"Vaska from Mogilino survived and fell in love", article in 24 Chasa News, dated September 23, 2010

Source:

Васка от Могилино оцеля и се влюби (Vaska from Mogilino survived and fell in love) in 24 Chasa (24 Hours), report by Ventsi Venkov, Rositsa Hristova, Dima Maksimova, and Kapka Todorova, photos by Rositsa Hristova

https://www.24chasa.bg/Article/618728

Above: At the opening of the center in Glozhene, Vaska enjoyed the company of director Mila Vasileva (right) and singer Mariana Popova.

Above: Vaska loves going for walks in the yard of her new home.

The article (from the part focusing on Vaska; by Rositsa Hristova):

Васка от Могилино оцеля и се влюби

23.09.2010 11:46; Венци Венков, отговорен редактор "Местен 24 часа" за Шумен, Разград и Търговище, Росица Христова, Дима Максимова, Капка Тодорова, Берлин

Заради крехкото и доскоро чупливо като стъкло телце всички възприемат Васка като дете. А всъщност е 21-годишна девойка, която със своята изтерзана безпомощност потресе и Англия във филма на Би Би Си за децата от Могилино. Две години след излъчването на филма онова ужасяващо слабо и умиращо същество няма нищо общо със сегашното момиче. То вече живее в Центъра от семеен тип в тетевенското село Гложене, открит през май тази година. УНИЦЕФ инвестира 343 хил. лв. в изграждането му.

У Васка животът се е върнал, той направо струи от нея. И какво по-голямо доказателство за жаждата й да я има от това, че май е влюбена. Забелязала го е директорката Мила Василева. Дори лелите, обгрижващи общо 11-те обитатели на центъра, клатят заговорнически глави. "Невероятно, вижте я - напълня, говори непрекъснато. Всички й се радваме", казва директорката, сочейки доволното момиче в количката.

Наскоро я водили и на море в Китен с още 5 деца. Месец преди заминаването Васка все за това говорела. Но като се върнали, забравила морето все едно не е била там. Сега номер едно в неспирното й бърборене е рехабилитаторът Косьо. "Сутрин със събуждането първите й думи са, че ще дойде да й прави масаж. Много го харесва, макар че не го вижда. По гласа го е заобичала и с такова умиление говори за него, непрекъснато го вика дори в събота и неделя", споделя тайната й Мила. Допълва, че непрекъснато наблюдавала изражението на момичето и казвала на колегите си: "Хора, това излъчване означава само едно - нашата Васка е влюбена."

Дали осъзнава чувството, е въпрос, но определено била озарена от очакването и появата на Косьо.

Когато дошли в новия си дом в Гложене през май, децата, сред които няма под 18-годишни, се нахвърляли стръвно на храната. Нищо друго не ги интересувало. Натъпквали филиите цели в устата си, да не би някой да им ги отнеме, крадели си храната. Били оскотели от глад.

Васка и до днес се радва на храната. Всички се забавляват, че иска за закуска "филийка със сандвич".

Когато я докарали в центъра, предупредили, че не може да яде само пасирана храна. Няма такова нещо, яде всичко, хорово уверяват жените от персонала.

Васка често се карала на момчетата да слушат, защото иначе нямало да ядат.

"Явно така са ги наказвали в Могилино и още не могат да го забравят", с горчивина разказва Мила.

При пристигането си в Гложене Васка била лека като перце, вдигали я без усилие и най-слабите асистентки.

"Сега вече преместването й е проблем", смее се директорката.

След Могилино Васка и още две момичета били настанени в дома в село Пчелище. Там тя много силно се привързала към една от лелките.

Леля Денка придружила Васка до Гложене, а сега често звъни по телефона, за да разговаря с любимката си. Тогава незрящото момиче грейвало от щастие. "Обичат си се много двечките", доволна е от привързаността им Мила.

Според нея питомците на модерно обзаведения дом в Гложене не са трудни за гледане, всичко било въпрос на свикване и организация. А пък Васка била най-лесна. "Тя е толкова сладка. Никога не се сърди, не плаче - абсолютно незлобливо дете", казва възторжено Мила. Тя очевидно има точно око за всичките младежи с тежка умствена изостаналост, които са й поверени, и говори за тях с обич. Целият персонал вече ги познава добре и знае от кого какво да очаква. На Васка любими й били разходките и обича да прекарва деня навън. Когато вали, посърва. Седи с часове и пред телевизора, слушайки музика. Обича всякакви песни.

