An opinion column, written by charity fundraiser Rosa Monkton in today's Times newspaper, slams Bulgaria once again for its treatment of its unwanted children. Monckton fails to mention the names of the institutions in question or the names of the staff she claims to have spoken to, but paints a grim picture of neglect and isolation. 

Describing institutions she has visited for children below the age of three, she says that what greeted her was the smell of "filthy nappies, unwashed babies and rotting flesh". The hard hitting piece continues: "I found myself crouching beside a cot so that the duty 'nurse', who was three rooms away but who could survey all the rooms through the viewing glass placed in each dividing wall, was unable to see me. All I could see at this level were bars stretching all the way to the viewing station, bars imprisoning these children, whose only crime is to have been born. What sort of a Europe is it that consigns innocent babies and children to a life like this - a life bereft of all hope?" she demands.

Monckton goes on to describe a scenario where children are left to wallow in squalor all day: She claims that they only had their nappies changed when meagre resources allowed. "Not one single word is uttered to them, so none of them is able to talk. This is how they live and this is how they die," she writes.

Monckton says that the poor treatment in Bulgaria stems from the fact that it is a former communist country where people assume that the state will be their protector. This, she believes, leads to an erosion of charity and social responsibility. "Unlike Romania, which has made huge progress in the reform of its institutions and has shown that it is ready and willing to change, Bulgaria remains in denial. The Government sees little need for change. Nor has it come under the sort of pressure that Romania faced when it was in discussions to join the European Union and reform of its children's institutions was a condition of entry," she writes.

Monckton concludes that in all eight institutions she visited in Bulgaria she was confronted by a "total lack of humanity".

She is currently working with a charity called the Bulgaria Abandoned Children's Trust,(www.tbact.org) which, she hopes, will help to re-educate government, doctors, midwives and parents to bring an end to institutionalisation. "More than 96 per cent of institutionalised children across Europe have at least one living parent. Help is needed to persuade families that they can cope," she concludes.