Government announces Mogilino closure

26/02/2008

The Bulgarian government has announced that the social care home in Mogilino as well as six other homes for children will be closed. The announcement from Mrs Emilia Maslavrova confirmed that the seven facilities are currently home to 220 children. Some of them will go to foster families and the rest will be moved to sheltered accommodation.

The government has set aside 8 million leva for the closure project.

The other facilities facing shutdown are those in the villages of Gorna Koznitsa, Osenetz, Burdarski Geran, Rabisha, Galatin and Borovtsi, which are located across different regions in Bulgaria.

There are currently 144 social care homes in Bulgaria housing an estimated 8,600 children. According to the Bulgarian News Agency the government has pledged an extra 1.5 million leva to buy new minibuses for the social care homes that are unaffected by the closures. It is expected that the government will use E40 million from a World Bank loan to improve the living conditions of children within the state run institutions.

Details of when the closures will take place or the plans for preparing the children for re-homing have not been provided. Kate Blewett, Trustee from Bulgaria's Abandoned Children, said in response to the government statement 'Up to this point, the government's response has been to accuse myself and the BBC of manipulation and sensationalism and to deny that there was a problem with social care homes like Mogilino. In announcing seven homes are to be closed, Mrs Maslarova has finally admitted that the institutional care system across Bulgaria is inadequate. I hope that this announcement is the first step on the path to all the institutions being closed and replaced by community-based small home schemes.'

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