| Authors |
Vaska Stancheva-Popkostadinova,MD, Ph.D.
Tanja Tocheva, Director of Social-pedagogical Centre
Velichka Kaynakchieva, Chief of the Department Education and Youth activities, Municipality of Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria |
Abstract |
The social-economic crisis, which the Bulgarian society has
faced in the last 10 years, has impacted most severely on children.
As a result the crime rate among children is increasing and the age
of those offending decreases. New phenomena like prostitution, drug
abuse, roaming and homelessness appear and the number of child
victims of violence and abuse increases. This paper presents an
overview of activities in the field of prevention of the children
in Blagoevgrad region in southwest Bulgaria. The activities at
regional level are discussed according to the new legislative
framework and structure for protection of children in Bulgaria
introduced in 2000. The emphasis is on the telephone 'Child Child
Hot Line' for children in Blagoevgrad. This Child Hot Line was set
up eighteen months ago to provide information to children and young
people facing difficulties in their personal lives. Twenty-five
volunteer Child Hot Line operators provide specialized counseling
and crisis intervention on a shift basis. Originally operating 12
hours (per day), the line is now operational 24 hours a day, seven
days a week. An evaluation of success and difficulties in the
sustainability and functioning of the Child Hot Line for children
for two years period are presented. The general conclusion from the
detailed overview of the activities for protection of the children
in Blagoevgrad region is that is the necessity of more co-ordinate
efforts and new approaches for working based on co-operation of the
state and NGO's activities at a horizontal and vertical level for
the protection of children.
|
References |
1. Child Protection Act, 2000 (in Bulgarian).
2. Kaynakchieva, V. (1994). Model for preventive activity in
Blagoevgrad. Public Upbringing, 5, 164, pp 23-26(In
Bulgarian)
3. Kolarova, D.(2001). How to cope with our anger. Public
Upbringing, 2, pp 46-50 (In Bulgarian)
4. Stancheva, V. (1997). "Co-operation between parents and
professionals in the process of improving living conditions for
persons with disability and their families". Proceedings of
Regional Conference "Partnership with NGO's in Social Policy",
Blagoevgrad, 28-29 November 1997, pp. 14-21(In Bulgarian) 5. The
European Children's Trust Bulgaria Programme, April
2001,Sofia
6. The State of Transition And Transition of The State, National
Human Development Report-Bulgaria 1998, United Nation Development
Programme(UNDP), Sofia, 1998
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