News

19 August 2025

“As the National Ombudsman, I am here today to pledge openly my irrevocable commitment to the development and strengthening of foster care for one of the priorities that I have set for myself is the children at risk. I know that for most young people the withdrawal from foster care is an abrupt discontinuation of the support on which their emotional stability, access to education, employment and housing depend. Therefore, we, the institutions, have the obligation to make the withdrawal of foster care not an event but a process that calls for careful planning and companionship for young people into the process so as to achieve effective social inclusion.” This is what Ombudsman Velislava Delcheva said at the presentation of the photo exhibition “Changed for Life after Foster Care” in the Central Market Hall (Centralni Hali) in the capital city.

The exposition is part of the initiative “#YoungIndependent: How is it possible?” implemented by the National Foster Care Association. The exposition comprises 20 portrait photos of young people who graduate from high school and cease to be covered by foster care. Each photo goes with a short autobiography text to describe the life of the young men and women, their education, career plans and the role of foster care in their transition to self-sufficiency.

“It is with great attention that I would like to read every line on the photos, written by these young people who, I believe have mastered the power of human connection and care. Each photo is a human story about the trust and love in the foster family. We are talking about love, care and support that cannot be obtained in an institution. Foster parents change the destinies of children by the family warmth that they give them as they teach them to have confidence in themselves, to make their dreams come true, to become matured individuals within society,” the Ombudsman stated further

Velislava Delcheva emphasized that a reliable law-governed aftercare arrangement is needed with the required financing for “care should not end at the age of 18.”

The thematic photo exhibition is visiting different cities in the country, the idea being to give public awareness of foster parentage as it encourages institutional and civil society support for young people who move to self-reliance.

The exhibition will be opened in the Central Market Hall in Sofia until 3 September 2025. Admission is free.

Social worker Alexander Milanov from the National Foster Care Association (NFCA) informed Velislava Delcheva that the capital city was chosen as one of the hosts of the visiting exhibition exclusively for the reason that the number of foster families in Sofia is only 29 and they offer care for young children alone while at least 400 such families are needed.

On the precincts, the Ombudsman met both foster parents who shared their experience and one of the photo'd individuals, Ognyan, who said that he works as a bartender in a bar while he is making his dream come true, which is education in a subject of his choice and career development in the hospitality industry (hotels and restaurants).