25 th September 2014, Plovdiv B ULGARIAN P OLICY FOR C HILD P ROTECTION AND S OCIAL S ERVICES FOR C HILDREN AND F AMILIES 1

L EGISLATIVE AND S TRATEGIC F RAMEWORK  Child Protection Act and Enforcement Regulations to the Child Protection Act  Social Assistance Act (SAA) and Enforcement Regulations to the Social Assistance Act (ERSAA)  Ordinance on the Requirements and Conditions for Application, Selection and Approval of Foster Families and Placement of Children in Foster Care  Ordinance on the Requirements and Conditions for Implementation of Measures to Prevent Child Abandonment and Placement in Institutional Care, as well as for Their Re-integration  Ordinance on the Criteria and Standards for Social Services for Children and Others  National Child Development Strategy (2008 – 2018)  National Child Protection Programme 2

Governing principles and philosophy in the legislation on child protection:  The system for protection is child-centered  Protection aimed at ensuring the best interests of the child  Protection focused on providing care in a family or close to family environment 3

Council of Ministers Ministry of Labour and Social Policy Other ministries involved State Agency for Child Protection Social Assistance Agency Regional Social Assistance Offices - 28 Social Assistance Directorates – 147/ Child Protection Unit National Council for Child Protection Children’ Council 4 National Assembly

F UNCTIONS OF THE C HILD P ROTECTION U NITS WITH THE S OCIAL A SSISTANCE D IRECTORATES  Responsible for the daily activities on municipal level run on on-going basis for child protection  Responsible for the selection and implementation of specific measures for child protection as well as for monitoring of the results  Review and inspection of cases following petitions related to violated rights of the child  Provision of consultations and advise on raising and educating children  Provision of training and counselling to foster parents and participation in the selection of foster families  Responsible for addressing the law enforcement agencies – police, prosecution and courts – when needed  Putting together immediate relief for children in crisis, including situations following the 48-hours police protection  Running background checks on applicants for adoption from around the country, etc. 5

CHILD PROTECTION MEASURES  The best environment for raising and educating a child is the family.  Placement of children in special residential institutions is allowed only after exhausting all other protection measures. 6

PROTECTION MEASURES IN THE FAMILY  Provision of educational, psychological and legal help to parents and adults, performing parents’ functions, on issues related to raising children  Reference to relevant community based social services  Provision of counselling and information tion Консултиране и информиране на детето в съответствие с неговата възраст и със степента на неговото развитие  Консултиране и съдействие по въпроси на социалното подпомагане и социалните услуги  Съдействие за подобряване на социално-битовите условия  Социална работа за улесняване връзките между децата и родителите и справяне с конфликти и кризи в отношенията  Проучване индивидуалните възможности и интереси на детето и насочването му към подходящо учебно заведение  Съдействие за устройване на подходяща работа на нуждаещи се навършили 16- годишна възраст, при установените в трудовото законодателство условия  Насочване на детето към подходящи форми за ангажиране на свободното му време  Съдействие на осиновителите при подготовката им за изпълнение на родителските им функции, самото осиновяване, както и защита правата на детето при прекратяване на осиновяването  Съдействие на лицата, които полагат грижи за деца, при подготовката и изпълнението на техните функции 7

PLACEMENT OF THE CHILD OUTSIDE THE FAMILY 1. Placement of the child with extended family 2. Placement of the child in a foster family 3. Placement in a social service – residential or special institution 8

 Placement of the child outside the family as a measure for protection is decided by the court  Until the court decides, the Social Assistance Office at the child’s place of residence does temporary placement under an administrative procedure 9

 Measures for protection undertaken by the Social Assistance Office could be implemented by the social services delivered also by service providers to children  The leading role belongs to the Child Protection Unit with the Social Assistance Office. The Unit provides :  Information on social services for children and families  List of providers of the specific service and a draft contract for the service provision  Develops the child’s action plan 10

 Social services for children are used on the grounds and following the procedures of the Enforcement Regulations to the Social Assistance Act (ERSAA)  Upon reaching an agreement on the social service to be delivered an application is filed to the Social Assistance Directorate and a reference is issued for the relevant service provider  In cases that no contact can be established and no request is available from the parents, guardians or adults looking after the child, or if child’s life is at serious risk the social service is delivered on the grounds of a decision made by the Director of the Social Assistance Directorate or mandatory instructions for the parents in order the ensure protection of the rights of the child  When there is no reference letter issued by the Child Protection Unit social services are chosen by the user and paid upon agreement with the service provider. 11

 Social Counselling Services – day-care centre, social rehabilitation and integration centre, community support centre, street-children centre, social centre for occupational training  Residential social services – crisis centre, centre for family-type placement, transition house, Mother and Baby Unit  Social services delivered at the user’s house – personal assistant, social assistant, home help, social patronage 12

 Social services are provided by:  Local authorities (municipalities)  Bulgarian citizens and corporations registered under the Trade Act  as well as individuals and companies established in accordance with the legislation in another EU Member-State or another country from the European Economic Area  The wide range of service providers aims at promotion of social entrepreneurship.  The State is not a direct service provider. Its role is to ensure finances from the State Budget for certain range of services. 13

 Private service providers are allowed to deliver services after entering the register with the Social Assistance Agency.  Service providers working with children are subjected to an additional requirement of being licensed by the President of the State Agency for Child Protection and entered into the register of the Social Assistance Agency. 14

 Decentralised management of the social services  The Mayor is responsible for running the social services in the relevant delegated by the State or locally decided activities  The Mayor is the employer of service providers’ managers except for cases of outsourcing the delivery of services to private providers  The Mayor may commission the management of the social services to private providers. 15

 Provision of social services in Bulgaria has to meet certain criteria and standards, regulated by the legislation  These are obligatory for all providers of social services.  The criteria and standards in service provision for adults are included in the Enforcement Regulations to the Social Assistance Act (ERSSA)  The criteria and standards in service provision for children are included in the Ordinance on the Criteria and Standards for Social Services for Children 16

 The Ordinance sets minimum standards, which aim at:  improved child welfare  better quality of the existing social services for children  availability of social services to all children, etc.  Regulation of responsibilities of the providers of social services for children  Standards set out the requirements for quality of a particular social service  Criteria form the set of indicators, which are used to assess the compliance of a service with the legally established standards. 17

 The Ordinance covers the following standards:  for community-based services  for foster care  for provision of services to children in specialized institutions and in residential settings 18

 The President of the State Agency for Child Protection is responsible for supervising the compliance with the quality standards of services for children. The procedure for exercising control over the observance of the standards of social services for children, is laid down in the Ordinance on the Criteria and Standards for Social Services for Children.  Civic control:  Upon a decision of the Municipal Council public councils are set up  within the services – social service users’ councils. 19

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