site.btaMinister Gutsanov: There Must Be an Equal Start for All Children

"There is nothing more important than children. There must be an equal start for all children and for this we must work with all institutions," said Minister of Labour and Social Policy Borislav Gutsanov on Friday at the launch of a global campaign aimed at the right of every child to grow up in a family environment, quoted in a statement of the ministry. The campaign is an initiative of the UK government and Bulgaria was chosen for its launch because of its highly successful experience in deinstitutionalising childcare.

Minister Gutsanov and Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Policy Natalia Efremova took part in the announcement of the launch of the campaign. It was opened at the Early Childhood Development Centre of the For Our Children Foundation in Sofia by UK Foreign Minister David Lammy and his Bulgarian counterpart Georg Georgiev. Nathaniel Copsey, British Ambassador to Bulgaria, also took part in the initiative.

Minister Gutsanov said that the event is the best possible start to his term as Social Minister. "I want to thank the parents, the foster families and all the institutions that have worked so far to make this change possible," he added.

The reform for the deinstitutionalisation of childcare, which is consistently and purposefully implemented exclusively as a state policy, was launched in 2010. It gives priority to raising children in a family environment and its goal is that by the end of 2025 there will be no institutional care for children in Bulgaria. At the start of the reform, almost 7,600 children were being raised in 137 institutions. Today, there are only three medical-social care homes with 104 children in them. The only reason these homes have not yet closed is that they accommodate children with multiple disabilities. They need an environment that provides adequate care for their condition, which cannot currently be provided at home or through another service.

At the end of November 2024, the number of children in kinship care or foster care was 5,350, while the number of children in residential care services, which provide care in a family-like environment, was less than 3,000. Social services to support children and families have tripled, from 241 in 2010 to 759 at the end of November 2024. More than 20,600 children and families are receiving support in these services, the report said.