Sat, Nov 21 2009

Bulgaria to shut down sub-standard orphanages

Tue, Feb 26 2008 18:09 CET 322 Views

Bulgaria plans to shut down or restructure all orphanages that do not meet the standards set by law, the country's National Council for Child Protection decided on February 26 2008, Focus news agency reported.

A working group was charged to review and analyse the legislative and institutional framework of Bulgaria's child protection system by March 15, with a view to improving child care, especially for children from risk groups.

To improve child care, Bulgaria needed greater involvement from the local authorities, according to the council, although it did not specify how that would be accomplished, saying only that it would encourage all institutions to develop new initiatives that would provide family and child care services.

The council would meet twice every year to assess the progress made in this direction, drafting reports taht would then be presented to the Cabinet.

Despite continued reform efforts to improve institutionalised child care, the number of children in Bulgarian orphanages remained big, the head of
the State Agency for Child Protection (SACP) Shirin Mestan said, as quoted by Focus news agency.

Part of the problem was that a large number of recommendations made by SACP as a result of orphanage inspections were not being implemented, she added.

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