Бързо запомня текста и е много музикална, макар че личният й репертоар включва само детски песнички.

В началото имали притеснения за крехките кости на Васка. Предупредили ги, че е много чуплива. Затова се страхували да я пипат. Оказало, че положението не е така страшно. Вече пет месеца момичето няма счупвания. Продължава постоянно да е в инвалидна количка, но вече сама се прехвърля в леглото.

Васка била 3-4-годишна, когато родителите й от близкото до Гложене село Български извор я оставили в дома в Могилино. Сега идвали да я виждат, вземали я дори у дома, но я връщали още на следващия ден, тъй като нямали условия да се грижат за нея. Иначе били много мили и добри хора. Независимо че били бедни, гледали все да донесат по нещо и за другите деца - по-евтини памперси, сладкиши. За дъщеря си задължително носели по кашон с меденки - любимото й лакомство.

English translation (my own):

Vaska from Mogilino survived and fell in love

September 23, 2010 at 11:46; Ventsi Venkov, editor-in-chief of "Local 24 Hours" for Shumen, Razgrad and Targovishte, Rositsa Hristova, Dima Maximova, Kapka Todorova, Berlin

Because of her brittle and, until recently, fragile-like-glass body, everyone perceives Vaska as a child. In fact, she is a 21-year-old girl who, with her tormented helplessness, shook England in the BBC film about the children from Mogilino. Two years after the film aired, that terribly weak and dying creature has nothing to do with the current girl. She now lives in the Family-Type Center in the Teteven village of Glozhene, opened in May this year. UNICEF is investing 343,000 leva in its construction.

Life has returned to Vaska, it flows straight from her. And what greater proof of her thirst to have her than the fact that she seems to be in love? The director Mila Vasileva noticed it. Even the "aunties", who care for a total of 11 residents of the center, shake their heads conspiratorially. "Amazing, look at her, constantly talking. We are all happy for her", says the director, pointing to the happy girl in the wheelchair.

Recently she was taken to the sea in Kiten with 5 other children. A month before leaving, Vaska kept talking about it. But when they returned, she forgot the sea as if she had never been there. Now the number one subject of her incessant chatter is her rehabilitator Kosyo. "When she wakes up in the morning, her first words are that he will come to give her a massage. She likes him very much, although she can't see him. She loved him by her voice and spoke about him with such affection, she constantly called him even on weekends", Mila shares her secret. She added that she constantly watched the girl's expression and told her colleagues: "People, this broadcast means only one thing — our Vaska is in love."

Whether she was aware of the feeling was a question, but she was definitely lightened by Kosyo's anticipation and appearance.

When they arrived at their new home in Glozhene in May, the children, including those under 18, pounced on the food. Nothing else interested them. They stuffed the slices [of bread] whole in their mouths so that no one would take them away, they stole their food. They were starving.

Vaska still enjoys food. Everyone is amused that she wants a "sliced sandwich" for breakfast.

When they brought her to the center, they warned that she could only eat puréed food. But not anymore, she eats everything, the women of the staff assure the people.

Vaska often scolded the boys for not listening, because otherwise they would not have eaten.

"Apparently they were punished like that in Mogilino and they still can't forget it," Mila says bitterly.

When she arrived in Glozhene, Vaska was as light as a feather, and even the weakest assistants lifted her effortlessly.

"Now her movement is a problem," laughs the director.

After Mogilino, Vaska and two other girls were placed in a home in the village of Pchelishte. There she became very attached to one of the "aunties".

Auntie Denka accompanied Vaska to Glozhene, and now she often calls on the phone to talk to her pet. Then the blind girl glowed with happiness. "They love each other very much", Mila is happy with their affection.

According to her, the "pets" of the modernly furnished home in Glozhene are not difficult to look after, everything was a matter of convening and organization. And Vaska was the easiest. "She is so sweet. She never gets angry, she never cries — an absolutely innocent child", says Mila enthusiastically. She obviously has an eye for all the severely mentally disabled young people entrusted to her, and she speaks of them with love. The whole staff already knows them well and knows from whom to expect what. Vaska loves going for walks and likes to spend the day outside. When it rains, she sulks. She sits for hours in front of the TV, listening to music. She loves all kinds of songs.

She memorises the lyrics quickly and is very musical, although her personal repertoire includes only children's songs.

