This project developed from the idea of Sofia municipality to develop effective social services for children in educational institutions of the city. This idea was directly related to the “Programme for the welfare of children of Sofia Municipality 2008-2009.” The purpose of this program was to define the priorities and objectives for the welfare of children in Sofia. In seeking ways of practical realization of the program and the personal initiative of Vice Mayors of the Metropolitan Municipality in education and social activities fields, both organizations /the Crime Prevention Fund - IGA and the Centre for Inclusive Education/ were invited to develop a pilot project for one of the metropolitan schools. Originally, six schools were visited. From those, 67th Secondary School "Vasil Levski" was selected because of the possibility of using individual rooms to create a social center. Furthermore, the school was also chosen for a number of serious problems: the large number of children with antisocial behavior, social and educational integration of children and students from ethnic minorities and children with special educational needs, and high rate of early dropout from school.

During project development the partners agreed on the problem of the so-called "pathway to offending,” which most often begins with difficulties during the learning process, continues with low self-esteem, deviations in behavior and school dropout, and inevitably ends with illegal activities. Children who have difficulty learning (e.g. dyslexia, which is the most common cause of such disorders) are at very high risk of falling into this cycle because of the specific difficulties experienced in the learning process.

The main objective of the project was the development of an integrated approach to prevention of child antisocial behavior through the implementation of complex interventions aimed to identify and eliminate the main factors for such behavior at an early stage and to rehabilitate children who have already developed deviations.

Milestones in the realization of this objective were:

-            First, the "framework for services" was developed, which clearly shows the process of inclusion of a case in project activities;

-            For early identification of special educational needs, deviations and antisocial behavior in adolescents the general screening tool "What is your opinion” was developed. The tool is not specialized, meaning that it can be used by non-specialists. It is in the form of a questionnaire and is intended for identifying possible deviations, but is not precise. The tool aims the pre-selection or filtering of the sample, which serves to identify subjects identifying certain signs. The ones with "positive results" were subjected to a precise study by specialists;

-            For the precise survey, the instrument "Pre-SIOR” was adapted. It is based on "Structured tools for risk assessment / SIOR / 2007, ISBN 978-954-9492-08-8, edition of the Crime Prevention Fund - IGA. It is a specialized tool for assessing the risk of making an initial offense and includes elements seeking violations in learning ability and communicative disorders of development;

-            Professionals were trained to work with the package of tools, and teachers participated in part of the training, which ensured assistance and support from the school.

-            After the training, the specialists undertook the initial assessment - screening with "What is your opinion” tool of part of the students in the school and subsequent evaluation with “Pre-SIOR.” In this way, the experts were given a clear picture of the current status of the interviewed children and hence the need for further services;

-            The next stage of the project activities were related to targeting one of the following services:

>> Social counseling and mediation - the mildest form of consultation. Assisting the child to cope with their daily environment (family, school, neighborhood), personal and external factors leading to deviant behavior and risk of dropping out of school;

>> Logopedic consultations - including speech evaluation, education and social support of children;

>> Family counseling services;

>> Psychological counseling addressing deviant behaviour and / or learning difficulties;

>> Legal advice - caused great interest among the children. Covered the main aspects of Bulgarian legislation.

-            Implemented a preventive program, "I Learn to Choose" a notebook "To Prevent Drugs and Violence", published by the Fund IGA. The program is designed to prevent violence and drug use, raise awareness of the harmful effects of using drugs, positive influence on attitudes to prevent the use, and formation of a mature and responsible behavior in children and adolescents;

-            Conducted monitoring and supervision by experts of both organizations.

-            A key element of the project was the development of specialized software "Assessment and Management of Cases,” which is integrated throughout the “Framework for services” model and which supports the documentation of activities and results of the assessment, planning, management and supervision of cases. In the development of the software, all the necessary requirements for maintaining the confidentiality of personal data and personal information of customers was taken into account, in compliance with the law.

• Model developed to provide specialized social services to children in a school, which represents an integrated approach in the prevention of antisocial child behavior;
• 14 experts trained for implementation of the model.
• Selected and equipped premises for the project, selected personnel, conducted 7 trainings for the deployment of methodologies;
• Developed and implemented software product “Assessment and Management of a Case”;
• 130 children covered by the provided complex and individual therapy, educational and training programs, group programs and activities, information and consultation within the project (120 children screened with the instrument "What is your opinion"; 50 children surveyed with "Pre-SIOR”; 98 Social consultation with 48 children; Logopedic consultations with 6 children; Psychological consultation with 28 children; Legal advice with 40 children; Family consultations with 10 families).

Contact information

Marina Manolcheva, Chair of the Board of Directors

8 Alexander Stamboliiski Blvd., Pazardzhik 4400, Bulgaria

Tel.: ++359 34 44 23 89

[email protected]