I have been planning for a long time to write a post about adoption of abandoned Bulgarian Gypsy children by non-Gypsy Bulgarians and foreigners. (I prefer to call them Gypsy, not the politically correct Roma.) Gypsies in Bulgaria, as in other European countries, have always occupied the low end of the socio-economic ladder. They still have a high birth rate, many of the babies are unplanned and some of them are left in orphanages. And because the abandoned "white" non-disabled babies are fewer than the families seeking to adopt a child, the overwhelming majority of non-disabled children in Bulgarian orphanages are of Gypsy origin.
You can ask why the prospective "white" adoptive parents don't take these children as well. Essentially, the answer can be summarized by a confession that we white Bulgarians are damn racists. The former Communist government in the 1980s tried to integrate (as we would call it today) the Gypsies by denying their existence as an ethnic and cultural minority. The success of this pretence was zero, and from that time is the saddest story about racism I have ever heard. A childless couple from my city adopted a baby, allegedly without knowing that he was of Gypsy origin. In the beginning, everything was wonderful. The local diagnostic and medical center had a special wall to show photos of children best cared for, and the adopted boy had his image put on this parents' wall of fame. However, as he grew, his Gypsy appearance became apparent. For that reason, the adoptive parents decided they wanted him no more and left him back at the orphanage.
Traditionally, Bulgarian couples wishing to adopt tend to have unrealistically high requirements to the child being adopted. An employee at a child protection agency ironically described children wanted for adoption as "5-6 months old, healthy, beautiful, white, blonde, intelligent, having a university student as biological mother and, if possible, her professor as biological father".
Happily, things are changing and the same employee added that more and more white families not only take the chance to adopt a Gypsy child but later call to say how happy they are and offer their services to encourage other couples to adopt a Gypsy. Couples from other countries have less racial prejudice, but there is so much bureaucracy and obstacles to international adoption that too few children can benefit by it.
Recently, a family "indirectly known" to me adopted a Gypsy toddler. A friend was a bit worried and asked whether the child was predisposed to become a thief after growing up. I was happy to assure him that this has nothing to do with the biological ethnic origin. (I mentioned the case also in my Bulgarian blog.)
Another concern of prospective adoptive parents is that their child may never grow up to be close to their level of intelligence. This reason to worry is more legitimate. I do not believe that there are significant differences in IQ between different ethnic groups, but there are other possible factors affecting the intelligence of children available for adoption. These children may have had suboptimal prenatal development (a malnourished or even substance-abusing mother), they may have had a difficult birth, and they may be already damaged by their stay in an orphanage prior to the adoption. Anybody adopting any child, especially a child coming from a disadvantaged group such as the Gypsies, must prepare himself well for the possibility that he may never brag about the academic achievements of the child.
Of course, anybody deciding to become a parent must be ready for this possibility. People become parents for selfish reasons, for their own happiness, and always have an idealized image of the future child which must gradually be adjusted to reality. So, if a parent of a younger child tells me that his child, biological or adopted, has disappointed him, I could only say - welcome to the club!
However, there is a difference between birth and adoptive parents, and let's not trivialize it. Whatever our biological children bring to us, we still see "our blood" in them. In adoption, spirit triumphs over biology. And when a white person adopts a child, he needs a bigger heart if the child is Gypsy. He has to come to terms with the fact that his baby is so much unlike him. He has to face his own prejudice, conscious and subconscious. And if he lives in Bulgaria or another East-European country, he knows that he must also confront the racist society, stand up for his child and teach the child to stand up for himself. Therefore, I admire those white people who adopt abandoned Gypsy children. They and their children are trailblazers who, I hope, will in the coming years catalyze the integration of the entire Gypsy community.
Showing posts with label Bulgaria's abandoned children. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bulgaria's abandoned children. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 02, 2011
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Bulgarian authorities deprive disabled children of education
Two students in front of the "good" building of 2nd Auxiliary School in Sofia. Photo by Nadezhda Chipeva, copied from the site of Capital weekly.
I watched this story unfolding on TV news last year but unfortunately hadn't the opportunity to blog about it in real time. The Mogilino blog reports it properly and Bulgarian readers can go directly there. I'll translate now the most important moments.In October 2008, Bulgaria lost in court after the Mental Disability Advocacy Center filed a complaint in early 2007. "Bulgaria is de facto depriving disabled children of their right to education. This was announced by the European Committee of Social Rights... The Committee found evidence that the Bulgarian government failed to provide education for up to 3,000 children with intellectual disabilities living in so-called ‘homes for mentally disabled children’. Only a small percentage of these children attend school, and the educational programmes carried out inside the institutions do not actually constitute education. Schools and their personnel are not ready to satisfy the needs of disabled children, and government does nothing to solve the problem." The story is reported in more detail in English at the Mental Disability Advocacy Center site under the title Bulgaria: right to education.
So much about the fate of those disabled children who are wards of state. What about the others who haven't been abandoned by their parents? In Bulgaria, most children with milder forms of mental retardations are educated in special, so-called auxiliary schools. I don't want to discuss here the controversy of educating disabled children in segregated vs. inclusive settings; I believe, however, that even the most passionate opponents of special education will agree that it is better than nothing and shouldn't be dismantled if this means simply throwing the kids out into the street. However, this is exactly what happened in my city of Sofia.
Let me translate the Sept. 26 Mogilino post Suspicious maneuvre of the Ministry of Education: "Capital weekly reports that the Ministry of Education wants to merge 5th and 2nd Auxiliary Schools in Sofia in the building of 2nd Auxiliary school because this building was allegedly better. At the site of Capital, you can see the damaged surface and the unkept yard of the "better building". You cannot see how it looks inside, because the Capital reporters haven't been let in, similarly to those of NTV channel before. It is noteworthy that the (building and land of) 2nd Auxiliary School is in the process of being returned to its rightful owners while the land of 5th Auxiliary School has been donated specifically to build a school. It seems that somebody wants very much the land of 5th Auxiliary School."
The story is continued in the Oct. 5 post Children in wheelchairs need not come: "Fifth Auxiliary School was closed last week by the Ministry of Education, against the law. The children were moved to the building of 2nd Auxiliary School, which for most of them means travelling additional 15 km in either direction. The Ministry promised transport for all (72) students but in reality provided a bus with only 8 seats. Children in wheelchairs were told that they didn't need to come to the new school because there was no way for them to be transported to it and the building itself wasn't accessible, wheelchairs couldn't even pass through its front door. A desperate mother wrote this letter which was published at the Capital site." (In it, the mother describes the illegal action of authorities, refuses to let her son be educated in awful conditions and vows to leave work in order to homeschool him.)
I watched the continuation of the story on TV news: Indeed, many parents of children formerly educated at 5th Auxiliary School refused to send them to 2nd Auxiliary School - either because it was not wheelchair-accessible or, in some cases, because parents feared it could collapse any moment. In a Catch 22-like turn, authorities accused these parents in depriving their children of education (!) and threatened them with punishments.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Advocating for institutionalized disabled Bulgarian children
Last year, when I posted about Bulgaria's abandoned children, a commenter wrote, "I am the mother of 2 Roma children that I adopted from Bulgarian orphanages 10 years ago. My daughter was 7 years old. When we were in Bulgaria visiting our daughter we found out that she had a twin. Further investigation let us to find out that the twin was still alive but was "severely affected." We asked for a medical evaluation and we were denied our request. We asked to visit her and we were told we would not be permitted to visit... Every time I look at my daughter I wonder, what happened to this girl named Sofka. She would be 17 now... Maybe someday we will find out what happened to her." I reposted the comment last November under the title Does anybody know what happened to Sofka.