At first they were worried about Vaska's fragile bones. They had been warned that she was very fragile. That is why they were afraid to touch her. It turned out that the situation was not so terrible. The girl has not had a fracture for five months now. She is still in a wheelchair, but is now moving into bed on her own.

Vaska was 3 to 4 years old when her parents from the village of Bulgarski Izvor near Glozhene left her at the home in Mogilino. Now they came to see her, even took her home, but returned her the next day because they did not have the conditions to take care of her. Otherwise they were very kind and good people. Although they were poor, they always tried to bring something for the other children too — cheaper diapers, sweets. For their daughter, they always carried a box of gingerbread — her favorite treat.

"Misho and Milen from Mogilino no longer protect their food", article in Marica News, dated October 27, 2016

Source:

Мишо и Милен от Могилино вече не си бранят храната, article and photos by Valentina Asenova of Pazardzhishka Marica, dated 27 October 2016, Marica News

https://www.marica.bg/region/pazardjik/misho-i-milen-ot-mogilino-veche-ne-si-branqt-hranata

Above: Milen.

The article:

Мишо и Милен от Могилино вече не си бранят храната

Екип Марица

27. 10. 2016

Двама от възпитаниците на станалия печално известен дом за деца с увреждания в русенското село Могилино — 30-годишният Мишо и 28-годишният Милен, имат най-големия напредък на фона на останалите настанени в жилището. Въпреки че нито единият няма изгледи да проговори — те общуват предимно с жестове, постижение е, че те вече не се страхуват, че някой ще им открадне храната или вещите. А в началото, когато дошли от Могилино преди 10 години, те ядели, заграждайки с ръце чинията си. И слагали играчките си върху гардероба, за да не им ги вземат. Много беше трудно тогава, но вече се справят доста добре с всичко, обясняват от екипа на жилището.

Двамата са и от най-трудолюбивите - с неподозирана сръчност и видимо желание сглобяват чантичките всеки ден. И дори с нетърпение чакат сутрин да тръгнат с буса към работното си място. От екипа на ЦСРИ дори са на мнение, че Милен спокойно може да започне работа в някой от цеховете, където се трудят други двама от неговите съквартиранти. Проблемът в случая е, че той не може да подписва договори сам, защото е поставен под запрещение, още докато е бил в Могилино. За да отпадне забраната, е нужно да се открият негови роднини — нещо, което за момента не е възможно. Затова и се чакат промени в закона, които ще позволят на всички хора с ментални затруднения да работят, ако това не е по възможностите им.

English translation:

Misho and Milen from Mogilino no longer protect their food

Marica Team

October 27, 2016

Two of the alumni of the now infamous home for children with disabilities in the village of Mogilino in Ruse — 30-year-old Misho and 28-year-old Milen — have made the greatest progress compared to the others accommodated in the apartment. Although none of them has a chance to speak — they communicate mainly with gestures, the achievement is that they are no longer afraid that someone will steal their food or belongings. And in the beginning, when they came from Mogilino 10 years ago, they ate enclosing their plate with their hands. And they put their toys on the wardrobe so they wouldn't be taken away. It was very difficult then, but they are already doing pretty well with everything, the housing team explains.

They are both the most hard-working — with unsuspected dexterity and visible desire they assemble bags every day. And they even look forward to taking the bus to work in the morning. The CSRI team is even of the opinion that Milen can easily start working in one of the workshops where two of his other roommates work. The problem in this case is that he cannot sign contracts on his own because he was placed under guardianship while he was in Mogilino. In order for the ban to be lifted, it is necessary to find his relatives — something that is not possible at the moment. That is why changes in the law are expected which will allow all people with mental disabilities to work if it is within their means.

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"New lives for Bulgaria's abandoned children", article in BBC News, dated October 15, 2009

Source:

New lives for Bulgaria's abandoned children, article and photographs by Kate Blewett, in BBC News (Europe) on 15 October 2009

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8307256.stm

Above: Bulgaria has the highest number of disabled children in institutes in the EU. (Milen and Misho now live in a small home with other young people of mixed abilities.

Above: Didi now goes to school every day and is top of her maths class.

Above: Vasky was suffering from malnutrition and neglect but is now much happier.

The article:

New lives for Bulgaria's abandoned children

Award-winning documentary filmmaker Kate Blewett recently returned to Bulgaria to see how things have changed after the international outcry in response to her film Bulgaria's Abandoned Children.

