3. Advocacy work

Hope and homes for children – Bulgaria is a member of the Childhood 2025 Coalition – an informal structure that works actively for the implementation of the deinstitutionalization reform and the support of children and families in Bulgaria through activities on prevention, reintegration, provision of social services, advocacy, capacity building, etc. In 2023, the Coalition continued to actively implement various initiatives and meetings such as participation in thematic forums and events, as well as to develop texts, statements and official letters aiming at the development of the deinstitutionalization process.

During the reporting period, the Childhood 2025 Coalition held 6 meetings as its representatives participated in 3 meetings at the political level, including those with the Minister of Labour and Social Policy, the Executive Director of the Agency of Social Assistance, the Deputy Minister of Health and others, where the vision for the continuation of the reform until 2025, the development of innovative services, the improvement of the quality of the social services, the social services act and the development of secondary legislation to it, the support of vulnerable groups, taking out of the children from the Homes for medical and social care for children and the protection of their best interests were discussed.

The Childhood 2025 Coalition prepared and sent 4 letters to the MLSP, ASA and MH regarding the implementation of the deinstitutionalization process and the level of success, as well as specific proposals for improvements of the process. The Coalition sent a statement on good practices in the social sphere to the Agency of the quality of social services. The Coalition and its members, including Hope and homes for children, participated in the Council formed for the closure of the last 4 HMSCCs under the MLSP and the working groups established under it. Hope and homes for children was very active and participated in all meetings and sessions of the Council as well as its working groups.

Hope and homes for children – Bulgaria has successfully developed its child participation and advocacy programme. 11 interactive sessions were held during 2023. The topics addressed focused on children’s rights, child participation and advocacy for disadvantaged children, and active learning through action and group work.

Hope and homes for children’s youth program participated in a meeting with the UN.

Victoria and Mihail are part of the Hope and homes for children’s Youth Participation Program  in Bulgaria. They are also the advocates and the voice of those children and youth who do not have the opportunity to be heard by state institutions. The right of children to have a family, to learn, to have friends and to develop their potential are part of the rights that must be constantly defended. On the 2^nd of  May, the 95th session of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child took place in Geneva. At this top-level forum, our young people were invited to present their perspective on Bulgaria’s progress in respecting the rights of the child.

The Convention on the Rights of the Child was adopted in 1989 and ratified by the Grand National Assembly in 1991 and is part of the domestic law of our country. Every 6 years a review of the results achieved is carried out and targets are set to be met. This year, the participants in our program had a chance to be heard and to start working on their priorities.

Here is what they shared with us before the meeting.

Victoria: “My life is great. I have a wonderful family and home, supportive friends and lots of opportunities to make my voice heard. A voice that is heard and respected. Unfortunately many children, teenagers and adults don’t have that chance. And that’s not fair. Because of this, we, the young advocates of Hope and homes for children – Bulgaria will continue to seek change.”

                Mihail: “The whole world is a playground. Children play freely here no matter what color their skin is, where they’re from, where they’re studying, and as our meeting with the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child is approaching, it’s important to remember these things.”

At the very meeting they both put the following highlights:

• The right of children to live in a family. One of the fundamental rights, but in Bulgaria there are still children who are placed in institutions and are deprived of family care. They do not have a personal choice, they do not have the opportunity to develop their full potential and to assert their positions.
• The right to choose and have a voice. Children with disabilities, children in small settlements, children from minority groups are not treated equally and this is not fair and there must be changes in this regard.
• The right to education. In our country, poverty is one of the factors for lack of access to education, social exclusion and migration causes.
• Monitoring of all activities by the children themselves. Any progress towards respect for children’s rights is measured by adults, which is not entirely objective. Our young people suggest that children should also provide an assessment and that they, by their perception of the implementation of legislation, should have an equal voice in reporting on the progress of our country. This means taking responsibility and seeking efficiency from the implementation of legislation.

To enable Bulgarian children to be happy and to work on the development of Bulgaria Victoria and Mihail and their peers from the Youth’s Participation Program suggest:

o Elinimation of the institutional care for children

o Work oriented to the termination of child abandonment. Even small institutions should only place children as a last resort. Put another way, to invest resources into the family so a child does not end up separated from the parents due to poverty.

o Improvement of the quality of care for children in Family-type placement centres and seeking alternatives for those placed there.

o Independent living for young people from the family-type placement centres who are now condemned to spend their whole lives in institutions. Thus they have to constantly adjust to other people and have no sense of closeness and family.

o Monitoring, supervision and active participation of children in the implementation of the European Child Guarantee with regard to the respect of children’s rights in Bulgaria.

The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has also received specific questions that have yet to be answered. Much has been done for the children in recent years, but much remains to be done, and any time lost is measured in grown-up children who have not fulfilled their potential.