Happily, a regional child protection agency finally did its job and informed the adoptive parents of Sofka's sister (named Penka) about Sofka's whereabouts. She was in the Care home for children and adolescents with mental retardation in the village of Krushari, North-East Bulgaria. My Apr. 21 post where I thought about the future of institutionalized disabled children as they reach adulthood was also inspired by Sofka's fate (though didn't mention her name).
In July, the US family that had adopted Penka visited Sofka in Krushari. Then the mother sent a new comment which I am reposting here, with her permission.
"Our journey to find Sofka and be united with her is over. We just returned from Bulgaria yesterday. It was a life changing experience and I want to share with all of you that Sophie is doing much better than we anticipated. In fact Sofka now WALKS!!! We got to spend a few hours with her and she appeared to be in pretty good health though very small. We observed that she seems to have the capability to learn and may not be as cognitively impaired as we had feared. So doesn't speak BUT she definately understands her surroundings and given that she has just recently learned to walk I feel that she may be capable of much more.
The director of this institution has only been in his position for 6 months and I will tell you that he appeared to be a very sincere man who wants to help these kids. We specifically asked him what his needs are since it is our intention to provide as much support as we can. He cited that his most urgent need was a physical therapist. He said that it is hard to attract that kind of skill set to this village. The pay is not too great. We promised to do what we could to help him find someone and if we need to we would suppliment what they could pay. (A therapist has just been appointed - M.M.) We are also going to provide Sofka with a walker to aid in her progress with walking. When she is done with it they will give it to another child. He indicated to me that a Dutch group has provided their caregivers with so training and the woman who works with Sofka works one-on-one with her. She was very attached to this woman. It was obvious that this method was working since she has just recently started to walk.
We were able to interact with many of the other kids there. They were very friendly and they all appeared to be healthy. My 13 yo son was with us and they LOVED hanging with him! He loved meeting them to and wants to come back next year and spend more time with them (I suggested he do Karaoki with them). The care givers I met were all very nice and they all wanted to see pictures of Penka, Sofka's sister.
In what I felt was a real show of trust the director asked us if we were interested in seeing the area where the really severe, bedridden kids were. We did, even my son went in to the newer building. It was not easy but there was no foul smell and the areas were clean. The kids were thin and he said that he had added another meal (4 meals) to see if that would help them gain weight. He also cited that he only has 3 caregivers in this area for 40 kids but he is looking to triple that in the very near future.
We are now setting up a means to send financial support to Krushari. My son is taking on fund raising as his Bar Mitzvah project.
Next summer we will return with Penka. She is very excited to meet her sister and when she saw the pictures of her she said "Mom we are so cute arent we?"
As I said, it was life changing for me to go there. I feel that they are doing what they can to help these kids. Anyone who can go there and offer the skill sets that they need should contact me at mbaeck@verizondotnet."
I have stated before that I am for deinstitutionalization of disabled children and adults (and also of non-disabled abandoned children). However, institutions are still the reality for Sofka and many others and I would wish to express my admiration of those employees who try their best to make this reality as good as it, and of devoted community members such as the author of the above message.
Bulgarian readers can also read here about two girls from the Krushari care home who are integrated in 6th grade of the local school.
Happily, a regional child protection agency finally did its job and informed the adoptive parents of Sofka's sister (named Penka) about Sofka's whereabouts. She was in the Care home for children and adolescents with mental retardation in the village of Krushari, North-East Bulgaria. My Apr. 21 post where I thought about the future of institutionalized disabled children as they reach adulthood was also inspired by Sofka's fate (though didn't mention her name).
In July, the US family that had adopted Penka visited Sofka in Krushari. Then the mother sent a new comment which I am reposting here, with her permission.
"Our journey to find Sofka and be united with her is over. We just returned from Bulgaria yesterday. It was a life changing experience and I want to share with all of you that Sophie is doing much better than we anticipated. In fact Sofka now WALKS!!! We got to spend a few hours with her and she appeared to be in pretty good health though very small. We observed that she seems to have the capability to learn and may not be as cognitively impaired as we had feared. So doesn't speak BUT she definately understands her surroundings and given that she has just recently learned to walk I feel that she may be capable of much more.
The director of this institution has only been in his position for 6 months and I will tell you that he appeared to be a very sincere man who wants to help these kids. We specifically asked him what his needs are since it is our intention to provide as much support as we can. He cited that his most urgent need was a physical therapist. He said that it is hard to attract that kind of skill set to this village. The pay is not too great. We promised to do what we could to help him find someone and if we need to we would suppliment what they could pay. (A therapist has just been appointed - M.M.) We are also going to provide Sofka with a walker to aid in her progress with walking. When she is done with it they will give it to another child. He indicated to me that a Dutch group has provided their caregivers with so training and the woman who works with Sofka works one-on-one with her. She was very attached to this woman. It was obvious that this method was working since she has just recently started to walk.
We were able to interact with many of the other kids there. They were very friendly and they all appeared to be healthy. My 13 yo son was with us and they LOVED hanging with him! He loved meeting them to and wants to come back next year and spend more time with them (I suggested he do Karaoki with them). The care givers I met were all very nice and they all wanted to see pictures of Penka, Sofka's sister.
In what I felt was a real show of trust the director asked us if we were interested in seeing the area where the really severe, bedridden kids were. We did, even my son went in to the newer building. It was not easy but there was no foul smell and the areas were clean. The kids were thin and he said that he had added another meal (4 meals) to see if that would help them gain weight. He also cited that he only has 3 caregivers in this area for 40 kids but he is looking to triple that in the very near future.
We are now setting up a means to send financial support to Krushari. My son is taking on fund raising as his Bar Mitzvah project.
Next summer we will return with Penka. She is very excited to meet her sister and when she saw the pictures of her she said "Mom we are so cute arent we?"
As I said, it was life changing for me to go there. I feel that they are doing what they can to help these kids. Anyone who can go there and offer the skill sets that they need should contact me at mbaeck@verizondotnet."
I have stated before that I am for deinstitutionalization of disabled children and adults (and also of non-disabled abandoned children). However, institutions are still the reality for Sofka and many others and I would wish to express my admiration of those employees who try their best to make this reality as good as it, and of devoted community members such as the author of the above message.
Bulgarian readers can also read here about two girls from the Krushari care home who are integrated in 6th grade of the local school.
Monday, April 21, 2008
How to secure a better future for a severely disabled adult in Bulgaria?
My regular readers may remember that I had a post asking for information about S., a disabled girl institutionalized after her birth 17 years ago. The information was sought by a lady who had adopted this S.'s twin sister. Recently, this lady informed me that a regional child protection agency had finally found S. She is at an institution for mentally retarded children aged 3-18 in a village in North-East Bulgaria. (For privacy reasons, I prefer not to give here the girl's full name and the institution in question.)
At some point after turning 18, S. will be transfered to an institution for disabled adults. The adoptive mother of S.'s sister is concerned about how this move could be suited to S.'s best interest. She wrote, "We are committed to helping this girl and we are now exploring what our alternatives are. Since S. will be 18 in July we need to act fast to make sure that she is moved to an institution that will afford her better care. I welcome any suggestions any of you may have. Many thanks!"
After the BBC exposed the shocking conditions in Bulgarian institutions for abandoned disabled children and our European partners began to exercise much needed pressure, options for the disabled Bulgarians seem to be slowly improving. But does anybody know how to find the best option for S.? She is not a mildly disabled person who needs only material support and accommodations. S. has severe mental retardation and motor impairments. She is non-verbal and has no self-care skills. She has some ability to move by a wheelchair, but spends most of her time in bed.
If you have in mind something that may be useful, please don't hesitate to share it.