In the original film, which I made two years ago, I focused on a handful of the 75 disabled children living in the Mogilino institute and watched their lives over a nine-month period. I witnessed their dreadful deterioration.

My first impressions of Mogilino were strangely misleading because the actual building was clean, bleached and painted.

It was not until I pulled back the bed covers to witness the children's wasted bodies that I realised there was a very serious problem.

Vasky is blind and suffers with cerebral palsy. She was abandoned in a baby unit and then sent to Mogilino at the age of four, where she grew up. We learnt that when she arrived she loved music, and loved to dance and sing.

Sadly what I witnessed, 14 years after her arrival, was a deeply unhappy girl, who had simply shut down, who sat on her bed day in and day out — saying nothing, her head bent down between her knees.

Brutalised

Milen, a gentle teenager with a cleft palate and the mentality of a young child, is mute and spent each day helping out around the home. Now 21, he does not speak because no-one has bothered to talk to him.

During filming, Milen was brutalised and beaten by a member of the staff. I captured this on camera and confronted the director of Mogilino.

The offending staff member was fired and Milen was moved to a protected home far away.

Didi, now 20, arrived at Mogilino just before filming began. Her mother could no longer cope with her teenage daughter's autism at home, so she abandoned her to the institute.

Sadly for Didi, she was thrown into an environment where she could not make any friends or continue with her education, because Mogilino is a place for the uneducable and those living there do not speak.

Didi deteriorated rapidly and would rock back and forth relentlessly. She shut down — just like all the others around her.

Extraordinary impact

To witness such human deterioration and to know the only way to truly effect change was to carry on filming and bring the documentary film to a wider audience — was an incredibly difficult process.

However the impact my film had has been extraordinary. Viewers wrote to me by the thousands, donating money, and forming petitions demanding change from their MPs and MEPs.

Some gave up their jobs and went to Bulgaria to help, taking supplies, food, clothing and medical aid.

The Bulgarian government put Unicef in charge of finding new placements for all the children of Mogilino, with the plan that the institute will shut once every child has been re-housed.

Slavka Kukova, co-ordinator of the Protection of the Institutionalised Children's Human Rights Program, says that the film meant that disabled children's "rights and problems are now on the agenda for the Bulgaria media."

"A slow process of raising awareness about the potential reform of the children care system has now started," she adds.

This year I returned to Bulgaria to find out exactly what has happened to some of the key characters from the original film. Once again I was shocked by what I found.

I witnessed the miraculous improvements that can happen in badly-damaged children when decent care is finally given to them.

Milen now lives in a glorious home with seven other young people and good carers. He is a new person — happy, outgoing and communicative through sign language.

He works every day putting handles onto bags and is paid for the amount he completes. He attends a day-care centre where he creates art and plays games with the other young people.

Genuine care

Didi lives in a special boarding school for those with behavioural and learning difficulties. She has wonderful carers and has made good friends.

She goes to school every day and is top of her maths class.

She makes her own clothes, goes to the shops to buy things she likes and visits museums and art galleries.

Vasky has been moved to an institute for the blind, which though large has excellent care and she has been transformed into a happy, active, smiling young lady.

She eats well and demands two courses at meal times, giggling cheekily with her carer as she asks if she can go out in her car with her.

A report from Unicef also recognised that the children from Mogilino have made great improvements since leaving the home.

"Their cognitive development has changed at all levels (perception, attention, memory and thinking) ... they have become part of particular groups and spend more time playing."

I feel overwhelmed with the dramatic changes in the lives of these young people. I feel the film lifted the lid on a desperate situation that had been hidden away.

I look forward to the day this year when Mogilino is finally shut.

The problems were not all about poverty or money, but rather about having a good level of genuine care that transformed a miserable existence into a fulfilling one.

Bulgaria does have good carers and decent homes but what it now needs to do is to get rid of its large, isolated institutes that are warehouses to a further 8,000 disabled children, and to create small group homes.

"There can be no more remodelling or restructuring of institutions. There needs to be a well-organised campaign that seeks to close down all institutions and set up proper alternative care services," says Mark O'Sullivan of the Bulgarian-based Cedar Foundation.

"The government needs to carry on what it is doing well but it also needs to radically overhaul the parts of its system which are not working," he adds.

