Family-type accommodation center Children's House

For the Center

Our family-type accommodation center for children without disabilities “Childhood”, or affectionately called by our team Children’s House, was opened in 2012 and is a temporary shelter for up to 8 children aged 3 to 7 years.

From its inception until the beginning of 2021, 57 children have been cared for in the Children’s House, of which 38 have been adopted, 7 have been returned to their biological family and 6 have been placed in foster families. A team of highly qualified babysitters takes care of them in the house with a lot of love and individual attitude, and with additional activities some of our other specialists are involved – speech therapist, Early Childhood Development specialist, psychologist and others.

Up until 2020 in Children’s House were placed mainly newborn babies and small children from 0-3 years of age. Due to legislative changes that introduce priority babies separated from their parents to proceed to foster families, the house is adapted for older children. From October 2020 in the Children’s House are accommodated before children from 3 to 7 years of age.

Who are we helping?

Children’s House is a secure, safe and loving home for children aged 0 to 7, separated from their families for various reasons that put their lives, physical, emotional and mental health and development opportunities at risk. Among the reasons for placing children with us are neglect, abuse, harassment, forced begging and other forms of violence. Children are mainly accommodated with us in crisis – when they are abandoned, urgently taken out of the family environment, or moved from medical and social care homes.

How do we help?

The care in the Children’s House is close to the family environment and is taken care of mainly by babysitters. For each child at home, activities are planned and implemented that provide individual psycho-emotional support. Great conditions have been created for building hygienic, household and social habits of children.

Each child is given a specialised assessment at the time of placement, which provides information about his development and his specific needs for education, upbringing, habit building, catching up and lagging behind, relationships with important people in his life, prospects for his future, as well as and recommendations for work in the direction of bringing the child into a family environment. The children in the “Children’s House” receive warmth, love and individual care. Each child has a personal space for rest and activities. Unlike life in social institutions, which we remember from the past, here our children have their personal belongings – clothes, shoes, toys, books, etc., which are arranged in an individual locker, next to the child’s bed in his bedroom. The house has properly equipped rooms for different types of activities and activities for children – living room, dining room, room for active play and creative room for creative activities. Thanks to our corporate and individual donors, we provide healthy eating, fully tailored to the needs of children. The diets of the children are optimally balanced, they consult a doctor in time and are updated if necessary.

As part of the Early Childhood Development Complex, the Children’s House receives support from various specialists for organizing and conducting additional activities for children – socializing and developmental. They are attended by a psychologist, pedagogue and specialist “Early Childhood Intervention”. The children have various socializing activities outside the Children’s House, organized by our team and volunteers: puppet and theater performances, picnics outside Sofia, walks to parks, Zoo, Aquapark, children’s party centers and more. Children are also provided with the opportunity to attend kindergarten.

In the Children’s House we organize personal and general holidays and events that are a real experience for children – birthdays and name days, Christmas celebrations, Easter, June 1, Baba Marta and others. – holidays that some children experience for the first time with us.

The team of the Children’s House works intensively to prepare and bring each child into a family environment – foster, biological or adoptive family, ensuring continuity, predictability and security in the process, both for the child and the family. We consult families, provide training and opportunities for adjustment / communication between the child and the family /.

Our Specialists

There are 8 babysitters working in the Children’s House, who work in shifts, so that the children are always taken care of individually. They are dedicated and accept their work as a personal mission. Individual meetings are held with them on a monthly basis, at which the activities performed with the children are reviewed and the goals for the next period are set. In order to be sure of the high quality of child care, our colleagues participate in regular trainings on an organized annual program. The trainings are on medical and psychological topics for upgrading and improving the knowledge for quality care for children.

Our babysitters can count on the support of social workers, specialists in early childhood development and early childhood intervention and a special pedagogue who prepares the framework for working with children.

Partners

The center is fully integrated into the system of community services and works actively with child protection departments, maternity wards, health care system / Bodimed Laboratories, Mediva Medical Center / and other service providers. The work of the center is supported by volunteers and interns.

Children’s house is recognized among partners and in the professional community as a place providing quality and as close as possible to the family environment care for children.