At some point after turning 18, S. will be transfered to an institution for disabled adults. The adoptive mother of S.'s sister is concerned about how this move could be suited to S.'s best interest. She wrote, "We are committed to helping this girl and we are now exploring what our alternatives are. Since S. will be 18 in July we need to act fast to make sure that she is moved to an institution that will afford her better care. I welcome any suggestions any of you may have. Many thanks!"
After the BBC exposed the shocking conditions in Bulgarian institutions for abandoned disabled children and our European partners began to exercise much needed pressure, options for the disabled Bulgarians seem to be slowly improving. But does anybody know how to find the best option for S.? She is not a mildly disabled person who needs only material support and accommodations. S. has severe mental retardation and motor impairments. She is non-verbal and has no self-care skills. She has some ability to move by a wheelchair, but spends most of her time in bed.
If you have in mind something that may be useful, please don't hesitate to share it.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Shame on you, President Parvanov and Premier Stanishev!
This post belongs to my "Shame on you" rubric explained in my previous post Shame on you, Minister Gaydarski!.
I am not a supporter of current Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov, as shown by two earlier my posts - Don't vote for Georgi Parvanov and Never elect hunter President - bad for wildlife.
Of course the fact that I dislike the President may reflect just my political views and personal preferences. But please read below what he said on March 8 in the city of Ruse while opening a discussion on the subject For the children of Bulgaria in an open and committed way (source: Netinfo):
"I was deeply disturbed by that documentary (BBC's Bulgaria's Abandoned Children - M.M.) which wasn't made with love to Bulgaria, which is a part, a detail of an anti-Bulgarian campaign provoked by people unknown to me and with purposes unknown to me."
I'd wish to ask the President two simple questions:
1) After you cannot figure out what interest could anybody have in discrediting Bulgaria by a documentary about care homes, doesn't it come to your head that the presumed anti-Bulgarian campaign may simply not exist?
2) Following your logic, Germans in 1946 could, instead of focusing on de-Nazification, say that documentaries about Auschwitz hadn't been made with love to Germany. Can this comparison show you how irrelevant and monstrous your comment was? Need we Bulgarians be taught humaneness the way Germans were?
The next day (March 9) journalists asked the Premier Sergey Stanishev whether he shared the President's opinion. Stanishev replied, "The BBC documentary about the orphanage in Mogilino is extremely biased and distorts the reality about the care that is done. From each reality, fragments can be taken in isolation and deeply moving scenes can be obtained this way" (source: Mediapool).
I am not a supporter of current Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov, as shown by two earlier my posts - Don't vote for Georgi Parvanov and Never elect hunter President - bad for wildlife.
Of course the fact that I dislike the President may reflect just my political views and personal preferences. But please read below what he said on March 8 in the city of Ruse while opening a discussion on the subject For the children of Bulgaria in an open and committed way (source: Netinfo):
"I was deeply disturbed by that documentary (BBC's Bulgaria's Abandoned Children - M.M.) which wasn't made with love to Bulgaria, which is a part, a detail of an anti-Bulgarian campaign provoked by people unknown to me and with purposes unknown to me."
I'd wish to ask the President two simple questions:
1) After you cannot figure out what interest could anybody have in discrediting Bulgaria by a documentary about care homes, doesn't it come to your head that the presumed anti-Bulgarian campaign may simply not exist?
2) Following your logic, Germans in 1946 could, instead of focusing on de-Nazification, say that documentaries about Auschwitz hadn't been made with love to Germany. Can this comparison show you how irrelevant and monstrous your comment was? Need we Bulgarians be taught humaneness the way Germans were?
The next day (March 9) journalists asked the Premier Sergey Stanishev whether he shared the President's opinion. Stanishev replied, "The BBC documentary about the orphanage in Mogilino is extremely biased and distorts the reality about the care that is done. From each reality, fragments can be taken in isolation and deeply moving scenes can be obtained this way" (source: Mediapool).
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Shame on you, Minister Gaydarski!
Regular readers of my blog know that I have a "column" of posts titled "Shame on you, Minister ..." and containing outrageous statements of our ministers about Bulgarian institutions for disabled children such as Mogilino. Because these statements are meant to circulate only in the Bulgarian public space, I think it is good to translate and post them in English, so that everybody could see what sort of people rule Bulgaria and what attitudes they have towards abandoned children and disability. So far, I've had such posts about Ministers Grancharova and Maslarova. This post is devoted to the health minister Radoslav Gaydarski. On Feb. 29, he was presented at the opening of a day care center for disabled children in the town of Vidin and made a statement. I cannot find in the Web the entire statement, so I am translating below excerpts published by Dnevnik and Mediapool.
"A premeditated campaign is being carried out against the Bulgarian people for allegedly having a callous attitude towards disabled children, the poor and the elderly. This doesn't correspond to the truth and aims to discredit our country.
Throughout Bulgaria, there is hardly a city or a region without care homes for the elderly, the disabled and the abandoned children. Of course some care homes are in a better condition and some are in a worse condition, but it is clear for everybody that the current government and its predecessors have done their job as allowed by the funds available in our state.
Nobody can deny that extraordinary efforts are being made to improve the lives of these people, especially the children. All this cannot happen in several years, because a country in transition and with insufficient funds cannot manage for all who need special care to live in wonderful conditions.
It is not the fault of the Bulgarian people that we have so many children in care homes. It is not the fault of our people that we lack the financial capacity to build health facilities like the one we are opening now. It is the fault of those who unintentionally create these difficult conditions in the country.
I am disgusted by the libel against the Bulgarian people. In two days, there will be a discussion on "the children of Bulgaria" in Brussels. The large part of these children, I am talking about Mogilino, have been born by very young mothers aged 12-14. They have been abandoned by their families. To accuse the Bulgarian people for not caring for these children is, to say the least, unpleasant and dishonest, because the children in these institutions are cared for using funds given by all of us.
The day care center we are opening now is a wonderful facility. It is much superior to a number of similar European facilities."
See how Gaydarski's statement was commented on the Mogilino blog:
"Of course the minister quite conveniently omitted saying that exactly his subordinates - doctors, midwives, nurses, - convince mothers of disabled newborns to place them in an institution. Visit the page Is is easy to raise a disabled child in Bulgaria to read exactly how doctors react when a child with a problem is born. In short, they say, "Leave him in an institution, he will never become a person, you will have another child, the brain of this one is boiled." I can understand why some families abandon their children. It is exactly because Gaydarski's Ministry doesn't offer much of an alternative. Is there quality health care for these children? No. Does the health fund pay for each necessary drug? No. Are there enough rehabilitation facilities in Bulgaria? No. Are there modern prostheses and other accommodation devices? No. Are there kindergartens willing to integrate disabled children? No. Is there psychological counselling for parents of disabled children? No. Besides, the Minister apparently doesn't realize that if in our country 14-year-olds are giving birth, then his ministry isn't doing his job properly."
I agree with this comment and I want to add several words of my own.
First, Dr. Gaydarski is clearly bragging that there are so many institutions in Bulgaria. He thinks that this proves the caring attitude of Bulgarian people towards abandoned children, the disabled and the elderly, because institutions are supported by taxpayers. It seems that, at the back of the Minister's mind, some alternative method of dealing with disabled people is lingering that doesn't require money, and he is giving us and himself credit for not opting for this method. I wonder, what could it be? Throwing the disabled into the nearest river, possibly? Let's not forget that this has been done before, in Europe, less than a century ago.
Second, you can see that the Minister tries his best to perpetuate the myth that the plight of abandoned disabled children is poor because of the insufficient funds available, while in fact it is humaneness that is in short supply.
