Finished projects

Period of execution: 1993 – 2006 Description: The purpose of the 4 family projects, developed during this period in the cities of Sofia, Plovdiv, and Velingrad, is to decrease the number of children entering specialized institutions. The main purpose is to help the upbringing of the child in a safe family environment. The unique thing about the projects is the research which was made when they were first started – researchers from the organization searched for answers of the question: “Why do children go to social homes?”. For the first time, the approach of multidisciplinary teams supporting children and families before and during the family crisis is implemented. The projects covered around 900…

Period of execution: 1993 – 2002   Description: The program “Foster care” is realized in partnership with “Sirak Fond”. The main purposes are to ensure opportunities for the transitioning of the children from institutional to family care as well as to confirm foster care as a primary alternative to the existing system for institutional care and advocacy for positive changes in the Bulgarian legislation, regarding child protection. 41 children and their families were helped during the execution of the…

Period of execution: 1997 – 2002   Description: The project “Children and families” was realized in the cities of Plovdiv and Haskovo Municipalities in partnership with national and local authorities. The project demonstrated the effective functioning of a range of alternatives to institutional care services in the community for the first time in Bulgaria, which aim to prevent the separation of families and leaving children at social homes (prevention); to reintegrate children from social homes to their biological families (reintegration); and to accommodate children at foster families (foster care). Thanks to the project, 200 children did not enter into specialized institutions, and 8 children found foster parents. The project introduced foster care for the first time as well as the services of returning children from homes and the prevention of abandonment. The model “Department for the child and the family” was also created for the first time. This model was implemented at a national level and became a base for the now existing departments for child protection. “For Our Children” foundation is proud of the efforts it has invested in the creation of the national policy and the child protection system in our…

Period of execution: 1998 – 2005   Description: The project “Local Health Center – Rakitovo” started with the financial support of the European Union for a two-year period (1998 – 2000). Medical specialists and health care professionals provided health service at the Health center, the Roma school, and at the homes of patients in the Roma neighborhood in Rakitovo. The specialists also initiate campaigns for increasing health culture. The specialists of the foundation are trying their best to attract professionals who can give service to the Roma community. In the time-frame of the project, in the Health Center, there were 16 370 examinations, manipulations, and consultations which include 892 women and girls, whom a gynecologist examined and took care of, as well as dentist examinations and serving to 1362 people. After the end of the project, upon request of the municipality of Rakitovo, the whole equipment was donated and the municipality took over the center as a part of our policy for developing of stability of the project…

Period of execution: 2001 – 2005   Description: “Children’s House” is the first in the country residential alternative to life in specialized institutions. With donations from British residents, we bought a property in Komatevo neighborhood in the city of Plovdiv which, after realized repair activities, became a social service for children at risk. At the house, social services place children from 3 to 12 as the accommodation is temporary, while they find a long-term solution for the child. The service provides a place for living, equipped like a family space, with separate rooms for eating, bathing, sleeping and spending free time. The employees work for developing the independence of the children who have the opportunity to take part in food preparation, doing laundry and in all activities, common for the family. At the moment, the house is run by Plovdiv Municipality as part of the policy of “For Our children” foundation to give authority to the communities to run the services in support of their children and families on their own. “For Our Children” foundation is proud of the fact that from the beginning, not a single child from the house continued their life in a social home, after their stay…

Period of execution: 2005 – 2007   Description: The project, co-funded by the PHARE “Civil Society Development” program and EveryChild, covered 140 children from the “P. R. Slaveykov” home for whom we organized personal celebrations, excursions, consultations, sports activities, etc. We also supported babies who were at real risk of being abandoned in social homes. A team of three trained social workers helped children from the Krasna Polyana and Vazrazhdane districts in the city of Sofia, providing both social benefits and assessments of the opportunities 30 children to return to their families. With this project, “For Our Children” foundation demonstrated a working model of partnership and dialogue between all interested sides in delivering social services to children and families at…

Period of execution: 2005 – 2006   Description: The Complex for children and families in the city of Plovdiv was created after the World Bank announced (through MLSP and the project “Reform for increasing the well-being of children in Bulgaria”) an auction for providing social services for the first year of the Complex. During the execution of the project, social workers and professionals provided different forms of support for children and their families through the social services at the Community Support Center, the “Mother and baby” department and the Center for work with homeless children. Part of the activities were: informing and consulting children, young people and parents; courses for practical parental skills; mediation and advocacy; training and consulting foster parents and adopters; direct individual and group work with children; providing asylum and intensive support for young single pregnant women and women in labor. At the Complex work professionals in the sphere of childhood and family development: social workers, psychologists, rehabilitators, tutors, social assistants, family advisor, child psychiatrist, child psychologist, family lawyer, doctor,…