ALLIANCEALLIANCE FORFOR CHILDRENCHILDREN

ANDAND YOUTHYOUTH

BULGARIA

16+ YOUTH 16+ YOUTH DAY CARE DAY CARE CENTERCENTER

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B U D A P E S TB U D A P E S T

Transnational Good Practices and Experiences Exchange on Drug Dependencies within the Roma

Community

H U N G A R Y

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INTRODUCTION

Alliance for Children and Youth

(ACY) is an association between: Free and Democratic Bulgaria

Foundation (FDBF) Sofia Municipality (SM) Bulgarian Red Cross (BRC)

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ACY is aimed at improving the lives and defending

the rights of street children and homeless youth in Sofia and the rest of the Bulgaria.

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The ACY implements its programs in Sofia, Sofia,

BULGARIABULGARIA at the: at the:Faith, Hope and Love Center for Street Children

16+ Youth Day Care Center

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THE PROBLEM AND THE LEGACYTHE PROBLEM AND THE LEGACY Most of the street children and youth in

Bulgaria are of Roma origin numbering several hundred in the capital city of Sofia alone.

The exact number in the country is difficult to establish as their number constantly changes – evaluations vary between 2500 and 5000.

In the early 90’s, the responsibility of caring for Bulgaria’s street children and youth was taken over mainly by NGOs due to the respective responsible state institutions’ insufficient resources and readiness to deal with the problem.

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THE PROBLEM AND THE LEGACYTHE PROBLEM AND THE LEGACY

Every day, street childrenEvery day, street children

and youth face:and youth face:HomelessnessHunger and malnutritionIllness and disease, with lack of

medical careLack of adult support and advice

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THE PROBLEM AND THE LEGACY

Street children and youth are often subjected to:

Violence Exploitation Discrimination

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CENTERS AND PROGRAMS

Faith, Hope and Love Center

FHL Center was established in 1995 by the FDBF with the British charity ChildHope, UK as its partner.

FHLC is a night shelter and a day center for temporary placement of street children in Sofia aged between 3 and 16.

The capacity is 20 – 30 children per day.

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CENTERS AND PROGRAMSNational Information Center on the Problems of Street Children

( NICOPOST )

NICOPOST was established in 1997. This is a national data-bank that collects and disseminates info on runaway, abandoned and homeless children from all over the country.

A monthly newsletter, books and brochures dealing with the issue of the homeless are distributed or e-mailed to over 400 social workers, members of parliament and various governmental and non-governmental institutions.

The Center also conducts training seminars and organizes Round Tables on these problems.

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CENTERS AND PROGRAMS16+ Youth Day Care Center

The 16+ Center16+ Center was officially opened on 29 September 1999. Till the end of May 2002 it functioned together with the FHL Center within the framework of the St. Sofia Bridge Project and FDBF but now is a separate entity under the Alliance for Children and Youth.

The 16+16+ is an open center for street children and homeless youth aged 16 to 25 and offers social assistance, domestic and medical services and a range of programs for the positive development and youth’s social reintegration. 16+ can attend to some 30 youths per day.

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Medical and Medical and Social care for Social care for

homeless Roma homeless Roma YouthYouth

16+ YOUTH DAY CARE 16+ YOUTH DAY CARE CENTERCENTER

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PROJECT 16+16+The project aims to expand and enrich the

services and activities in 16+ by developing 10 programs in 4 modules:

JOBJOBHEALTHHEALTH

EDUCATIONEDUCATIONSOCIAL SKILSSOCIAL SKILS

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PROGRAMS 16+ Youth Day Care Center16+ Youth Day Care Center

Pledge for Personal Growth Outreach Advocacy Clinic Stories From The Street Market Basket Study School for Parents and

Single Mothers Tackling Tuberculosis Arts and Entertainment Club Staff Training Youth Committee

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Program One - Pledge of Personal Growth

This is a personal ‘contract’ or ‘pledge’ signed by all young people in the Center. The pledge could contain anything as it is intended to

be a social exercise to get the young people to start thinking responsibly and to take positive actions to help themselves. Pledges could be revisited on a quarterly basis and the parameters should

be flexible and set as per the needs of each young person.

PROGRAMS

Program Two – Outreach/Street Work

16+ is offering basic services and assistance to youths that don’t visit the Center or have been banned due to bad behavior or other

problems.Program Three – Advocacy ClinicThe team arrange law students to visit the Center on a regular basis and give assistance to youth with legal, social benefits and personal identification problems. Without identity and proper registration in

the community, these young people are entitled to nothing.

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PROGRAMSProgram Four – Stories From The Street

These stories would focus on the lives of the young people and their roles in the 16+. This is designed to showcase the human side and to

raise public awareness of the homeless problem.

Program Five – Market Basket Study

It is designed to teach youth some basic life skills such as financial and time management and the basic principles of a market based

economic system.

Program Six - School for Parents and Single Mothers

These youth have a demonstrated need for support during pregnancy and with newborn babies between 1-6 months. 16+ team provides training for young parents to-be regarding basic

care and proper treatment of babies, baby products, health, laws, registration and so on. The idea is to include both male and

female participants in the hope to encourage more cooperation between mother and father, safe sex, family planning and proper

child care.

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PROGRAMSPROGRAMSProgram Seven – Tackling TuberculosisProgram Seven – Tackling Tuberculosis

We test all the visitors and staff members for TB on a regular and on-going basis, professionally clean and disinfect the

entire 16+ Center and provide training to youths to help them identify the symptoms and what to do about getting treatment.

Young people who have been exposed to TB but do not have active cases is treated with medication and those with active

cases referred to the TB Hospital in Sofia.

Program Eight – Arts and Entertainment ClubThe painting of the walls proved to be very popular and allowed the youths an outlet for artistic freedom and a chance to ‘decompress’. The artistic freedom and development is very important to growth

of the young people and very positive to the healing process.

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PROGRAMSPROGRAMS

Program Nine - Staff Training

In order to provide the staff and young people with the most up to date training methods and newest

information, we conduct occasional seminars, hosted by local experts in the field of child and youth care and

protection. Program Ten – Youth Committee

We are working towards empowering young people to participate and take an active role in the running of the 16+ Center. They are

encouraged to take responsibility in the design, implementation and evaluation of the Center’s activities. The Youth Committee is used for peer training, maintenance of the Center, group leaders, and surveying to gauge the effectiveness of a particular program. It is

our hope that through the work of the Committee, our young people can gain vital life skills.

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ADVICES…ADVICES… and and MORE …MORE …

are are WELCOMEDWELCOMED!!

e-mail:e-mail: Tel./Fax

children_youth@abv.bg +359 2 936 0535 16plus@mail.netplus.bg +359 2 946 1156FHLcenter@mail.netplus.bg +359 2 936 0011

Questions?Questions?