Third, the remark about the 12-14-year-old mothers is a shot in the direction of Gypsies. It is their girls who sometimes have babies in their early teens. Among the Bulgarian majority, teen pregnancies are much rarer and are almost invariably terminated. I don't think Dr. Gaydarski knows for sure that exactly the children at the Mogilino care home are born by very young mothers. At least, he shouldn't be allowed to review their cases in such detail without a proper reason. So I think he is just guessing that "young girls produce disabled babies and then abandon them". As far as I know, very young mothers have a higher risk for premature delivery, which in turn increases the risk for some disabilities. However, older parents are at a higher risk to have children with other disabilities, such as Down syndrome and autism. The Minister didn't address this issue. This proves that his attitude was racist, a detail that would escape the attention of a non-Bulgarian reader. We who live in Bulgaria and know the context of the situation can see that he made a miserable attempt to exonerate the Bulgarian majority by laying the blame for abandoned disabled children on the Gypsies.
At the end, I want to say that I am sad when I think that Gaydarski is a doctor.
UPDATE: On March 9, Netinfo quoted Gaydarski saying that "it makes sense only for well-prospecting children to be taken out of care homes and integrated in the community" (Bulg. има смисъл само перспективните деца да бъдат изведени от домовете и да се интегрират в обществото).
I would say that if somebody had seen Gaydarski as a child and had labeled him ill-prospecting, perhaps some things would have been spared to us all...
"A premeditated campaign is being carried out against the Bulgarian people for allegedly having a callous attitude towards disabled children, the poor and the elderly. This doesn't correspond to the truth and aims to discredit our country.
Throughout Bulgaria, there is hardly a city or a region without care homes for the elderly, the disabled and the abandoned children. Of course some care homes are in a better condition and some are in a worse condition, but it is clear for everybody that the current government and its predecessors have done their job as allowed by the funds available in our state.
Nobody can deny that extraordinary efforts are being made to improve the lives of these people, especially the children. All this cannot happen in several years, because a country in transition and with insufficient funds cannot manage for all who need special care to live in wonderful conditions.
It is not the fault of the Bulgarian people that we have so many children in care homes. It is not the fault of our people that we lack the financial capacity to build health facilities like the one we are opening now. It is the fault of those who unintentionally create these difficult conditions in the country.
I am disgusted by the libel against the Bulgarian people. In two days, there will be a discussion on "the children of Bulgaria" in Brussels. The large part of these children, I am talking about Mogilino, have been born by very young mothers aged 12-14. They have been abandoned by their families. To accuse the Bulgarian people for not caring for these children is, to say the least, unpleasant and dishonest, because the children in these institutions are cared for using funds given by all of us.
The day care center we are opening now is a wonderful facility. It is much superior to a number of similar European facilities."
See how Gaydarski's statement was commented on the Mogilino blog:
"Of course the minister quite conveniently omitted saying that exactly his subordinates - doctors, midwives, nurses, - convince mothers of disabled newborns to place them in an institution. Visit the page Is is easy to raise a disabled child in Bulgaria to read exactly how doctors react when a child with a problem is born. In short, they say, "Leave him in an institution, he will never become a person, you will have another child, the brain of this one is boiled." I can understand why some families abandon their children. It is exactly because Gaydarski's Ministry doesn't offer much of an alternative. Is there quality health care for these children? No. Does the health fund pay for each necessary drug? No. Are there enough rehabilitation facilities in Bulgaria? No. Are there modern prostheses and other accommodation devices? No. Are there kindergartens willing to integrate disabled children? No. Is there psychological counselling for parents of disabled children? No. Besides, the Minister apparently doesn't realize that if in our country 14-year-olds are giving birth, then his ministry isn't doing his job properly."
I agree with this comment and I want to add several words of my own.
First, Dr. Gaydarski is clearly bragging that there are so many institutions in Bulgaria. He thinks that this proves the caring attitude of Bulgarian people towards abandoned children, the disabled and the elderly, because institutions are supported by taxpayers. It seems that, at the back of the Minister's mind, some alternative method of dealing with disabled people is lingering that doesn't require money, and he is giving us and himself credit for not opting for this method. I wonder, what could it be? Throwing the disabled into the nearest river, possibly? Let's not forget that this has been done before, in Europe, less than a century ago.
Second, you can see that the Minister tries his best to perpetuate the myth that the plight of abandoned disabled children is poor because of the insufficient funds available, while in fact it is humaneness that is in short supply.
Third, the remark about the 12-14-year-old mothers is a shot in the direction of Gypsies. It is their girls who sometimes have babies in their early teens. Among the Bulgarian majority, teen pregnancies are much rarer and are almost invariably terminated. I don't think Dr. Gaydarski knows for sure that exactly the children at the Mogilino care home are born by very young mothers. At least, he shouldn't be allowed to review their cases in such detail without a proper reason. So I think he is just guessing that "young girls produce disabled babies and then abandon them". As far as I know, very young mothers have a higher risk for premature delivery, which in turn increases the risk for some disabilities. However, older parents are at a higher risk to have children with other disabilities, such as Down syndrome and autism. The Minister didn't address this issue. This proves that his attitude was racist, a detail that would escape the attention of a non-Bulgarian reader. We who live in Bulgaria and know the context of the situation can see that he made a miserable attempt to exonerate the Bulgarian majority by laying the blame for abandoned disabled children on the Gypsies.
At the end, I want to say that I am sad when I think that Gaydarski is a doctor.
UPDATE: On March 9, Netinfo quoted Gaydarski saying that "it makes sense only for well-prospecting children to be taken out of care homes and integrated in the community" (Bulg. има смисъл само перспективните деца да бъдат изведени от домовете и да се интегрират в обществото).
I would say that if somebody had seen Gaydarski as a child and had labeled him ill-prospecting, perhaps some things would have been spared to us all...
Saturday, March 01, 2008
Disabled Bulgarian woman sterilized against her will
Source of the information below is the Feb. 3 post of the Mogilino blog, Bulgarian readers can go directly there.
After BBC broadcasted Kate Blewett's shocking documentary Bulgaria's Abandoned Children, Bulgarian authorities and "patriots" have been busy with PR disaster management. A documentary titled Home was produced and aired on the Bulgarian National TV Channel on Feb. 3. I haven't seen it, so I am relying on Yana Domuschieva's description in the above linked Mogilino post .
The documentary showed a family caring for their own disabled child, a foster family with a disabled foster child (the only disabled Bulgarian child currently enjoying foster care), a rehabilitation center for disabled children and a protected home for young disabled people. The picture portrayed was very rosy. Indeed, only the personnel of the rehabilitation center and the protected home was interviewed, not any of the inmates.
However, human rights activist Slavka Kukova reported that last winter a not so rosy event happened in the same protected home that was praised in the documentary. One of the young disabled women had vaginal bleeding (for unclear reasons). Her problem was dealt with by removing her uterus and ovaries. She was told that she didn't need these organs anyway. After being sterilized, the woman fled the protected home and was raped in the street.
After BBC broadcasted Kate Blewett's shocking documentary Bulgaria's Abandoned Children, Bulgarian authorities and "patriots" have been busy with PR disaster management. A documentary titled Home was produced and aired on the Bulgarian National TV Channel on Feb. 3. I haven't seen it, so I am relying on Yana Domuschieva's description in the above linked Mogilino post .
The documentary showed a family caring for their own disabled child, a foster family with a disabled foster child (the only disabled Bulgarian child currently enjoying foster care), a rehabilitation center for disabled children and a protected home for young disabled people. The picture portrayed was very rosy. Indeed, only the personnel of the rehabilitation center and the protected home was interviewed, not any of the inmates.