All members of the EU should draw Bulgaria in as a new family member and help turn around the care system for the abandoned disabled children, to deinstitutionalise a country that has a new receptive government in place — and is ready for change.

Bulgaria's Abandoned Children Revisited is on BBC Four on Thursday 15 October at 2100 BST.

"The state acknowledged that the home in Mogilino did not meet care standards", article in Mediapool News, from March 5, 2008

Source:

"Държавата призна, че домът в Могилино не отговаря на стандартите за грижи", article in Mediapool News, 5 March 2008

https://www.mediapool.bg/darzhavata-prizna-che-domat-v-mogilino-ne-otgovarya-na-standartite-za-grizhi-news136884.html

The article:

Държавата призна, че домът в Могилино не отговаря на стандартите за грижи

05 март 2008

Проверка в дома за деца с умствени и физически увреждания в русенското село Могилино, извършена от служители на Държавната агенция за младежта и спорта (ДАМС) по нареждане на Върховната касационна прокуратура (ВКП), е установила, че домът отговаря само на един от 26-те стандарта за отглеждане на такива деца. Това съобщи началникът на дирекция Бистра Петрова пред парламентарната комисия по въпросите за децата, младежта и спорта.

Така държавата призна, че грижите в дома, добил скандална известност не само у нас, но и в Европа покрай филма на ББС “Отхвърлените деца на България”, не отговарят на съвременните изисквания. Преди това обаче всички възможни държавни институции хвърлиха огромни усилия да опровергават авторите на филма, който показваше как децата в този дом влошават състоянието си именно от липсата на адекватно отглеждане.

Проверката е завършила с категоричното становище, че домът в Могилино трябва да се закрие заедно с останалите 6 подобни заведения.

Оттук насетне заседанието на парламентарната комисия зацикли в познати тези о неефективни решения. Така председателят на комисията Васил Иванов — Лучано предложи да бъде сформирана междуведомствена контактна група, която да работи по дейността на всички социални домове в страната. Според предложението му в групата ще влязат представители на Министерството на правосъдието, на финансите, на труда и социалната политика, на образованието, на здравеопазването, на Държавната агенция за закрила на детето, Агенцията за социално подпомагане, Националното сдружение на общините, както и на Държавната агенция за младежта и спорта. Гласуването на това предположение обаче остана за следващото заседание на комисията.

Директорката на дома Павлина Йорданова обяви пред депутатите, че извършеният медицински преглед на децата е показал, че част от тях не биха могли да се адаптират, ако бъдат изведени от досегашната им среда. Тя призова поне някои от децата да останат за отглеждане в дома, и ако се налага, той да бъде преобразуван в "малък групов дом".

Кметът на село Могилино Димитър Димитров заяви пред комисията, че материална база в дома отговаряла на всички изисквания. Кметът повтори пред журналисти страха си, че 60-те души от селото, които за заети в дома, ще останат без работа.

Секретарят на община Русе Валентин Христов пък помоли депутатите да не прибързват със затварянето на дома в Могилино и с преместването на децата в община Русе, защото това щяло да бъде само "географско решение на проблема, който касаел предимно тяхното обгрижване."

Община Русе била готова за предостави терен, но напрежението в квартал "Средна кула" избухнало именно заради прибързаното обявяване закриването на дома, каза още Христов. По думите му, едно евентуално преместване на децата от Могилино в община Русе ще бъде вредно за тях заради враждебната среда, в която ще попаднат. А от квартала някои хора реагираха на новината за евентуално преместване на увредените деца в защитени жилища с довода, че питомците щели да стресират техните деца.

English translation (my own):

The state acknowledged that the home in Mogilino did not meet care standards

March 05, 2008

An inspection of the home for children with mental and physical disabilities in the Ruse village of Mogilino, carried out by employees of the State Agency for Youth and Sports (SAYS) on the orders of the Supreme Cassation Prosecutor's Office (SCP), found that the home met only one of the 26 standards of caring for such children. This was announced by the head of the directorate Bistra Petrova before the parliamentary committee on children, youth and sports.

Thus, the state acknowledged that the care at the home, which gained notoriety not only in our country but also in Europe along with the BBC film "Bulgaria's Abandoned Children", does not meet modern requirements. Before that, however, all possible state institutions made great efforts to refute the authors of the film, which showed how the children in this home worsen in their condition precisely because of the lack of adequate care.

