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Alternatives to Institutional Care – Community based services in Bulgaria. AUTHOR : George Bogdanov Institution: Social activities and Practises Institute (SAPI) Email : sapi@abv.bg.
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Alternatives to Institutional Care – Community based services in Bulgaria AUTHOR : George BogdanovInstitution: Social activities and Practises Institute (SAPI) Email : sapi@abv.bg
The specialized institutions for children are almost the only possibility used for social support and care.The practice continues for the clients in the specialized institutions to be looked upon more as an object of impact, rather than as a subject of interaction.The reform regarding the existing services in the specialized institutions is entirely left in the hands of the directors and the staff in them. Practices in the specialized institutions
The undeveloped market for social services to a great extend is due to a lack of knowledge of the essence of the social service The limited expertise of the local institutions results in controversial interpretations of social services. There are no professional forums and discussions to build the understanding for the differences between care and services, servicing and taking care. Understanding social services
Practices in community services • The community social services for children are sporadic. They are provided on the basis of the personal initiative of individual providers or are driven by donor projects. • The community social services for street children, children dropping out from the school system, the work in the Roma neighborhoods, the work with drug addicted children, the prevention of drug addiction, etc. are not fully developed in the regulatory framework. • A significant factor for the domination of institutional care over social services is the ensured financing for the institutions to differentiate from community services.
Roles of the state and the municipalities in managing social services • The experience of the municipalities in managing social services is limited. This, however, does not mean that they lack the capacity to hold tenders for their provision. • The municipalities are in a position of conflict of interest ensuing from the right they were given to develop social services. The right of the municipalities to provide social services makes them privileged providers, which limits the access to the market of the rest of the interested parties. • The high expectations for the NGOs and the municipalities to play a key role in the formation of a market for social services may prove unrealistic, if their capacity does not grow.
Provision of social services for children and families at the municipality of Shoumen • Child Welfare project in Bulgaria is developed by the World bank and Bulgarian Government aimed to develop alternative social services in 10 municipalities in Bulgaria. One of them is in municipality of Shoumen. • SAPI was selected as a services provider in Shoumen • The municipality of Shoumen comprises 26 centres of population, with a total population of 103 142 • The child population of the municipality is 21692 • Ethnic groups living in the country, namely of Bulgarian, Romany, Turkish • There are six institutions for raising and bringing up children on the territory of the municipality
The project aim is • Development of sustainable community-based social services, for children and families on the territory of the Shoumen municipality
The Complex for Social Services implements activities in three main sectors • Sector “Family Support”; • Sector “Child support and services” • Sector “Community work”. • These sectors cover the activities in the following directions: prevention, reintegration and direct work with the clients, community-based services, as well as empowering and mobilising the local community in provision of services for children and families.
Activities and services, provided by the Social ServicesComplex (SSC) in town of Shoumen • ”Family Services and Support” sector • Family counselling • Groups for self-help of pregnant women and girls • Inter-agency mediation • Mother and Baby Unit – provision of shelter, counselling, mediation between the institutions • Family group conference • Training, counselling and group work with applicant foster families and adopters; • Support to parents victims of abuse • Work with families whose children are at institutions – reintegration
“Community Work” sector • Public campaigns for foster families and adopters; campaigns against violence, substance abuse and smoking; campaigns for enhancing the public sensitivity towards the problems of children • Building and operation or a network of pedagogical advisors, teachers and educators for prevention of school drop-out • Mobile social work • Work with volunteers (campaigns, recruitment, allocation of tasks and responsibilities) • Public discussions with representatives of the professional circles working with children • Hot telephone line
“Child Services and Support” Sector • Crisis admission for children • Intervention and individual work with children victims of abuse • Work with institutionalized children for reintegration into family environment • Training and preparation of children leaving institutions for independent life • Sheltered house for children who have left institutions • Counselling of children with deviant behaviour • Day centre at the CSC for street children and drop-out children • Organizing extra-curricular forms of support and occupations for children • School support to children on specific subjects
Selection and management of the staff • The selection of the local teams and to the staff management at the SSC is based on the motivation and career development theory. • Testing period: applicants was employed on a civil- basis for three months contract. During this period will be delivered the basic training and the core trainings • Temporary employment contract until the end of the project July 2006 • Career growth and development: At this highest level of development, the specialists who have displayed outstanding working relationships will undergo specialized training and counselling to develop skills and competencies for internal supervision and counselling on cases.
