Approximately 72 000 children are born annually in Bulgaria, 90-100 of whom are suffering from Down Syndrome. Only 12% of the births of children with Down Syndrome are prevented with pre-birth diagnostics due to the lack of information for the pregnant women and insufficient financial coverage of the Program for prevention of inherited and congenital diseases of the National Genetic Laboratory. In Sofia the affected families are above 200. Most of the parents are advised by the medical specialists in the maternity hospitals, immediately after the birth, to abandon the child in an institution. 10% of the parents accept the child in their home immediately after the birth and, another 10% abandon the child in an institution for about a year and then accept him/her back in the family, and the remaining 80% relinquish their parental rights and the child remains in the institution for life. The team of the Foundation has been working on the problems of children with Down Syndrome and their families since 2005 through projects financed by “Tulip” Foundation and the MATRA program of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Bulgaria.
- Prevention of abandoning the child with Down Syndrome in an institution – establishing groups for support of mothers of newly born and young children; consultation and psychotherapy of the mothers; training the mothers in know-how and methods for correction training for developing the potential of the children in mental and social aspects; establishing distant consulting through the Internet with parents from all over the country;
- Establishing, for the first time in Bulgaria, of pedagogical rehabilitation of children at age 0 to 3 years old with Down Syndrome who are placed in the institution “St.Ivan Rilski”, city of Sofia. The children with Down Syndrome in these institutions in principle do not receive enough care due to the lack of specialists and the big workload of the personnel with the day-to-day life of all other children. In addition, it is very difficult for people outside of the institution to be allowed inside to work with the children with disabilities due to the strictly established permission regiment.
- Establishing of program for development of skills for independent life and social adaptation for teenagers with Down Syndrome, brought up both in a family environment and in an institution.
- Creating a set of children institutions for upbringing of children at kindergarten age deprived of parental care, and children with Down Syndrome in the cities Russe – Orphanage “Nadejda”, Pleven – Orphanage “Detelina” and Sofia – Orphanage “Nadezhda”. In these three orphanages, a program for pedagogical rehabilitation for children with Down Syndrome was established, aiming at developing their intellect and social skills.
- 29 families of newly born children and children in early age – up to 3 years old, who did not abandon the child with Down Syndrome, have been covered. Two groups for support of young mothers have been created – total number of participants – 18. Acceptance for permanent upbringing in a family environment of two children from the orphanage “St.Ivan Rilski”, city of Sofia, was achieved – at age 1 year and 2 months, a girl, and an 8-month-old boy. This was done after implementing pedagogical rehabilitation of the children in the orphanage and support therapy of their mothers.
- 6 children with Down Syndrome from orphanage “St.Ivan Rilski” received intensive correctional training for development of psycho-motor skills and speech ability, within the frames of the program for pedagogical rehabilitation, developed individually for each child. The personnel of the orphanage became positively inclined to the future inclusion of outside specialists from NGOs in the everyday life of the children there. The practice of prohibiting outside people to enter the orphanage was stopped.
- For the first time in Bulgaria, a program for development of skills for independent life and social adaptation of teenagers with Down Syndrome placed in an institution, was established. The participants are three children from Orphanage “P.Slaveikov” in the city of Sofia. The children visit and get closely acquainted with the landmarks of Sofia – cultural and historical; visit different kinds of stores in order to acquire shopping skills; get acquainted with public transport routes and the possibilities to travel with it; get acquainted with the services of the different public institutions and learn to use them. The program for teenagers was also offered to parents who raise their children at home. 6 children from Sofia and 1 child from Pernik were included in this program.
- A set of three orphanages for raising children deprived of parental care where children with Down Syndrome live was established in three cities in the country. The pedagogues in the three orphanages were trained by the team of the Foundation to apply the program for pedagogical rehabilitation of children with Down Syndrome for development of their potential in mental and social aspects. The total number of the participating children with Down Sydnrome is 18. The program is also appropriate for other children with disabilities placed in these orphanages.
Contact information:
Galina Kubratova, Director of the Project, [email protected];
6 Triaditsa Str., Office Center “Triaditsa”, Office 511,
tel.: 02 981 52 17
Telephones for contact: 0898 880 279; 02 481 23 99
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