The inspection ended with the categorical opinion that the home in Mogilino should be closed together, with 6 other similar establishments.

Henceforth, the sitting of the parliamentary committee became entrenched in ineffective decisions. Thus, the chairman of the commission, Vasil Ivanov-Luciano, proposed to form an interdepartmental contact group to work on the activities of all social homes in the country. According to his proposal, the group will include representatives of the Ministry of Justice, Finance, Labour and Social Policy, Education, Health, the State Agency for Child Protection, the Social Assistance Agency, the National Association of Municipalities and the State Agency for Youth and Sports. However, the vote on this assumption remained for the next committee meeting.

The director of the home, Pavlina Yordanova, told the deputies that the medical examination of the children showed that some of them could not adapt if they were taken out of their current environment. She called for at least some of the children to stay in the home and, if necessary, it be converted into a "small group home".

The mayor of the village of Mogilino, Dimitar Dimitrov, told the commission that the material base in the home met all the requirements. The mayor reiterated to journalists his fear that the 60 people from the village who are employed in the home will lose their jobs.

The secretary of the municipality of Ruse, Valentin Hristov, asked the deputies not to rush with the closing of the home in Mogilino and the relocation of the children in the municipality of Ruse, because this would be only "a geographical solution to the problem, which mainly concerned their care."

The municipality of Ruse was ready to provide land, but the tension in the Sredna Kula neighborhood erupted precisely because of the hasty announcement of the closure of the home, Hristov added. According to him, a possible relocation of the children from Mogilino to the municipality of Ruse will be harmful for them because of the hostile environment in which they will find themselves. And some people in the neighborhood reacted to the news of the possible relocation of disabled children to sheltered housing, arguing that the little ones would stress their children.

"Mental health travesty in Bulgaria", article in BBC News, dated December 16, 2002

Source:

Mental health travesty in Bulgaria, article by Karen Allen (BBC Health Correspondent) in BBC News, dated 16 December 2002

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/2579865.stm

Above: Patients have to cope with the intense cold.

Above: Conditions are squalid.

The article:

Mental health travesty in Bulgaria

By Karen Allen

BBC Health Correspondent

As Bulgaria looks set to join the European Union by 2007, it is under pressure to reform mental health care — in particular its notorious social care homes.

These are not psychiatric hospitals but institutions for people with mental disabilities.

People who in many other parts of Europe would be cared for in the community.

They are very much a hangover from Soviet times, more akin to Russian labour camps then [sic] sanctuaries of care.

In many instances there is barely any heating although there are sub-zero temperatures outside and the glass from the windows is missing.

There is minimal medical attention (in many homes there is no doctor on site) and nutritious food is in limited supply.

It is perhaps not surprising when those running the homes have a budget of around £30 per person per month.

Widespread ignorance

What makes it all the more worrying is that many people in Bulgaria aren't aware these places exist — so the political pressure to close them down comes largely from independent monitoring groups which have so far only had limited success.

According to the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee — an internationally respected human rights group — Bulgaria has some 100 social care homes — responsible for around eight thousand vulnerable adults and children.

These people have been abandoned by their families — often since childhood — a throwback to the Communist past when the cultural norm was to hide these people away in institutions far away from view.

Many countries are guilty of doing the same to a lesser degree but the difference with Bulgaria is the neglectful state of these human warehouses.

Guardianship of the residents rests with the directors of the homes and once a mentally ill person has been admitted, there is little chance they will get out.

There is also little incentive to close the homes down when in many cases they're the main employer in the district.

Mountain unit

I visited one in Western Bulgaria — Pastra situated high up in the mountains not far from the Rila Monestary [sic], one of the most religious spots in Bulgaria.

But there is nothing spiritual about Pastra. Here men with mental disabilities ranging from severe schizophrenia to what we in the UK would call "learning disabilities"; pace aimlessly around in the snow.

Some have no shoes and socks although it's minus ten degrees outside.

One in ten residents did not survive the past year — and there is no reason to expect it to be any different this year.

All this in 21st century Bulgaria. A country rich in history, religion and culture soon to become a fully fledged member of the European Union.

A country which has met the Copenhagen Criteria which states that "membership requires that the candidate country has achieved stability of institutions guaranteeing democracy, the rule of law, human rights and respect for, and protection of minorities", and a country that has been slow to right the wrongs of the past.

Bulgaria is struggling economically so money is tight.

