Today, 14 February, the Embassy of France in Bulgaria hosted a workshop entitled Impact of Institutional Care on Infants and Aftercare Following Exit. The event was organised by UNICEF and the Embassy of France in Bulgaria as a part of UNICEF's regional campaign in support of the effort of governments in 22 East and Central European countries to reform their childcare systems and prevent the placement of children under 3 in residential care throughout Europe. The Bulgarian government has joined the campaign by introducing a provision prohibiting the placement of children under 3 in institutions in the new Child Protection Draft Act.
Special guests to the event were Mr. Jean-Claude Legrand, UNICEF's Regional Advisor on children's rights and Mr. Boris Cyrulnik, neuropsychiatrist, lecturer at the Toulon University in France and one of the inventors of the resilience approach.
More than ten attendees presented data from global surveys and the Bulgarian experience with regard to the effects of residential placement on newborns. The list of speakers included Jean-Claude Legrand, Boris Cyrulnik, Valentina Simeonova, Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Policy, Ruzha Simeonova, Head of the Rights of the Child Supervision Department with the State Agency for Child Protection, Neli Petrova-Dimitrova, Dr. Iglika Kazandzhieva, etc.
'The effects of institutionalisation on babies and infants account for delays in their physical, mental, emotional and social development, while the reasons for that can be traced in the separation from the mother and the shift to collective upbringing. Therefore, a reform is needed to transform a system in which institutionalisation is the all-purpose response to a number of problems, including isolation and poverty, into a prevention system, where community-based social work and social policies address the potentiality of family separation', children's rights regional advisor Jean-Claude Legrand said.
UNICEF is the world's leading organisation working for the benefit of children, with presence in more than 150 countries. UNICEF supports children's survival and welfare from early childhood to adolescence. UNICEF extends aid in the field of child healthcare and healthy nutrition, primary education for all girls and boys, protection of children against violence, exploitation and AIDS. UNICEF is funded entirely by voluntary donations from individuals, companies, foundations and governments.
On the list of priorities, UNICEF's Programme for Bulgaria aims to promote deinstitutionalisation by working directly with municipalities to ensure that alternative community-based social services are planned and established. An important aspect of child abandonment prevention is the organisation's support for foster care development.
For further information: Zhaklin Tsocheva, Communications and Public Relations Director, UNICEF Bulgaria, tel.: 02-96-96-207, Email: jtzocheva@unicef.org
