SUCCESS: Our team closes another orphanage in Bulgaria

Huge news. Thanks to your support, we’re on our way to closing every last remaining orphanage in Bulgaria.

After years of tireless work, our team in Bulgaria has successfully closed the ‘Home for Medical and Social Care for Children’ orphanage in Kardjali.

Also known as a ‘baby home’, the orphanage housed up to 40 children. Now, thanks to you, all these children are no longer shut away. No longer afraid. No longer alone.

This orphanage closure marks another huge milestone for our team in Bulgaria. Now, there are only three orphanages left to close. Thanks to your donations, Bulgaria is heading toward an orphanage-free future.

We’re on a mission to bring children out of orphanages and back to family. Donate today.

How many children lived inside the orphanage?

Around 40 children were shut away inside the ‘Home for Medical and Social Care for Children’ institution. Most were under three. Several had disabilities.

Many struggling parents of children with disabilities can’t access the support they need. As a result, they feel pushed to place their children in orphanages. Just to find them care.

Find out more about why children end up in orphanages here.

Sadly, orphanages don’t protect children. They put them in harm’s way. The majority of children in institutional care will face violence, abuse and neglect. Children with disabilities are at an even higher risk.

Find out more about how orphanages harm children.

What was it like inside the orphanage?

One of the last remaining orphanages in Bulgaria, the ‘Home for Medical and Social Care for Children’ institution was dilapidated, with no natural light and broken play equipment. But the worst part, as remembered by Kremena Stoyanova, National Coordinator for Hope and Homes for Children South Bulgaria, was the silence.

“I always have a picture in my mind of this home. Long and very wide corridors and a rehabilitation therapist holding the hand of a two-year-old child. Footsteps clanging in the empty space. Those sounds in the darkness are the picture I want to erase.” 

Kremena Stoyanova, National Coordinator for Hope and Homes for Children South Bulgaria

Well-meaning members of the community used to raise funds for the orphanage. But as with many orphanages, it was hard to see how these efforts benefited the children. Ivanka Taushanova, our Regional Coordinator in Kardjali, remembers the first time she realised this:

“I was a teacher in a local school, and every year we did a campaign to buy toys for the children in the orphanage. When I first went to the orphanage there were no toys. Everything was quiet. There wasn’t even any childlike curiosity.” 

“Everything was quiet. There wasn’t even any childlike curiosity.” 

Ivanka Taushanova, Regional Coordinator in Kardjali

How do we bring children back to family?

After signing an MOU with the regional government in 2015, we started working on getting the children out of the orphanage and back to family, or into family-based care.

To do this, we pursue four main options:

• Reunite children with their birth families. The ideal solution, especially when 80% of children in orphanages around the world aren’t orphans.
• Reunite children with their relatives. When parents aren’t able to care for their children, we can support their immediate family members to raise them at home.
• Create new families. Through fostering or adoption, we can find children from orphanages loving new families to grow up in.
• Bring children into community-based care. Sometimes, it’s necessary for children to live in alternative community-based care spaces. This is a great solution when children have complicated or round-the-clock support needs. We ensure these spaces are family-style solutions, with a specific amount of carers to children to ensure everyone’s getting the love and attention they need.

For more information on how we bring children back to family, read more about our solutions here.

Closing down the orphanage

Thanks to your support, on August 1st 2024, the orphanage was finally closed down. Boryana Klimentova, Programme Director of Hope and Homes for Children Bulgaria, remembers the day well.

“It was a beautiful hot day, and the sun seemed to be showing us the right way. I felt joy”

We ensured each of the children living inside were safe, secure and in loving family-style homes – through being reunited with their birth families, adoption, fostering or placement in medical centres for disabled children with 24/7 care.

What’s next?

Riding on our success, our team in Bulgaria is gearing up for the next big win. With your support, we’re ready to shut down the last three orphanages in the country and bring every child home to a loving family.

But we can’t do it without you.

Will you help us close the last remaining orphanages in Bulgaria and bring the children living inside back to family? Donate today.