Foster care center

For the Center

For Our Children Foundation is one of the first organizations in Bulgaria to introduce foster care as an alternative to social institutions in 1998.

The foster care center was established under the project “Positive alternative for children without parental care in Bulgaria” in 2011 with the support of the world leader in foster care delivery – Core Assets and the largest American family business – Cargill.

The foster care center applies the standards adapted by the foundation for “Best practice in foster care” and currently has a capacity of 25/30 accommodations.

Thanks to our expertise, most of the foster families in Sofia have chosen to work with our Foster Care Center. The center is of great importance for the process of deinstitutionalization of children in Sofia and the region, gradually replacing institutional care with foster care.

Who are we helping

The foster care center helps children deprived of parental care, brought up in residential services or brought out of families in crisis.

Priority is given to children aged 0-7 in foster families.

The most important thing for raising a small child is a healthy family environment. We strive in the foster families we work with for children to receive care as close as possible to that of loving parents. The focus in the work of the foster parent is the child – his emotional and physical health. The foster parent helps the child to develop, adapt to the new environment and socialize. To achieve these goals, the child must be surrounded by individual care, love and understanding.

Foster care is temporary care until the child is adopted or returned to his or her biological family. It can last for months or years. During this period, our specialists are inseparable from the foster parents and the children placed with them.

The Foster Care Center provides the most complete package of services for the development of foster care in Bulgaria: recruitment of foster families, preparation for application, evaluation, presentation to the Foster Care Commission, adjustment support, full range of accommodation support services – from 24-hour availability of specialists to the material support needed by the family and the child.

The center is also unique with its training program. In addition to an innovative program for applicants for foster families, the center offers a diverse training program for existing foster families. The center is part of the Early Childhood Development Complex at the For Our Children Foundation.

Our Specialists

The center has a highly qualified team that applies the highest standards of social work. At present, the team of the Foster Care Center in Sofia consists of a head of a foster care center and three social workers who can rely in their work on the support of a rehabilitator, pediatrician and early childhood intervention specialist.

Partners 

The foster care center works in partnership with Sofia Municipality and Plovdiv Municipality and is a subcontractor of activities under the project “Accept me 2015”.