Romani Children at Risk in the Child Protection System in Bulgaria
5. Legislative and policy framework for child protection in Bulgaria Child protection policy is developed and adopted by the Council of Ministers and the State Agency for Child Protection. The Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, the Ministry of Education, Youth and Science, the Ministry of Healthcare, the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Interior have specific obligations under the Child Protection Act, as do regional governors and municipal authorities. However, there is no single authority responsible for the implementation of child protection policy in Bulgaria. The adoption of the Child Protection Act (CPA)21 significantly contributed to raising child policy as a priority for the Bulgarian Government after 1999. A Strategy and an Action Plan for the Protection of Children’s Rights in Bulgaria for the period 2000-2003 were adopted in December 2000 and later updated by the National Strategy for Child Protection 2004-2006. Their main objectives were to improve the living conditions of children in Bulgaria, to ensure the protection of their rights regardless of their ethnic background, to harmonize the legal framework of child protection with the requirements of the European Union and to elaborate a uniform State policy in the field of childcare and services. The National Strategy for Child Protection 2004-200622 highlighted that there were 11,834 children living in childcare institutions, where the quality of care was low, in 2002. The strategy envisaged the reduction of the number of institutionalized children by developing effective and sufficient communitybased services for families and children tailored to the needs of the population, raising the quality of life for institutionalized children and restructuring the childcare institutions that provide alternative care. It was expected that 30% of childcare institutions would be restructured, the percentage of children living in institutions would be reduced by 10%, 30% fewer children would be admitted to institutions, and community-based services would be developed by the municipalities to serve the needs of the local population. The State Agency for Child Protection (SACP) monitored all childcare institutions in 2004 and 2006. In 2007 it concluded that there was a decrease in the number of children living in institutions: from 12,609 in 2001, 11,915 in 2002, 10,875 in 2003, 10,284 in 2004, 9,776 in 2005, to 8,653 in 2006.23 According to the SACP this reduction was due to the implementation of child protection measures other than placement in institutions, such as placement with relatives or reintegration in the biological families. According to an NGO the reduction is due to 21
Bulgaria, Child Рrotection Act (Закон за закрила на детето), adopted on 13.06.2000, last amended on 2.07.2010, available with all versions only in Bulgarian at: http://lex.bg/bg/laws/ldoc/2134925825 (Accessed: 30 November 2010). 22 Bulgaria, Council of Ministers, National Strategy for Child Protection 2004-2006, http://sacp.government. bg/programi-dokladi/strategii-programi-planove/strategia-zakrila-deteto-2004-2006/ (Accessed: 30 November 2010). 23 Bulgaria, State Agency for Child Protection, 2007 Annual Report on the Activities of the State Agency for Child Protection, p.3, available at: http://sacp.government.bg/programi-dokladi/dokladi/ (Accessed: 30 November 2010). The data on the number of children in institutions provided by the State Agency for Child Protection and the Social Assistance Agency at the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy always differ from each other for unknown reasons. 12