However, human rights activist Slavka Kukova reported that last winter a not so rosy event happened in the same protected home that was praised in the documentary. One of the young disabled women had vaginal bleeding (for unclear reasons). Her problem was dealt with by removing her uterus and ovaries. She was told that she didn't need these organs anyway. After being sterilized, the woman fled the protected home and was raped in the street.
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
Bulgarian members of European Parliament: Europe, don't talk about our starving children!
Let me first translate a little from Europe.bg:
"Jan. 31 - Bulgarian members of European Parliament Filiz Hyusmenova (DPS party), Metin Kazak (DPS party), Prof. Vladko Panayotov (DPS party), Bilyana Raeva (NDSV party) and Iliana Yotova (BSP party) submitted on Wednesday in the European Parliament a draft statement. It calls for unified European policy concerning the care for disadvantaged children... The main point of the document is the appeal not to exploit politically this grave social problem, as happened in Bulgaria..."
The Trud site summarizes the draft statement more clearly: "It appeals to EU member states not to take advantage of the media disclosures about the care home in Mogilino." The media in question is the BBC which recently produced a shocking documentary about an institution for abandoned disabled children in the Bulgarian village of Mogilino.
When foreign media bring to light outrageous facts about Bulgarian reality, the reaction of our authorities is not to address the problems but to attack the reporters as having an agenda to denigrate Bulgaria. E.g. see my Nov. 12, 2007 post about the response of Bulgarian police to a BBC report of child trafficking ring. Specifically about Mogilino, at least two ministers have made public statements that the BBC documentary is all anti-Bulgarian propaganda. See my Nov. 26, 2007 and Jan. 7 posts. However, the ministers at least talked and wrote their shameful nonsense in Bulgarian, it was me who decided to translate it and re-post it in English. Now, the five European Parliament members give their masterpiece directly to the translators in Brussels, to guarantee that nobody will remain unaware of the Bulgarian idiocy.
Dear fellow Bulgarians, please be careful next time when the above listed people and parties want your votes again!
"Jan. 31 - Bulgarian members of European Parliament Filiz Hyusmenova (DPS party), Metin Kazak (DPS party), Prof. Vladko Panayotov (DPS party), Bilyana Raeva (NDSV party) and Iliana Yotova (BSP party) submitted on Wednesday in the European Parliament a draft statement. It calls for unified European policy concerning the care for disadvantaged children... The main point of the document is the appeal not to exploit politically this grave social problem, as happened in Bulgaria..."
The Trud site summarizes the draft statement more clearly: "It appeals to EU member states not to take advantage of the media disclosures about the care home in Mogilino." The media in question is the BBC which recently produced a shocking documentary about an institution for abandoned disabled children in the Bulgarian village of Mogilino.
When foreign media bring to light outrageous facts about Bulgarian reality, the reaction of our authorities is not to address the problems but to attack the reporters as having an agenda to denigrate Bulgaria. E.g. see my Nov. 12, 2007 post about the response of Bulgarian police to a BBC report of child trafficking ring. Specifically about Mogilino, at least two ministers have made public statements that the BBC documentary is all anti-Bulgarian propaganda. See my Nov. 26, 2007 and Jan. 7 posts. However, the ministers at least talked and wrote their shameful nonsense in Bulgarian, it was me who decided to translate it and re-post it in English. Now, the five European Parliament members give their masterpiece directly to the translators in Brussels, to guarantee that nobody will remain unaware of the Bulgarian idiocy.
Dear fellow Bulgarians, please be careful next time when the above listed people and parties want your votes again!
Monday, January 07, 2008
Shame on you, Minister Maslarova!
The title resembles my Nov. 26, 2007 post Shame on you, Minister Grancharova. And, again, I'll write about the outrageous reactions of Bulgarian ministers to the scandal with our care homes for abandoned disabled children.
Emilia Maslarova is Bulgarian Minister for Labour and Social Policy. After a BBC documentary showed disabled children abused and neglected to the point of starvation at an institution in the village of Mogilino, Maslarova accused the BBC in manipulation and misinformation (see my earlier post Bulgarian government - unit measure for arrogance).
Unfortunately, the public outcry to Maslarova's words apparently hasn't been sufficient to prevent her from producing more arrogant nonsense of the same kind. This entitled the Minister to have a post of mine devoted especially to her.
I had heard that Maslarova had said about the children in Mogilino that "they can only as much" but hadn't taken care to find the original quote. I have now: blogger Dilmana reports that it is from an Oct. 9, 2007 interview of Minister Maslarova by Horizont radio channel:
"Maslarova: We are talking about children with severe intellectual aberrations.
Interviewer Irina Nedeva: Do you really think that these children have severe intellectual disabilities and "can only as much"?
Maslarova: I say what experts in this field, medical experts, say: that these children can be supported, can be taught some games, but we hardly can make these children adequate in every respect... - because some of them are with a severe form of oligophrenia... - I invite these ladies to go e.g. to the (care home in the village of) Krushare, to see children resembling small corpses, who just don't react. I know how much efforts employees there make to keep these children clean, fed, they feed them, so let's not go against nature because unfortunately medicine hasn't found a method to recover these children the way we would want."
Below, Dilmana's post gives an interview with Dr. Asparuh Iliev, a Bulgarian MD and neuroscientist living and working in Germany. I advise all Bulgarian readers to go there and see it all. He thoroughly debunks Maslarova's statement and at the end challenges her to cite the names of the medical experts who allegedly said that nothing more could be done for the institutionalized disabled children. By the way, this brilliant professional and admirable personality has been one of my first students. Bravo, Asparuh! I am happy that I have been your teacher.
Unfortunately, Maslarova couldn't even stay at that point. She continued bringing disgrace to herself and the Bulgarian government with her big mouth. The Dec. 12, 2007 post of the Mogilino blog gives a large quote from her interview by Info radio channel at the same day. Bulgarian readers are advised to follow the link, and for other readers, I am translating below.
"Interviewer: Tell us something that interests everybody these days. Have you already begun bringing children out of the Mogilino care home?
Maslarova: Let me say frankly, this is a very brutal, pre-exponated manipulation. It is regrettable that Bulgarian media also joined because if I want to, excuse my expression, discredit a country, I can make a much more scary documentary. Much more.
Interviewer: Let me make it clear for the listeners, we are talking about the BBC documentary about this care home.
Maslarova: Yes, I want to tell you that we have already closed two care homes without anybody hearing and without making such noise. The order to close the Mogilino care home was issued back in 2006. However, it is not under the jurisdiction of our Ministry, although we reap all "laurels", it is affiliated to the municipality of Mogilino and the municipality rejected the order, which right it has. However, all (necessary) measures are taken, children are gradually brought out of the care home. These children are taken into account for building of protective homes which will be ready very soon for the children who are over 18 years old. There are 35 children over 18 in the care home - young people with mental retardation. Several children will be reunited with their families. Unfortunately, most parents don't want to take back their children from the care home, so we all will have to care for them. This is no drama. I want to stress that the children in the care home have food, clothes and the needed conditions. So we don't need old clothes sent from somewhere. Everything will be over in 4 months. So we are working very hard on this problem. I regret that it had to be made dramatic this way, and with the participation of Bulgarians receiving money for this, but it is another matter."
Interviewer: You mean that somebody was paid to discredit Bulgaria by this documentary?
Maslarova: Of course money was given to make the documentary, and not little money. And people from Bulgarian non-government organizations contributed to the documentary. I wish to say that we have taken all necessary measures. The children are OK, they are healthy, they are already regularly visited by doctors from (the city of) Ruse. The problem was that they cannot have this expert medical help every day because Mogilino is located 40 km away from Ruse and the commute is difficult."
