orphanages. Let me share with you the information we were able to receive
during our visit.
The Reform
In 1997 the Ministry of Health started a pilot project for a structural reform
of the system. The main purpose of this project was to convert the orphanages
from medical institutions to social childcare and development centres.
The pillar points of this program were:
- To transform the previous box like hospital
setting into small groups of children (4-6) with permanent caregivers in
a home like setting. The rooms were bright, colourful, full of toys, and
suitable for children. One caregiver works with two babies or four toddlers,
which is in accordance with the guidelines of the American Pediatric Association.
The same caregivers always work with one particular group of children and
are able to develop an emotional bond with them.
- Implementation of good teamwork. A diary is
established for each child and a personalized plan is created for his/her
development. Each month, the specialists of the orphanage get together,
discuss different issues about the children and review the individual plan
for each child's physical and emotional development.
- Integration of children with some health issues
into groups of healthy children. There was created a family like environment
in which different age groups are represented. The older children have a
positive influence over the younger ones.
- A strong practice of actively integrating
the outside world. This has been accomplished by:
- Visiting regular
kindergartens (When the children turn one year of age, they are sent
to regular childcare centres. The results show that 80% of these children
were successfully integrated with the public system)
- Families from the
community visit the orphanages with their children so that the children
can play together and develop social contacts.
- Volunteers at the
orphanages.
- Foster homes are
found for the older children so that they can live as part of a family.
- A program called
"grandma and granchild" was implemented. Retired women from
the community visit every day for 2-4 hours, providing comfort, and
care for the children. In this way, the missing generation is present
in the life of the orphans.
- To improve the qualifications
of the staff, with emphasis on psychology and early childhood development.
Bulgarian orphanages actively work with distinguished specialists from leading
establishments and non-government organizations in Europe and the US. Programs
such as "Growing Without Parents" (France), "Compassion (Spain)
and other programs sponsored by the Bulgarian Red Cross and the Red Cross
from Switzerland, Austria and Spain were quality care for the psycho-motoric
development of the children.
- Ensure enough staff,
qualified professionals, and financial support for the orphanages. The Director
of each orphanage is a Pediatrician with many years of experience, working
together with a variety of specialists: Pediatricians, Psychologists, Rehabilitation
therapists, Teachers, Linguistic development therapists, Social Workers,
Nurses, Professional caregivers, etc. The usual child/staff ratio is 1:1.
After implementing the
reform in all orphanages, an accreditation process is started. All orphanages
had to meet the new criteria. The reform was a total success, bringing the
level of the care for the Bulgarian orphans to higher standards.
As a result of this reform,
physical and emotional development, and living conditions of Bulgarian orphans
were significantly improved. Children were adopted at young ages and were
successfully integrated into their new families.
The Ministry of Health
and the Directors of the orphanages assured us that the majority of the children
are healthy (no fetal alcohol syndrome or substance abuse by the birth parents
- information is available and fully disclosed).
In 2002 Bulgaria ratified
the Hague Convention. The new Family Law outlined positive changes in the
adoption procedure. These changes result in streamlining the process of adoption
and shorter time between the first visit and the child coming home!
I will be pleased to present
to you a short video we were able to take during our visits in some of the
Bulgarian orphanages!
...top
of page
