WHAT IS HAPPENING IN BULGARIA?
Bulgaria has the highest number of institutionalised mentally and physically disabled children in Europe. Not all of the institutionalised children are disabled: others are illegitimate or from Roma (gypsy) families who face extreme discrimination and often cannot afford to keep their children. Altogether only around 2% of the children actually have no parents, the rest are named ‘social orphans’.
A REALISTIC APPROACH TO THE SITUATION
Once children are in the system, they have little chance of getting out. Institutions begin with babies and run right through the teens and up to the age of 18. After this almost all are consigned to adult institutions where they spend the rest of their lives.
Institutions have proven detrimental effects on development. A lack of care and attention combined with a poor environment leads to a lack of stimulation which adversely affects development in all fields; cognition, language, behavioural development and social skills are all affected by the sheer lack of attention, affection and opportunities to learn through interaction.
Institutionalised adults and children are isolated from communities and often lack basic life skills that we would class as normality. Many communities are unaware of the institutions that they live beside and don’t understand or welcome the people that come from within them. This is mainly due to a lack of education given to society about the conditions and background that the people have come from and are subject to.
Holding out Hope has always been realistic about what we hope to achieve in this interesting country, which is one of the poorest in the EU. From our experience working within the institutions and alongside the carers we are fully aware of the difficulties you can face when trying to suggest change and adapt the approach used to care for them.
It takes time, respect and a level of understanding of the challenges carers face daily in order for us to be able to influence a positive change in their approach. Appreciating where they are coming from and using our own knowledge to help educate them provides us with a solid relationship to help us keep moving forward in creating small daily changes. It’s these small changes that make a huge difference. Holding out Hope work alongside the institution’s directors and carers to help increase the quality and level of care the people in their institutions receive.
Although Bulgaria is currently undertaking the huge task of deinstitutionalising large children’s institutions, Holding out Hope is striving to see an equally dramatic change in the care of adults, so that all of the residents have their human rights respected. Holding out Hope shares all observations of poor practice and abuse with Amnesty International and The Helsinki Committee, who monitor care in these institutions.
Holding out Hope is committed to supporting people living in large institutions and group homes to help to make their lives a little more bearable in these places and where we can we will assist in moving individuals out and into a normal life in the community.
To be clear, we support people not institutionalisation.
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CHARITY NUMBER: 1077667