The abandoned children increase despite the measures - Samuil Dimitrov - “Sega” newspaper

Despite the care of government the abandoned children have increased since the beginning of this year, statistics of the last few days have shown. Just in January and February 200 children of age up to 3 years have been abandoned, it was communicated a day ago by the "For Our Children" foundation. For the last year the number takes us to the first place in Europe - 2083 children have been admitted to institutions. This unsettling trend was confirmed also by the social ministry. They did not announce exact figures but admitted that the abandoned children of up to 3 years of age have increased in Sofia and Pernik.

In 2008 the state has spend more than BGN 5.4 million for  removing children from institutions and a transition to an alternative family care. The monthly average work the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy has done during last year was 3585 cases. 17 515 uninsured mothers were assisted by a one-time support at pregnancy while this year their number will increase drastically to 24 500.

Not much success was recorded in another area – the professional foster care is still very limited. Only 87 people have become professional foster parents during last year, the statistics of MLSP show.

DISCONTENT

A brand new measure, on the other hand – payment of lump sum child support to mothers of twins and students already attracted criticism. This amendment was approved at first reading in Parliament before the holidays. Its objective is to alleviate the situation of these families by providing them with funds for a cradle, pram and other basics immediately after child birth. Through an open letter to the institutions the parents insist the money to be paid in equal installments since after the second year of the children the income anyway sharply falls from 90% of the salary to the basic wage in the country.