Roundtable "112-Foster Care" agreed with MLSP the need for urgent change

Through the EU funding, over the last 12 years, more than 40 million BGN have been invested in foster care, but its development continued to be accepted only as a project activity, without the existence of a long-term vision and strategy, without ensuring sustainability and security, professional development and support for foster parents and the persons involved in this process. This has led to their gradual discouragement, to a reduction in the scope of foster care and to its gradual stagnation (since 2015, the proportion of children aged 0-17 placed in foster care has increased by only 1.5%). This puts at risk the implementation of the recommendations of the European Child Guarantee; Deinstitutionalisation policies; the successful prevention of family separation and finding an alternative to placing children in residential care. Issues related to the quality of foster care remain unresolved - support measures, training and supervision of foster carers.

!!! There is an urgent need for foster care for children with disabilities.

For children with disabilities, placement in residential services is still the predominant protection measure. Recent data shows that children with disabilities placed in foster care are only 10% of the total number of children in foster care.

The main goal of the round table "112 - Foster Care" held by the Childhood 2025 Coalition was to ensure urgent access of children with disabilities to foster care, as well as ensuring its long-term sustainability and professional standards. It was attended by the Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Labour, Social and Demographic Policy Iskren Arabadzhiev, the Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Policy Elka Nalbantova and other representatives of state institutions responsible for child care and protection - MLSP, ASA, SACU, ACSU, RSPB, OEPG. Dobrina Cheshmedjieva was the leading journalist of the event and among the participants were NGOs, coalition members and human rights organizations. Foster parents, representatives of the National Foster Care Association actively participated.

Foster parents are needed for over 70 children with disabilities leaving the old type institutions for medical care.

The Childhood 2025 Coalition presented information that 76 of the children leaving in the planned closure of the remaining 4 Homes for children in need of medical care could transition into foster care, but would need additional specialized support. However, there are currently only 16 foster carers available with the required profile. This has again highlighted the urgent need for area based planning of foster carers for children with disabilities. There are still no specialists in the district foster care teams to train foster carers to care for children with disabilities - the specific profile of children requires a high level of specialisation for both foster carers and training specialists.

Other significant issues and proposals for urgent change were presented and discussed:

1. Reaching agreement on what model of foster care should be introduced and how it should meet the specific needs of the Bulgarian experience and context;
2. Mandatory linking of foster care to a quality standard;
3. A change in the law regulating the care of children with disabilities, which discriminates against foster carers by granting them only 60% of the financial support due to all other parents;
4. Planning and provision of quality and specialist health and social services in remote and hard to reach areas;
5. Improving the quality of training and supervision offered to foster carers; and Changing the Public Procurement Act, which has a "lowest tender" criterion and activities are carried out by low-qualified companies that win contracts;
6. Showing more humanity in relations and in the process of working with children and foster parents in all structures of state institutions;
7. Provide ongoing support for young people leaving foster care - agency housing, financial assistance, mentoring for transition to independent living;
8. More support groups for foster parents;
9. Respect for the full history of the children and the established relationship between the children and the foster parents, including on the part of the adoptive parents; creation of equality and respect for the contribution of the foster family to the adaptation to the adoptive or reintegration into the biological family;
10. Regulated access and management of information for better operability at local level and between different administrative structures at local and national level;
11. Creation of regulated information channels by municipalities and implementation of information campaigns to change attitudes towards the mission of foster care.

What were the commitments of the round table?

Immediately after the roundtable, a meeting was held at the MLSP at the invitation of Minister Ivanka Shalapatova, where the main issues that do not tolerate delay and ideas for solutions from the roundtable were presented, as well as the specific commitments made by her team:

1. Within three months - the introduction of an employment or special contract for foster carers, which can be the holder of all the social rights we want the foster carer to receive. These social rights are regulated by a change to the CSR/Social Security Code;
2. By mid-May, a team from ASA, together with a UNICEF consultant, will develop financial standards for foster care to be included in the 2025 budget;
3. Adjustments to the Law on Social Assistance to align the monthly allowances for children with TELC with those of biological families;
4. Mapping of the need for certain numbers of foster carers, including their profiling - a task on which the ASA is working;
5. A new way of communicating with foster parents and creating communities of foster children;
6. A clear regulation for working together and an algorithm of interaction between institutions;
7. Holding a two-day forum on foster care as part of the campaign to support the development of foster care to be organized by the MLSP.

The Childhood 2025 Coalition will continue advocating for children with disabilities deserving a family of their own until the commitments made by the State are fulfilled.