–  Why are there still four HMSCCs and what is the plan for them?

– How will the quality of the care for the children in the FTPCs be improved and how will alternatives be sought for them – foster care placements for example?

Victoria and Mihail were pleased to have been able to advocate for the children “without a voice” and they strongly hope to be heard and specific steps to be taken.

The Youth’s participation programme of our organization continued to organize initiatives related to the rights of vulnerable children. At the request of the youth’s participation programme of Hope and homes for children – Bulgaria, a meeting was held on the 7^th of November at the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy with Elka Nalbantova, Deputy Minister.

Our Youth Program aims to build young people with a sense and critical thinking on respecting the rights of the child and who can practically become advocates for those children who are deprived of a home, family or those who due to some health and other reasons remain “invisible” to society. In their role as advocates they meet with representatives of the government and the UN.  With the help of the responsible institutions, they seek specific solutions to pressing problems.

The meeting requested was to present their views on the policies in place for the development of the children in our country and on how the rights of children are respected. The children outlined their views on any progress our country is making in the areas of education, health and inclusion of children with disabilities in public life. The clear direction that every child should live in a family environment after the closure of the Homes for medical and social care, fills them with optimism, but their concern is the slowdown of these processes in the last three years. Time is the greatest enemy because it does not wait for us as it goes by. Children are growing up and years are counting and having been at the age of 10 before is now 13 years of age so their thinking has changed too. In their families they are already talking about where they are going to study, what sports they are going to play, what profession they are going to choose. This is what the family is – the natural place for every child where they receive love and the opportunity to develop their abilities and can dream.

What happens to children who grow up without a family environment? Is it fair? Why does our society allow hundreds of children in Bulgaria to be deprived of their dreams? What does the Governement do for these children? What will the Governement do for these children?

The participants in our Youth Participation Program, who act as advocates and voices for the institutionalized children, synthesized their inquiry to two questions:

–              “Why have the last 4 Homes for medical and social care not been closed and when will this happen?” There are more than 200 children living in them who also suffer from institutional care.

They presented to Deputy Minister Mrs. Nalbantova the world studies how the nervous system of children who are not raised in families changes and what the consequences are for the society. They told her about their encounter with a wooden baby cot taken from a closed baby home that had been gnawed by a little child’s teeth. This cot has been touched by the agony of children in the 21st century in Bulgaria and they are probably now their age. So this is why the question “Why have the last 4 homes for medical and social care not been closed and when will this happen?” is very important.

–              The second question, “What are the alternatives for children living in family-type placement centres?” is also on the agenda in our society. Due to the lack of foster families, at this stage these children and young people have no other alternative than being placed in an institution for life.

The participants shared their impressions of their visits to the FTPC – beautiful buildings, polite staff, equipped rooms, but something is missing!

Individual approach, dreams and family are missing. You cannot see these children in the streets, parks and gardens. The MLSP should offer a new approach so that those placed in the FTPCs can also move on towards independent living. The solutions are – more staff, alternative care and the right to develop everyone’s individual abilities.

The children and young people emphasized on the importance of all of us to contribute to the better emotional development of those in alternative care and to look for ways to share this with everyone. Mrs. Elka Nalbantova encouraged the participants to pass on their experiences to other children, as well as to look for joint initiatives with schools and to attract new supporters. She said that she will also start reffering the question to ASA about the improving the care in the FTPCs for children with disabilities, who were also part of the meeting.

At the end, the children and youth from the program presented their work – the Alternative Child Report sent to the UN and the Good Child Helper Booklet.

Deputy Minister Elka Nalbantova suggested that the Children’s Participation Programme should be included in the development of a Child Strategy along with answers to several questions.  The Ministry wished to meet again in 2024 and see how the issues raised were addressed.

As a branch of the UK charity Hope and homes for children, the Bulgarian organisation participates in a number of forums at European and international level, as well as in the development of significant EU policy documents on children’s rights and protection.

4. Fundraising

Eight out of ten of the 5.4 million children living in institutions worldwide have at least one living parent or relative. Contrary to their purpose, institutions harm children, resulting in an average developmental delay of one month for every three months spent in an institution. A disturbing fact is that over 50% of these children are subjected to physical or sexual abuse when separated from their families.

Hope and homes for children – Bulgaria operates in 13 out of 28 Bulgarian districts in 2023. With only four old-style institutions left to be closed, our organization serves as a catalyst for the global elimination of institutional care. We are proving that institutions are an unacceptable way to raise children, and we seek to build a global consensus on this.