Most of the above needs no comment, but let me cite some facts reported by the authors of the Mogilino blog: "After the documentary, much was changed in Mogilino. About 15 children were hospitalized. Some of them had been dehydrated. One (Stoyan) underwent oesophagus surgery and finally stopped vomiting... The children already have five meals per day. They eat fruits, a kind of food they hadn't seen for months. The needs of each child have been assessed and most of them receive specialized therapy."
Maslarova & Co., please resign! We have had enough of your governing. As long as you stay in power, my blog will look like a bulletin of ministerial idiocies. And I would prefer to blog about other things. By the way, could you kindly inform me where people are paid for "discrediting Bulgaria" in public space? I wish to submit my application.
UPDATE: In late February, Minister Maslarova offered more jewels on the subject. Irina Novakova reports Maslarova's words in the Feb. 29 issue of Kapital newspaper:
"Showing the film Bulgaria's Disabled Children in the European Parliament isn't fair to the country (Bulgaria). I refused to travel to attend the film-show and the discussion about disabled children in Bulgaria. My reasons to refuse were that all Bulgaria shouldn't be demonized on the grounds of a film and the problem mustn't be turned into a political one.
I don't think that the government should travel (to Brussels) only because somebody produced somewhere a movie which was shot as a fiction one, not as a documentary. For me, the film is biased.
A substantial part of people in institutions such as the one shown cannot be integrated in the society because they have very severe disabilities. Therefore, there will always be institutions with bars at the windows. The important thing is to assure good living conditions in them."
Recently, Belgium sent to Mogilino an expert group to check the situation on the spot and to see how to help Bulgaria in solving the problem. Maslarova commented their work: "The (Belgian) group politicized the situation and this is dishonest for an EU member state with which we are equal partners. The Belgians wagged a finger at the Bulgarian side which isn't good for the bilateral relationships. I am beginning to think that old (EU) states use the problems of new member states to solve some internal problems of their own."
Emilia Maslarova is Bulgarian Minister for Labour and Social Policy. After a BBC documentary showed disabled children abused and neglected to the point of starvation at an institution in the village of Mogilino, Maslarova accused the BBC in manipulation and misinformation (see my earlier post Bulgarian government - unit measure for arrogance).
Unfortunately, the public outcry to Maslarova's words apparently hasn't been sufficient to prevent her from producing more arrogant nonsense of the same kind. This entitled the Minister to have a post of mine devoted especially to her.
I had heard that Maslarova had said about the children in Mogilino that "they can only as much" but hadn't taken care to find the original quote. I have now: blogger Dilmana reports that it is from an Oct. 9, 2007 interview of Minister Maslarova by Horizont radio channel:
"Maslarova: We are talking about children with severe intellectual aberrations.
Interviewer Irina Nedeva: Do you really think that these children have severe intellectual disabilities and "can only as much"?
Maslarova: I say what experts in this field, medical experts, say: that these children can be supported, can be taught some games, but we hardly can make these children adequate in every respect... - because some of them are with a severe form of oligophrenia... - I invite these ladies to go e.g. to the (care home in the village of) Krushare, to see children resembling small corpses, who just don't react. I know how much efforts employees there make to keep these children clean, fed, they feed them, so let's not go against nature because unfortunately medicine hasn't found a method to recover these children the way we would want."
Below, Dilmana's post gives an interview with Dr. Asparuh Iliev, a Bulgarian MD and neuroscientist living and working in Germany. I advise all Bulgarian readers to go there and see it all. He thoroughly debunks Maslarova's statement and at the end challenges her to cite the names of the medical experts who allegedly said that nothing more could be done for the institutionalized disabled children. By the way, this brilliant professional and admirable personality has been one of my first students. Bravo, Asparuh! I am happy that I have been your teacher.
Unfortunately, Maslarova couldn't even stay at that point. She continued bringing disgrace to herself and the Bulgarian government with her big mouth. The Dec. 12, 2007 post of the Mogilino blog gives a large quote from her interview by Info radio channel at the same day. Bulgarian readers are advised to follow the link, and for other readers, I am translating below.
"Interviewer: Tell us something that interests everybody these days. Have you already begun bringing children out of the Mogilino care home?
Maslarova: Let me say frankly, this is a very brutal, pre-exponated manipulation. It is regrettable that Bulgarian media also joined because if I want to, excuse my expression, discredit a country, I can make a much more scary documentary. Much more.
Interviewer: Let me make it clear for the listeners, we are talking about the BBC documentary about this care home.
Maslarova: Yes, I want to tell you that we have already closed two care homes without anybody hearing and without making such noise. The order to close the Mogilino care home was issued back in 2006. However, it is not under the jurisdiction of our Ministry, although we reap all "laurels", it is affiliated to the municipality of Mogilino and the municipality rejected the order, which right it has. However, all (necessary) measures are taken, children are gradually brought out of the care home. These children are taken into account for building of protective homes which will be ready very soon for the children who are over 18 years old. There are 35 children over 18 in the care home - young people with mental retardation. Several children will be reunited with their families. Unfortunately, most parents don't want to take back their children from the care home, so we all will have to care for them. This is no drama. I want to stress that the children in the care home have food, clothes and the needed conditions. So we don't need old clothes sent from somewhere. Everything will be over in 4 months. So we are working very hard on this problem. I regret that it had to be made dramatic this way, and with the participation of Bulgarians receiving money for this, but it is another matter."
Interviewer: You mean that somebody was paid to discredit Bulgaria by this documentary?
Maslarova: Of course money was given to make the documentary, and not little money. And people from Bulgarian non-government organizations contributed to the documentary. I wish to say that we have taken all necessary measures. The children are OK, they are healthy, they are already regularly visited by doctors from (the city of) Ruse. The problem was that they cannot have this expert medical help every day because Mogilino is located 40 km away from Ruse and the commute is difficult."
Most of the above needs no comment, but let me cite some facts reported by the authors of the Mogilino blog: "After the documentary, much was changed in Mogilino. About 15 children were hospitalized. Some of them had been dehydrated. One (Stoyan) underwent oesophagus surgery and finally stopped vomiting... The children already have five meals per day. They eat fruits, a kind of food they hadn't seen for months. The needs of each child have been assessed and most of them receive specialized therapy."
Maslarova & Co., please resign! We have had enough of your governing. As long as you stay in power, my blog will look like a bulletin of ministerial idiocies. And I would prefer to blog about other things. By the way, could you kindly inform me where people are paid for "discrediting Bulgaria" in public space? I wish to submit my application.
UPDATE: In late February, Minister Maslarova offered more jewels on the subject. Irina Novakova reports Maslarova's words in the Feb. 29 issue of Kapital newspaper:
"Showing the film Bulgaria's Disabled Children in the European Parliament isn't fair to the country (Bulgaria). I refused to travel to attend the film-show and the discussion about disabled children in Bulgaria. My reasons to refuse were that all Bulgaria shouldn't be demonized on the grounds of a film and the problem mustn't be turned into a political one.
I don't think that the government should travel (to Brussels) only because somebody produced somewhere a movie which was shot as a fiction one, not as a documentary. For me, the film is biased.
A substantial part of people in institutions such as the one shown cannot be integrated in the society because they have very severe disabilities. Therefore, there will always be institutions with bars at the windows. The important thing is to assure good living conditions in them."
Recently, Belgium sent to Mogilino an expert group to check the situation on the spot and to see how to help Bulgaria in solving the problem. Maslarova commented their work: "The (Belgian) group politicized the situation and this is dishonest for an EU member state with which we are equal partners. The Belgians wagged a finger at the Bulgarian side which isn't good for the bilateral relationships. I am beginning to think that old (EU) states use the problems of new member states to solve some internal problems of their own."
