site.btaOn Father's Day, Protesters Demand Legislative Changes Concerning Shared Parenting

On Father's Day, protesters in Sofia demanded amendments to the Family Code concerning shared parenting. The main goal is to have a presumption of shared parenting, which can provide the legal framework to be implemented and both parents to be present in the lives of children, Slavi Nestorov of the For Shared Parenting Foundation told BTA, which is also the organizer of the demonstration. 

The main goal of the protest is to raise awareness among the public about this problem, which is very pressing, but also very neglected by those in power, noted Nestorov. "We have prepared a draft law that we want to submit officially at the end of January to the government," he said.

Nestorov noted that not only fathers but also mothers were present at the protest because, in his words, the problem concerns both parents. 

In Bulgaria, some 50,000 mothers and fathers suffer from parental alienation, the organisers said in the announcement of the event on Facebook.  "We believe that every child of a separated couple deserves the support, love and presence of both parents. We believe that every child needs a mother and a father to grow up happy," they noted.  

Nestorov recently pointed out at a BTA-hosted news conference that one in five children suffers from parental alienation and does not see his other parent. This means that 20 % of children do not receive the vital flow of energy, be it maternal or paternal, he said. At the moment, the law gets in the way. It is designed to create an artificial competition between the mother and father - in the event that they separate, the court is obliged to determine which of the two is the better, said Plamen Borisov, a family law lawyer.