Reforms in mental health care are in the pipeline — but the focus is largely on practices in psychiatric hospitals (themselves appaulling [sic]) — and to date social care homes seems [sic] to have been excluded from any proposals.

International standing

Even so, the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy is sensitive to its international reputation and has told the BBC that its investment is going into modernising these homes.

It trumpets the fact that it has put more money into modernising it's [sic] social institutions and has closed the notorious Sanadinovo children's home.

But when a ministry tells you that at Pastra the heating problems were solved two years ago — and our visit proved that this was clearly no[t] so — one has to be sceptical about how much things have changed.

Human Rights Campaigner Krassimir Kanev sums up the situation.

"Bulgaria strives to reach the European level of economic and social welfare and on the other hand it has 18th century asylums."

Of course, Bulgaria is not alone in continuing the practices of the past.

Romania and Hungary have also had attracted criticism for the atrocious state of their mental health instututions [sic].

But pressure must be brought to bear by the international community.

The fact that a recent report by Amnesty International on the state of Bulgaria's care homes, received barely any press or media coverage — is an indictment of a modern society that has forgotten that it was only 13 years ago, when similar scenes of neglect in Ceaucescu's Romania, caused a global outcry.

"To be raised in a family is an undeniable right for every child: Challenges of Children in Residential Centers", article from UNICEF Albania from November 6, 2019

Source:

"To be raised in a family is an undeniable right for every child: Challenges of Children in Residential Centers", article written by Klodiana Kapo for UNICEF Albania, 6 November 2019

https://www.unicef.org/albania/stories/be-raised-family-undeniable-right-every-child

The article:

There is silence in the room. Only Miri can be heard, seeking for his mother. No one answers. A woman with a white apron comes to his side, but she is not the mother, she is the caregiver of the orphanage who takes care of Andi and Miri. In only six months, their lives have completely changed. The two brothers lived on the outskirts of a coastal town in Albania. Life seemed normal, until one day, Flutura, the mother, had left the apartment with her daughter because her husband repeatedly abused her. But now, he is in prison. The only person who can take care of the boys is Agimi, the grandfather.

He is old, with no financial means, and after two months of trying hard to take care of the two little boys, he has given up. He asked the municipality for support, stating that he is unable to care for his grandchildren and asked that the children be placed under the care of the state authorities. Immediately, the municipal employee opened a file, assessed the conditions and registered the case. It was immediately decided that both children be accommodated in a residential care institution.

He returned home, and his heart was pounding out of his chest as he thought about his grandchildren who would no longer be in his home. He knew that, despite the dedication of the caregivers, they cannot replace the warmth of the family that the boys need so much. Since then, it has been a long time in the center, and it's not known what their future will be like. Flutura, the mother, can't take the kids with her, she can't go back home and has no stable income to care for her three children.

Challenges of Children in Residential Centers

Children who are part of residential care institutions are deprived of social, emotional and intellectual stimulation, which are critical to the healthy development of a child's brain. Distanced from mainstream society, children in institutions are particularly vulnerable to violence, neglect and, abuse. Experts affirm that the impact of child separation and institutionalization is severe and can last a lifetime.

The law states that the highest interest of children is not to remain in institutional care, but rather with their biological family. Currently, in Albania, 230 children live in public residential care facilities, however, most of them have biological families. Miri and Andi will continue to stay in the Institution. The time span of the parents' parental training depends on their interest, but also on the commitment of the social service structures to empower the family with a full package of services.

In the case of two children, their family is not yet ready to care for them, their father is still in prison. Flutura, their mother, continues to be afraid, because her husband could get out of jail and endanger both her and her daughter's life.

The way to the solution

For the first time, professionals from the Ministry of Health and Social Protection in Albania and UNICEF have developed an assessment of children and their families, for every child placed in institutional care. Experts have observed and are proposing options for the reunification of children with their biological families. Even when children have to leave their families to be more safe, other forms of care have to be found to recreate the family environment, such as foster families.

With the support of UNICEF and the Ministry of Health and Social Welfar[e], special teams of experts have been set up to assess the needs of children in institutional care. Work is underway with local government and residential care institutions to design and implement child development and family empowerment support programs. This team will also support each of the 231 children in six Public Care Institutions with the necessary services for their development and well[-]being until they are given opportunities to grow up in a family environment, because children like Miri and Andi deserve to grow up like all other kids.