Veni's suggestion about Sofka
Sofka, now 17 is still alive, is an abandoned disabled girl sought by her sister's adoptive mother; details are described in my Dec. 1, 2007 post.
I have written about this also in my Bulgarian blog at http://mayamarkov.wordpress.com/2007/11/01/find_sofka/. A week ago, Veni G. left a comment there. Veni is a journalist, a conscious citizen and the host of Semki i bonbonki (Nuts and Candy), one of the best Bulgarian blogs (not only my opinion). Here is Veni's comment:
"I think you have to write a letter to the Ministry of Justice, citing the Law for Access to Information. In fact, it is best if the adoptive mother does it, because she has legitimate interest (this is a legal term meaning that she has the right to require this information). And the Ministry of Justice is the relevant institution in cases of adoption and abandonment, as with Sofka."
If the adoptive mother of Sofka's sister is reading this, I would be glad to do what I can to help.
I have written about this also in my Bulgarian blog at http://mayamarkov.wordpress.com/2007/11/01/find_sofka/. A week ago, Veni G. left a comment there. Veni is a journalist, a conscious citizen and the host of Semki i bonbonki (Nuts and Candy), one of the best Bulgarian blogs (not only my opinion). Here is Veni's comment:
"I think you have to write a letter to the Ministry of Justice, citing the Law for Access to Information. In fact, it is best if the adoptive mother does it, because she has legitimate interest (this is a legal term meaning that she has the right to require this information). And the Ministry of Justice is the relevant institution in cases of adoption and abandonment, as with Sofka."
If the adoptive mother of Sofka's sister is reading this, I would be glad to do what I can to help.
Friday, December 21, 2007
A study proves, again, that institutions are harmful for children
Posts consisting entirely of large quotes from a single source don't speak well of a blogger, but a report I've just read in Yahoo! News is so important, especially for us in Bulgaria in the context of the current debate about institutions for abandoned children, that I feel obliged to repost it.
Study says foster care benefits brains
By LAURAN NEERGAARD, AP Medical Writer, Dec 20
Toddlers rescued from orphanages and placed in good foster homes score dramatically higher on IQ tests years later than children who were left behind, concludes a one-of-a-kind project in Romania that has profound implications for child welfare around the globe.
The boost meant the difference between borderline retardation and average intelligence for some youngsters.
Most important, children removed from orphanages before age 2 had the biggest improvement — key new evidence of a sensitive period for brain development, according to the U.S. team that conducted the research.
"What we're really talking about is the importance of getting kids out of bad environments and put into good environments," said Dr. Charles Nelson III of Harvard Medical School, who led the study being published Friday in the journal Science.
The younger that happens, "the less likely the child is to have major problems," he added.
The research is credited with influencing child-care changes in Romania, and UNICEF has begun using the data to push numerous countries that still depend on state-run orphanages to start shifting to foster care-like systems.
"The research provides concrete scientific evidence on the long-term impacts of the deprivation of quality care for children," UNICEF child protection specialist Aaron Greenberg said. "The interesting part about this is the one-on-one caring of a young child impacts ... cognitive and intellectual development."...
In the study, U.S. researchers randomly assigned 136 young children in Bucharest's six orphanages to either keep living there or live with foster parents who were specially trained and paid for by the study. Romania had no foster-care system in 2000 when the research began.
The team chose apparently healthy children. Researchers repeatedly tested brain development as those children grew, and tracked those who ultimately were adopted or reunited with family. For comparison, they also tested the cognitive ability of children who never were institutionalized.
By 4 1/2, youngsters in foster care were scoring almost 10 points higher on IQ tests than the children left in orphanages. Children who left the orphanages before 2 saw an almost 15-point increase.
Nelson compared the ages at which children were sent to foster care. For every extra month spent in the orphanage, up to almost age 3, it meant roughly a half-point lower score on those later IQ tests.
Children raised in their biological homes still fared best, with average test scores 10 points to 20 points higher than the foster-care kids...
Nelson tells adoptive parents, "The older the child is when they leave the institution, the more likely that child may have some developmental problems and the more difficult it may be to ameliorate those problems. ... The message to parents is simply to go into this with their eyes open, but not to give up."
For the U.S. and other countries that depend on foster care instead of orphanages, the study has implications, too, because it used high-quality foster care that is not the norm in many places, Nelson noted. Studies comparing the impact of foster care of varying quality are under way.
The Romanian government requested the study and began its own foster care program shortly thereafter. Early study results are credited with influencing Romania's recent prohibition on institutionalizing children under 2 unless they are severely disabled.
Study says foster care benefits brains
By LAURAN NEERGAARD, AP Medical Writer, Dec 20
Toddlers rescued from orphanages and placed in good foster homes score dramatically higher on IQ tests years later than children who were left behind, concludes a one-of-a-kind project in Romania that has profound implications for child welfare around the globe.
The boost meant the difference between borderline retardation and average intelligence for some youngsters.
Most important, children removed from orphanages before age 2 had the biggest improvement — key new evidence of a sensitive period for brain development, according to the U.S. team that conducted the research.
"What we're really talking about is the importance of getting kids out of bad environments and put into good environments," said Dr. Charles Nelson III of Harvard Medical School, who led the study being published Friday in the journal Science.
The younger that happens, "the less likely the child is to have major problems," he added.
The research is credited with influencing child-care changes in Romania, and UNICEF has begun using the data to push numerous countries that still depend on state-run orphanages to start shifting to foster care-like systems.
"The research provides concrete scientific evidence on the long-term impacts of the deprivation of quality care for children," UNICEF child protection specialist Aaron Greenberg said. "The interesting part about this is the one-on-one caring of a young child impacts ... cognitive and intellectual development."...
In the study, U.S. researchers randomly assigned 136 young children in Bucharest's six orphanages to either keep living there or live with foster parents who were specially trained and paid for by the study. Romania had no foster-care system in 2000 when the research began.
The team chose apparently healthy children. Researchers repeatedly tested brain development as those children grew, and tracked those who ultimately were adopted or reunited with family. For comparison, they also tested the cognitive ability of children who never were institutionalized.
By 4 1/2, youngsters in foster care were scoring almost 10 points higher on IQ tests than the children left in orphanages. Children who left the orphanages before 2 saw an almost 15-point increase.
Nelson compared the ages at which children were sent to foster care. For every extra month spent in the orphanage, up to almost age 3, it meant roughly a half-point lower score on those later IQ tests.
Children raised in their biological homes still fared best, with average test scores 10 points to 20 points higher than the foster-care kids...
Nelson tells adoptive parents, "The older the child is when they leave the institution, the more likely that child may have some developmental problems and the more difficult it may be to ameliorate those problems. ... The message to parents is simply to go into this with their eyes open, but not to give up."
For the U.S. and other countries that depend on foster care instead of orphanages, the study has implications, too, because it used high-quality foster care that is not the norm in many places, Nelson noted. Studies comparing the impact of foster care of varying quality are under way.
The Romanian government requested the study and began its own foster care program shortly thereafter. Early study results are credited with influencing Romania's recent prohibition on institutionalizing children under 2 unless they are severely disabled.
Monday, November 26, 2007
Shame on you, Minister Grancharova!
In my Oct. 16 post Bulgarian government - unit measure for arrogance I described how our social minister Emilia Maslarova insolently tried to rebut the shocking facts about the "care home" in Mogilino disclosed in the BBC documentary Bulgaria's Abandoned Children. (If you don't know the story around Mogilino, check the relevant links at the right side of this page).
