Laura's mobile rings, interrupting her flow about the challenges ARK (absolute return for kids) faces in its new project - the de-institutionalisation of children in Bulgaria. "Sorry, I've got to take it - it might be important," she apologises. And indeed it is. Seconds later, a huge smile breaks across her face and there are congratulations and a few tears of joy and relief among the team as the news is announced that they have received a long-awaited signature of backing from a government ministry.  The team is one step closer to achieving its goals. I spoke to Laura about what these goals are and how she came to be involved with them.

Q: When, why and how did you get involved in working with children, and specifically de-institutionalisation?
A: A few years ago, I went travelling and met a couple who were running a project for children with disabilities in rural Cambodia. The day after I met them, their boss was taken seriously ill and while she was recovering they asked me to help out in their charity. That was really the start of it: I hadn't intended to work with children, and most of my friends from home still think it's hilarious that I do as I was never known for being a great kid enthusiast!
I came to Bulgaria with the UK organisation Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) and became interested in why thousands of children here are living in `orphanages' when the vast majority of them are not actually orphans. I then worked for the European Commission Delegation, including on a project which was supporting reform of the child welfare system, and for Save the Children, which has for a long time advocated for the need for alternative care services for children. Through these jobs I began to understand that institutional care is tied into a whole series of other problems - poverty, lack of access to education and health care, discrimination against the disabled and minorities - and that addressing it must be a priority for Bulgaria.

Q: What is ARK and how was it formed?
A: ARK is a UK-based children's charity, committed to transforming children's lives. ARK's work focuses on HIV/AIDS, education for disadvantaged children and de-institutionalisation. ARK was set up five years ago by a group of corporate philanthropists - private individuals from business in the UK who wanted to support real change in the lives of disadvantaged children. All the administrative costs of the charity are covered by a group of ARK's key supporters, including its Board members, so that 100 per cent of all donations made are directed into the project work (for more information, see www.arkonline.org).

Q:  Briefly, what are the main aims of your project in Bulgaria and the practical steps you intend to take to achieve these?
A: There are two main aims: to provide family-based care for children currently living in institutions and to develop and implement plans for the closure of these institutions. Recent research undertaken on children in Romania has shown that for every one month spent in an institution, a child's development is set back three months - so we are confident that by providing other forms of care, we will really help transform their lives. By actually closing institutions, we also hope to make a lasting contribution to re-shaping the child welfare system in Bulgaria.
ARK is going to finance a number of social workers in the Child Protection Department in Stara Zagora (our pilot site) and give training to them and others who are responsible for providing services for children. We hope that with support, many children will be able to return to live with their biological families. For some of the children, it may be more appropriate to find foster families and a large part of our work will be training on what foster care is as this is still a very underdeveloped service in Bulgaria.  Where it's not possible to find families for children, we will support the development of small family-type homes so that kids who have to stay in residential care will have the chance to grow up in a an environment which is much closer to a family one.

Q: Why have you chosen Bulgaria?
A: ARK has been funding NGOs who are carrying out de-institutionalisation work in other parts of the region, particularly in Romania, and wants now to use this experience to set up its own operations. We've chosen Bulgaria as this country has the highest percentage of its child population living in institutions of any country in Europe.

Q: What experiences have you had working in the area of child welfare in other countries? How do these compare to Bulgaria?
A: Working in Cambodia and India, the greatest challenge was to deal with the acute levels of absolute poverty. The scale of the problems faced in Bulgaria, although still shocking, doesn't compare. What is interesting here is that, despite having a well developed legislative system, clear government policy and relatively good levels of access to education and training, still very little has been done in practice to change the child welfare system in the last 15 years. Whereas in much poorer countries, in my experience, people pull together to help one another, with few exceptions here I've not seen that sense of strong community which makes tackling the problems much harder.

Q: What have been some of the biggest challenges and triumphs to date in setting up the ARK project?
A: In order to make what we do sustainable, we have to ensure that we are working in partnership with government, at both a national and local level. The greatest challenge we've faced to date has been in securing support for our programme from all of the various parts of government which are involved in providing services for children and families. We're really pleased that we now have a formal agreement between ARK and three Ministries (Labour and Social Policy, Education and Health) as well as two Agencies (for Social Assistance and Child Protection) and the Municipality of Stara Zagora. This is a bureaucratic triumph! But the real success will be in watching children thrive when they are given the chance to grow up in normal, family environments.

Q: What personal impressions of Bulgaria have you formed during your time here so far?
A: It's a complex, fascinating, sometimes infuriating but never boring place to work! I only came intending to stay for six months, over three-and-a-half years ago, and I'm very happy living here. Like everywhere, there is good, bad and ugly - the last two personified for me most by the black-windowed jeep and bodyguard phenomena: the corruption here is really worrying, and definitely has an impact on the most marginalised people, including disadvantaged children. Hopefully over time it will reduce as more ordinary Bulgarians are willing and able to stand up to it. The widespread poverty and lack of opportunity are also depressing and frustrating, as given political will and strong leadership, it should be possible for all Bulgarians to benefit from the increasing prosperity of the country. In the end, I'm an optimist - and my overriding impression is that the best is yet to come for Bulgaria.