Project PHARE 2005 “De-institutionalization through community based services for risk groups” - “Child Care reform Initiative” in Lovetch Municipality

Leading organization is association "Knowledge" in partnership with ISS-Bulgaria and Lovetch Municipality.

Objective: Strengthen the child welfare system, de-institutionalization, increasing the quality of care for children, who have been raised outside of the family milieu in Lovech municipality; provide integrated services for children at risk and their families. This objective shall be achieved through tasks which will reform the public care and integrated services for children at risk and their families. It is envisaged to close down the Residential institution for children, deprived of parental care (RICDPC - for boys in Lovech) and to open two Small Group Homes /SGH/ for children at different age groups. In parallel, a restructuring of the RICDPC for girls, Lovech, will be done through the reduction of the number of beds for long term placement and the establishment of day-care and week-care groups. To improve work effectiveness of the newly created forms of care, they will be united in one administrative structure – the Centre for the Placement of Children at Risk /CPCR/. To support the work of the CPCR, especially with the children's families, a Centre for Community Support /CCS/ will be established. It will expand the activities of the existing Centre for Social Rehabilitation and Integration of Children and Youth at Risk (CSRI) through prevention of abandonment, reintegration in the biological family or in alternative family, foster care, adoption, etc. Thus in the municipality of Lovech a new Complex for integrated services for children and families /CISCF/ is established, that combines CPCR and CCS.

Target groups are children, placed in residential institutions or other forms of public care, children at risk in the community and their families and children and families in the community.

Final beneficiaries: 1. Children, placed in the 2 SGH; 2. Different categories of children at risk in the community and their families who received services in the Center/Complex; 3. Children and families in the community who received some kind of support from the CISCF; 4. The teams of the new services and professionals, working with children; 5. Volunteers.

The main activities are directed to create the organizational preconditions for the successful implementation of the project, preparation of the premises for the opening of the planned new forms of child care and delivering of integrated services for children at risk and their families; Recruitment, training, consultation and supervision of the personnel that will provide the services; Preparation for the closing of RICDPC for boys and restructuring of RICDPC for girls – Lovech and placement of the children; Delivery of the planned services and their administrative structuring; Monitoring and evaluation of the project.

Results: Closed RICDPC for boys and restructured RICDPC for girls, Lovech for week- and day-care; Established CPCR and CCS; Developed methodology for the functioning of SGH for children at two age groups;

Benefits: Decreased number of children placed in residential institutions (30%) compared to the total number of cases, on which CPD had undertaken child protection measure; Decreased number of drop-outs (70% are the successfully prevented cases; 30% of drop outs enrolled in the mainstream schools; Increased percentage of successful preventions compared to previous period (30%); Increased percentage (+20%) of successful reintegration compared to previous period; At least 10 families or individuals - candidates for foster families had been trained; 10 candidates for adopters had been trained and 10 adopters receive adoption services; In 70% of referrals of children with anti-social behavior, it is not necessary to impose anymore instructive measure under the Act of Prevention of Anti-social Deeds of Juveniles or follow-up measures. No children are channeled to Social pedagogic Residential Institution and Correctional residential institution.

ISS – Bulgaria is responsible for the coordination and the implementation of the concept for complete reform of the Child Care services in Lovech municipality. Being the provider of the new services, the organization is responsible for recruiting and managing the personnel, developing and implementing training programs for the hired personnel, completing of the functions and responsibilities of the personnel; consulting and supervision, control on the implementation of the construction works, the equipment and furnishing of the premises for the services.

Financing: by EU and Bulgaria with 149 000 EUR.