Local and international businesses supported our work in Bulgaria. Our largest donors are from Liechtenstein, Denmark and the USA: the Medicor Foundation, the VELUX Foundations and the Eurofins Foundation. We are proud to mention that among our Bulgarian donors there are such as Electrohold Bulgaria EAD, Borika Bank Service AD, Euroins AD, JYSK Bull EOOD, Dundee Precious Metals – Krumovgrad EAD.

We have one network campaign open on Podkrepi.bg and one successfully completed on Bithope.org.

Our campaign “COZINESS AT HOME” with Electrohold Bulgaria EAD was nominated at the 20th Anniversary Awards for Investment in Society of the Bulgarian Business Leaders Forum in March 2023. Our Deinstitutionalization coordination mechanism was nominated for Social Innovation by the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy.

Since its establishment in 2011, Hope and homes for children has been working on the following seven out of the seventeen UN’s global 2030 sustainable development goals, although these were only detailed in 2015: eradicating poverty, ending hunger, good health, quality education, responsible consumption and partnerships for purpose and in the following areas of intervention:

• Prevention of abandonment of babies
• Supporting the return of babies to their biological family
• Placing them with a foster family
• Advocacy, counselling, supervision and transfer of good practices

We gratefully accept your help on: IBAN: BG64STSA93001527795692.

            The others on us

-„I have been working with HHC since 2015 and continue to do so in a responsible and fruitful partnership to improve the well-being of children and families in our country. The people from HHC are inspirational and leaders to follow in the DI process.” (Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Policy for 2017-2018)

– „HHC has played a key role in changing child and family care policy, as they helped at one of the most important moments – when solutions for DI were being sought. As partners of the state, the HHC-ers play the role of initiators, advocates, experts, family support specialists, trainers and consultants. Their international experience, available support resources and dedicated team are HHC’s distinctive characteristics” (Chair of the SACP 2009-2012)

– „ As a partner of the state at the national and regional level,  HHC has contributed to the development of a system of services to support families with children at risk and to change the policy of care for children and families. The team plays key roles – such as an initiating and advocacy role, a coordinating and communication role, as well as an expert and advisory role.” (Deputy Executive Director of ASA 2009-2011)

-„ We have been collaborating with HHC Bulgaria on childcare reform since 2010. We share experiences and challenges in DI at bilateral meetings, at the platforms of the organizations in the HHC network, during study visits and conferences. We are familiar with HHC’s baby institution closure projects and the actions related – ACTIVE family support, local authority support, service development and capacity building. In Moldova, we are also applying elements of the family support approach as well as partnership with the state to ensure commitment and sustainability of the reforms. Bulgaria has made tremendous progress in DI over the last 10-15 years and HHC has played an important role!“ (Director of HHC–Moldova)

-„We have been working with HHC since the establishment of DDICM in the district of Burgas. This is a team of high professionalism, of dedication to work, of skills for field work and knowledge of how to help families in critical situation. Our successes are the children at risk who stayed with their biological parents and the children who left institutional care.“ (Deputy regional governor – Burgas)

– „It was a long time ago, in 2012. The mother was not well – right after she gave birth to the baby, she neither wanted to feed, nor to look after the child. They were in the hospital because of the child’s kidneys, but the mother had thrown the bottle of milk out the window… she had left the hospital, not knowing where… And the child went to a “home”… Then Kremena came and started helping us to bring the child back – by repairing the room, providing us with firewood, as well as with food, diapers, medication for the child. Every time she reassured me, told me to believe that I would be fine! She gave us a photo album of the child and the family to see how much we had achieved! We made it!“ (a father, village of Kalekovets)

– „My granddaughter was born in 2013, a methadone baby, with a 50% WCAC since birth. Her mother is a drug addict. She could not care for the child. The baby walked late, talked late, we had so many fears! HHC helped us in a difficult time – I was laid off from work and after the unemployment benefits period – left without money, at the age of 60. Kremena helped us with everything we needed: adapted baby formula, clothes, diapers, gas invoices, because we often went to medical exams in Plovdiv. They helped us with the legal support for the adoption. The child’s independence is our biggest success! She goes to school, she is doing great and draws very nicely! Here is a drawing for me. I love you, daddy!” (grandparents-adopters, village of Kaloyanovo)

– „It was 2018. It was a difficult time, my daughter – a minor mother, with a minor child, both at risk! The child could not speak, he was hyperactive, he had a reflux and needed adapted food… My daughter did not care for the child, she treated him as a younger brother… Without Valeria from HHC we would not have survived physically, we needed food for the child, but also for us… They helped us until we got our feet back on the ground. Together we built a network of support – with the CPD, the kindergarten and specialists. A faith that we would make it has awakened. Five years later, here we are – we have a special child in preschool. In the beginning he was a child with special needs, now he is developing in a special, unique way!” (a grandmother in Sofia)