Our clinical experience has shown that usually victims of violence do not know where to seek help and support, they act incoherently and uncertainly, and children living in such family environment are at constant serious risk of neglect, physical and emotional abuse. Specialized work with children helps them acquire new social skills that are left aside in the situation of conflict between the spouses/partners. Timely intervention in these cases reduces the risk of future problems such as development of an aggressive model of relating to others.
Pernik is a city with a population of about 80 000. It is mainly an industrial city (mining and metallurgy). Many educated people from the city work in Sofia which is 35 km away. For Pernik, the legacy of the post-totalitarian reform includes hard industrial jobs with low payment, high unemployment rate, disintegration of community entities and traditional families. It is characterized by a high range of cases of family violence, child abuse and teenage delinquency. On the other hand, it has very few resources to support and protect children at risk. Opening a crisis centre for children, victims of violence, was an absolute necessity.
On many occasions PULSE Foundation has had to refer crisis cases needing a safe place and protection to the Crisis Centre of Animus Association Foundation due to the lack of suitable accommodation, which prevented the child from going to school and the parent from going to work and hampered coordination. The Protected Area will not only serve for the emergency cases, but also for the long-term work with clients for overcoming the trauma and better social integration.
The main objective of the present project was improving the existing services for children, victims of violence, by providing a protected space for a life without violence.
The second more specific objective of the proposal was to maintain and develop a crisis unit for children and their parents who are at risk of domestic violence - physical, emotional and sexual/ or forced prostitution. The next step was the establishment of a program for rehabilitation and reintegration of victims. One of our permanent aims is to work for the effective implementation of the Domestic Violence Act, the Child Protection Act and the Law for Protection against Trafficking. Networking with the CPD, Police, prosecutors, court and NGO sector in Pernik was essential for the successful implementation of these regulatory mechanisms.
The PULSE team relies on the competence of psychologists, social workers, lawyers and doctors to work with children, victims of violence, which makes the service comprehensive and useful. Providing a protected space for children and their parents / care-givers, victims of violence, helps the successful functioning in the community, equal representation in school and normalization of their contacts with peers, prevents social exclusion, etc. The rehabilitation of children victims of violence or witnesses of violence significantly reduces the risks of social exclusion and follow-up risks, such as behavioural problems. On the other hand, assisting the parent in finding a safe space for the child and herself helped for better parenting and prevented the risk of exposure to harmful or unhealthy living conditions for the child.
One of the results of this project is that all institutions that could be referrals/ gates for clients of the Crisis centre are informed about admission procedures, the needs of the target groups and the services provided in the Centre. They are already familiar with the philosophy of the organization and the mission of this project. The Crisis Centre was announced as a new resource of the municipality, which can be used by child care and social care professionals in Pernik.
The Youth Club at the organization helped a lot in disseminating the information among young people.
Providing alternative care for children and mothers improved the mental health care in Pernik as a whole. Training in parental skills became part of the way to overcome the risk of abandonment or next child abuse/ neglect.
Contact information
Ekaterina Veleva, Aksiniya Stoimenova
2 Sredets Str., Pernik 2300, Bulgaria
Tel.: ++359 76 60 10 10
Tel./Fax: ++359 76 60 33 60
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