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1. Introduction
In industrial societies, child welfare was initially understood as a set of services
targeted to the most disadvantaged groups of children the first goal of which was to
provide minimum physical subsistence. Soon, services expanded to include social and
psychological help. The idea that it was the responsibility of the community to
provide children with the advantages that their parents could not supply, is a 20th
century development. In 1989, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child
introduced the best interests of the child as a primary consideration in all actions
concerning children. The World Summit for Children that followed in 1990 set out
“an ambitious but feasible agenda for the well being of children to be achieved by the
year 2000” (UNICEF, 1990). It was then that the collapse of the Ceausescu regime in
Romania at the end of 1989, revealed the tragic situation of vast numbers of children
abandoned in institutions strongly resembling children’s treatment in past centuries.
The collapse of the communist regimes in the region, which in some cases was of a
harsh and even bloody nature, had a dramatic impact on children. In Bulgaria
however, the transition to democracy was significantly different from the
developments in neighboring Balkan countries as the political and institutional change
took place within a framework of law, “rather than through a naked clash of power”
(Bell, D. J, 1998). Research on the welfare state in the post-transition period has
concentrated on pensions and unemployment protection. Social assistance
programmes, family, and childcare policies have attracted less attention.
In this paper, we are going to discuss the case of childcare in post-communist
Bulgaria as an example of the problem and prospects social policy faces in the post-
communist Balkans. This region includes some ethnically mixed societies, which in
the 1990s suffered acute economic hardship or went through civil strife. Thus, the
difficulties of re-vamping the welfare state after the transition from communism were
exacerbated. Welfare state retrenchment hit the most vulnerable categories of the
population, such as children and ethnic minorities, the hardest (Deacon, 2000).
Research on this issue was undertaken in Sofia in the summer of 2004. Interviews
were conducted with fifteen experts, government employees and childcare
professionals, while reports of NGOs and international aid organisations were
consulted. In what follows, we present policies for the Roma children and our relevant
research findings. We evaluate government policies and institutions. We assess the
strengths and weaknesses of Bulgarian policies generally concerning children in
Bulgaria today. And we conclude with challenges of post-communist childcare policy.
2. Child Welfare in Bulgaria Today - Measures and Policies for the Roma
Children
Sixteen percent of Bulgaria’s its 8.4 million population is made up of ethnic
minorities. The largest of these are the Turkish and Roma communities respectively.

2. Children constitute a quarter of the total population. Bulgaria’s falling birth rate is
reported to be the lowest in Europe (UNDP, 1997). Like other post-communist
countries in the region, Bulgaria is undergoing a period of transition marked by
economic, fiscal and institutional reform. The reform process has led to growing
poverty and inequality in the country (Stubbs, 2001; Kornai, 1997). Women, the
elderly and the minority population are the worst affected. Children are in increasing
risk of abandonment and placement in care. There are no effective measures available
to support families who are at risk of family breakdown. The onus of public care is on
institutions. The whole residential care system is in drastic need of reform (European
Commission, 2004; Save the Children, 2002). Its current structure and functioning
makes it unable to meet the most basic of children’s human rights. The two
underlying issues facing children in Bulgaria today are:
The social and economic impact of transition on children and their families;
Inadequate legislation to protect children and an absence of adequate child
protection procedures and regulations governing the whole system of
childcare.
After its election to power in April 1997, the government under the United
Democratic Forces has adhered to a stringent economic and fiscal framework in order
to ensure that World Bank and International Monetary Fund reform and structural
adjustment requirements are met. The situation did not really change when the
“National Movement of King Symeon the Second” came to power through elections
in 2000 Government policy is very much focused on standardization of existing
legislation and meeting EU accession criteria, with a marked decline in service
delivery and poverty alleviation. Children and issues concerning young people are not
given priority and rarely feature in public debate. Bulgaria has one of the highest
poverty rates in Central and Eastern Europe comparable only to Romania (USAID,
1998-2002). According to the World Bank, in 1995, 43% of Bulgarian children were
living in poverty and indications are that poverty levels have since risen.
Unemployment is currently at 14% of the active population. Privatisation and closures
of loss-making state enterprises have resulted to an increase of this number. The
Roma minority, women and young people are the worst affected. In some areas,
unemployment amongst the Roma is as high as 90%. Long-term unemployment is the
highest in CEE, affecting 10% of the Bulgarian labour force (UNDP, 1997). The
above situation has sharpened ethnic disparity and racism fuelled by a nationalist
revival. Consequently, the ethnic issue is a factor cross-cutting all the issues facing
children.