In the last four years, our foundation has specialized in providing services for prevention of infant abandonments in social institutions and finding foster families for the children whose parents are unable to look after them. The medico – social homes for babies are the most appalling and miserable social homes in Bulgaria because they look after children in the most crucial years of a human being’s life – the first three years.

These are the years when every baby is expecting to see the woman whose voice it has heard in the womb, to feel the hug of the father and to see the smile and love of the family. In these institutions, the care for abandoned children is primarily delegated to doctors and nurses. Babies are placed in common rooms with 20 beds.

The focus in such homes is mainly on physical health, but not on the emotional needs of the kids. After the maternity ward every year more then 1500 babies and children till 3 years enter the Homes and spend the first 7-14 days in an “isolator” before the doctors identify the existence or lack of bacteria. This is a medical practice which leaves the newborns in totally isolated environment in the very moment they need love and individual care.

Life in an institution, especially in the first three years, has serious and deep damaging consequences on children’s physical and mental development and on their ability to attach to adults and become fully developed adults themselves.

The statistics for 2009 indicate that 2017 children were placed in the Homes for Medico-Social Care. After the children become 3 years old most of them are transferred to another social institution. Most children are in good health. Of those children with various disabilities, most suffer from congenital malformations, followed mental or neurological disorders, and premature, underweight children. Between 50 and 60 abandoned babies, most of them with severe disabilities, die in social care homes each year. One of the reasons is lack of family care and individual attention.

What we do?

• We consult young mothers every time when we receive signals from GPs, relatives and neighbors.
• We work closely with mothers throughout the period before and after birth and we try to influence mothers’ decision by assessing the family, the mother’s ability and the surrounding environment.
• Our social workers often accompany mothers to the maternity ward, sometimes attending the birth and we are often the only ones attending mothers’ hospital discharge.
• We teach mothers how to be good and responsible parents - how to feed and bathe the baby, when and how to attend consultations
• We help mothers find a personal doctor and when necessary we seek support from the social authorities together with the mothers
• During the first 6 months after a child’s birth, we monitor the risks and assist the mother with money for food. In some extreme cases, “For our children” foundation finances home repairs in order to create a more comfortable environment for the baby. If a baby is poorly nurtured we take urgent measures to find a foster family.