Though with some difficulty, foster care has been asserting itself in Bulgaria as an alternative for abandoned children. In 2009 foster parents from Bulgaria set up a National Foster Care Association with the aim of supporting the development of this social service and helping take children out of institutions. Around 200 foster families are currently members of the association; some of them recently decided to set up a centre for the professional training of foster parents.

“In Sofia training and support for foster families is well advanced, but in smaller towns that is not the case,” says Miroslav Dolapchiev, chair of the Association.

According to data of the Agency for Social Assistance there are some 2,000 foster families in the country with approximately the same number of children looked after by them. But the state has 300 families no children have been placed with. Most of them are in the town of Shoumen as well as the regions of Pazardjik, Pleven and Varna. The reason – bad planning.

“In recent years there have been incentives for promoting foster care in many places around the country as a form of employment. That is why there is a shortage of children there and too many approved foster parents,” says Miroslav Dolapchiev further.

In towns like Shoumen and Turgovishte where unemployment is high, people see foster care as a way to earn money, whereas in Sofia there are many families ready to do voluntary work. However, people in the capital city find a long-term commitment with one or more children difficult.

“Here, our jobs take up a lot of our time, we are so focused on our careers, life is very dynamic. We need more people who will realize that caring for a child makes more sense than building a career,” says Miroslav.

Besides bad planning, another problem is that there is no single financial standard for foster care. At the moment, the state allocates a mere BGN 195 per child a month and the monthly salary of a professional foster parent is BGN 390. According to Miroslav Dolapchiev, in time the people whose motivation is money will drop out because “in foster care you must give much more than you are given.”

Besides for their own daughter, in the past three and a half years, Miroslav and his wife have been taking care of a little girl abandoned by his biological parents. She was welcomed in their home when she was only 11 months old.

“There are so many challenges but compared to seeing the child develop in time, they are nothing,” says Miroslav. “One of the things I found difficult to begin with was that for your own children people rarely keep a diary of their development, whereas for these children we keep a strict record. Because even when they move away, they take their history with them. For example, a record must be kept of the child’s illnesses, how long they lived in your home, how they have developed, what their educational and emotional needs are.”

Miroslav and his wife have kept a strict record of the history of the little girl which they plan to hand over to her future adoptive parents or biological parents if they decide to take her back. But aren’t they afraid of the time they will have to let her go?

“Parting is something any foster parent will have to face sooner or later,” Miroslav Dolapchiev says. “Though you may think you are ready, you never know how you will cope when the time comes. I try not to think about it. What is more important is how the child will cope and it is our job to help her understand that we are not sending her away because we do not love or want her. I do not know how we are going to explain this to her. I am just hoping she will be able to cope.”

English version: Milena Daynova