News

12 December 2022

“Every fourth child in Bulgaria has been left by their parents, which means that some 20-25% of the children in the country are practically without one or both parents who work abroad. The percentage goes all the way to 40% in the Roma community. These children are left in the care of their grandparents, of their extended family. And when I say that every fourth child is a Viber child, meaning he or she communicates with their parents only through Viber, in fact I am quoting old statistics, because the truth is that as of today, we do not know how many children are affected by this problem”, the Ombudsman Mrs Diana Kovacheva stated in Serdika Hall of the Balkan Hotel Sofia at the launch of the public discussion on Children left behind: between labour migration, institutional standards and extended family, organized jointly with the ROMACT Programme of the European Commission and the Council of Europe.

The forum aimed at raising public and institutional awareness and sensitivity about the vulnerability of labour migrants’ children left behind in poor and marginalized communities by their parents going abroad for work. The purpose was to identify the needs of children and their extended families as well as the need for integrated support and attention.

“There is no up-to-date statistics, nobody to track down how many these children left outside the care of the State are. Children who fall victim of violence in their extended families; children who are lonely, sometimes even suicidal; children who drop off the educational system; child victims of labour exploitation; children who fall victim of anti-social acts, some of which unfortunately perpetrated by themselves; children with limited access to healthcare; children who suffer from lack of representation; child victims of poor care. These are our children”, Prof. Kovacheva said outlining the problems.

She further stated that the inspections performed by the Ombudsperson’s office over the years in response to the numerous complaints on the matter have revealed significant deficiencies in providing care for these children.

The child protection system would most often respond by terminating the child protection measure and subsequently place the child in public care. These children are left outside the system. That is why they are children at risk, because they are left alone”, the Ombudsman added and listed a number of alarming accompanying trends such as hyperaggressive behaviour seeking attention; social anxiety; deviant behaviour; emotional isolation due to loneliness and the trauma from being abandoned; special educational needs.

She underlined that leaving children without parental care was a grave and serious violation of fundamental human rights and a threat to the prosperity of the State, because “every fourth child is a terrible statistic”. 

She pointed out that specific care and practices were needed since a large number of the labour migrants’ children were from the Roma communities where lack of representation was a wide-spread problem and nobody paid attention to these children’s health, education and social support.

“The largest number of labour migrants are from the poorest regions in Bulgaria: Vidin, Montana, Pleven, Vratsa, Lovech, Silistra, Kyustendil, Targovishte, Razgrad, Yambol, and Haskovo. No adequate instruments have been developed for monitoring labour migrants’ children, thus no measures and effective policies are planned at institutional level”, the Ombudsman warned.

The forum started with the presentation of the photo exhibition “Living without them” which demonstrated the difficulties that labour migrants’ children faced in Borovan municipality

Eleni Tsetsekou, Head of Roma and Travellers Division of the Council of Europe made a video address.

Other participants in the forum included MPs Denitsa Sacheva and Iskren Arabadzhiyev from the Standing Parliamentary Committee on Labour and Social and Demographic Policy in the National Assembly; Viorel Badea, Rapporteur of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on children affected by labour migration; Ass. Prof. Velina Todorova, Vice-Chair of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child; Ms. Ana Oprisan, ROMACT Program Manager; deputy-ministers of Labour and Social Policy Ms. Nadia Klisurska and of Education and Science Ms. Maria Gaydarova; Dr. Teodora Ivanova, Chairperson of the State Agency for Child Protection; Christina de Bruin, UNICEF Representative in Bulgaria; Dr. Ana Popova from the Philosophy and Sociology Institute with the Bulgarian Academy of Science etc.

The co-organisers from ROMACT Program presented a report from a field research conducted in several Bulgarian municipalities. The persons interviewed shared that in almost every household in their neighbourjood at least one person worked abroad. These are youn people, in active working age, parents of young or older children.

The report systemically outlines the challenges and difficulties that children, adults caring for them and the institutions at local level face due to gaps in the legislation and deficient administrative procedures regulating guardianship, social assistance and access to adequate services for children at risk.

Facebook – Every fourth child in Bulgaria has been abandoned by their parents, or some 20-25% of the children in the country are practically without one or both parents who work abroad.

The percentage goes all the way to 40% in the Roma community. These children are left in the care of their grandparents, of their extended family.

Every fourth child is a Viber child – a child who communicates with their parents solely through Viber. In fact I quoted old statistics, because the truth is that as of today, we do not know how many children are affected by this problem.

This is what I said at the opening of the public discussion on Children left behind: between labour migration, institutional standards and extended family, which I organized together with the ROMACT Programme of the European Commission and the Council of Europe.

I underlined that there was no up-to-date statistics, nobody to track down how many these children left outside the care of the State were.

These are our children – children who fall victim of violence in their extended families; children who are lonely, sometimes even suicidal; children who drop off the educational system; child victims of labour exploitation; children who fall victim of anti-social acts, some of which unfortunately perpetrated by themselves; children with limited access to healthcare; children who suffer from lack of representation; child victims of poor care.

I further stated that the inspections performed by the Ombudsperson’s office over the years in response to the numerous complaints on the matter had revealed significant deficiencies in providing care for these children.

The child protection system would most often respond by terminating the child protection measure and subsequently place the child in public care. These children are left outside the system. That is why they are children at risk, because they are left alone.

I listed several alarming accompanying trends such as hyperaggressive behaviour seeking attention; social anxiety; deviant behaviour; emotional isolation due to loneliness and the trauma from being abandoned; special educational needs.

I underlined that leaving children without parental care was a grave and serious violation of fundamental human rights and a threat to the prosperity of the State, because every fourth child was a terrible statistics.

I pointed out that specific care and practices were needed since a large number of the labour migrants’ children were from the Roma communities where lack of representation was a wide-spread problem and nobody paid attention to these children’s health, education and social support.