Now Maslarova's record in arrogance is broken by her colleague Gergana Grancharova, Minister for European Affairs. (WTF is the function of a "ministry for European affairs", other than giving some people comfortable lives on public payroll? And then we are told that there is no money for the teachers, the sick children etc. This was off-topic, excuse me.)
The information that I'll share with you was brought to me by the Mogilino blog. Its Nov. 15 post What's new gives a link to Minister Grancharova's blog post titled Mogilino. (I didn't know that some of our ministers have blogs. Haven't they any true friends to tell them that in their case, blogging isn't a very good idea?)
Grancharova's blog is in Bulgarian. I doubt that if it were in English, she would write the same things, though with our rulers everything is possible. I want the international community, the BBC and everybody to have access to the above mentioned post. Therefore, I am translating it below, omitting only the irrelevant first paragraph. Possibly I am violating copyright, to hell with it. Keep in mind that the author is a lady who has studied law and has a postgraduate qualification in International Human Rights Protection. The mentioned Red House is the building where the documentary was officially shown in Bulgaria for the first time. I won't add any further comments to the text.
"Mogilino. The BBC documentary about the care home for children with severe physical and mental disabilities. The shock of the audience after watching these 90 minutes of tremendous agony. The author, British Kate Blewett, who was these days in Bulgaria to explain what she intended to report with this film, who hasn't done his job and who must be very ashamed because of this horrible reality. Kate appeared before all national TV channels plus the crowded hall of the Red House, administered justice and went home. After her, a team from the French TV Channel 2 came. They want to make documentaries about the Bulgarian institutions for abandoned children... I am terrified by the thought that for people who don't know my country, Bulgaria will evoke only the memory of this documentary.
On Monday I visited the Mogilino care home with my colleagues Emilia Maslarova and Miglena Tacheva. We saw its reality, not a movie. I wanted to see with my own eyes what is done with public money, the money of us all, for the abandoned children. What is not done. I had previously watched the entire BBC documentary at the computer in my office. I had felt terrified and helpless. I had requested from the Social Ministry all relevant information in order to form my own picture, my own opinion. I had answered all letters I had received. I knew I had to go there. I contacted one of the large Austrian foundations that now establish in Bulgaria their work devoted to supporting institutions for disabled children. I suggested that they could start their work with Mogilino (they informed me that they were beginning their activity in Bulgaria with an initial sum of EUR 2 millions). They immediately accepted the idea and the next day sent their representative from Bucharest... directly to the care home in Mogilino. They contacted me again, saying that the situation there was much better than they expected... they couldn't begin with this home, it had everything, they would look for an institution in real need.
The children met us with joy. Emilia Maslarova knew most of them by name, they also knew her (I admit I was moved by this). The women employed at Mogilino asked me, "Why did Mrs. Kate lie to us, she promised us funds, support to the care home scheduled to be closed, this was the reason we let her make her film here. Why doesn't it show how we hug the children." The Bulgarian National Radio asked Mrs. Kate about the promised money - I tried, she said, but...
I know that the first reaction of every normal person after seeing such a documentary is to feel miserably. Unhappy. To touch wood secretly. To ask, "My God, why do such terrible things happen!" I know that the audience at the Red House applauded Kate Blewett. It is absurd to applaud after you have seen this documentary...
Children with severe mental and physical disabilities are born - I am saying this with deep sorrow - in all parts of the world. Despite the progress, despite globalization, despite scientific research and medicine. 10% of the EU population are people with disabilities. This is a tragedy and it looks the same painful way around the world, regardless whether these children are filmed in a specialized institution or in their own homes. Alas, some of the parents - in all parts of the world - abandon these children of their own. Perhaps they think they save their own future lives, they save themselves, their partners, their other children. The children in Mogilino are abandoned but only some of them have signed documents by their parents that they can be adopted by somebody who would be willing. Therefore, the state will facilitate the procedures for their adoption.
They have rights. According to Bulgarian and international laws. To film them, to expose details about their life, their medical record, their appearance - you have to obtain somebody's consent. Who allowed a camera to film over months their faces, their wounds, their catatonia. Who alowed a camera to film them naked?! Even if some of these chilren had the chance to be taken by adoptive parents, now after the documentary has broadcasted them as an edification, would anybody want to adopt them?!
We are living in Bulgaria. Bulgaria unfortunately isn't a rich country, not yet. The care home in Mogilino had to be closed back in July 2006 according to an act by the Government. The local Municipality council took a contrary stance. But the living condition for these children there are good, I am saying this only after I saw it with my own eyes, even Kate Blewett says it. There are cosy dormitories, there is a playroom with a pool of baloons, there is a special therapy room made back in 2001 with a water bed. 67 disabled children are under the care of 60 employees. Yes, there is no professional care in the true modern sense for these children. Yes, there aren't many experts (teachers, therapists, psychologists) who would agree to live and work constantly in a village and give individual care to each child. Here, the state is obliged to offer a solution - by providing much higher pay or by gradually moving these institutions to large cities. But we must say frankly that whatever tha state does, it will never change the fact of the tragedy - these children are, first, sick, and second, abandoned.
I ask myself, why do we cause ourselves this humiliation to applaud the filming of a tragedy. What is this urge? The tragedies everywhere in the world look the same way in a film. But the tragedy must be a bell calling for help, not an occasion to administer "justice".
I said in Mogilino that I am convinced that society must become and is the natural partner of the state in the matters concerning people with disabilities. Organizations of citizens can provide the specialized care and approach for this, similarly to the situation in all modern states. We in Bulgaria won't have a true elite until our successful people begin philantropic work. Until the philantropists of today and of today's scale are born. I also said that in Bulgaria, foundations are made by poor people with ideas, while abroad foundations are made by rich people with sentiments. We'll see the time when true celebrities will devote a part of their money to true causes. It won't be today but it will happen. And then the applause will be for the people who solve problems. Not for the creation of a problem by exposing accumulated problems. Not by putting a lable on a state... and by the following applause for this."
Now Maslarova's record in arrogance is broken by her colleague Gergana Grancharova, Minister for European Affairs. (WTF is the function of a "ministry for European affairs", other than giving some people comfortable lives on public payroll? And then we are told that there is no money for the teachers, the sick children etc. This was off-topic, excuse me.)
The information that I'll share with you was brought to me by the Mogilino blog. Its Nov. 15 post What's new gives a link to Minister Grancharova's blog post titled Mogilino. (I didn't know that some of our ministers have blogs. Haven't they any true friends to tell them that in their case, blogging isn't a very good idea?)
Grancharova's blog is in Bulgarian. I doubt that if it were in English, she would write the same things, though with our rulers everything is possible. I want the international community, the BBC and everybody to have access to the above mentioned post. Therefore, I am translating it below, omitting only the irrelevant first paragraph. Possibly I am violating copyright, to hell with it. Keep in mind that the author is a lady who has studied law and has a postgraduate qualification in International Human Rights Protection. The mentioned Red House is the building where the documentary was officially shown in Bulgaria for the first time. I won't add any further comments to the text.
"Mogilino. The BBC documentary about the care home for children with severe physical and mental disabilities. The shock of the audience after watching these 90 minutes of tremendous agony. The author, British Kate Blewett, who was these days in Bulgaria to explain what she intended to report with this film, who hasn't done his job and who must be very ashamed because of this horrible reality. Kate appeared before all national TV channels plus the crowded hall of the Red House, administered justice and went home. After her, a team from the French TV Channel 2 came. They want to make documentaries about the Bulgarian institutions for abandoned children... I am terrified by the thought that for people who don't know my country, Bulgaria will evoke only the memory of this documentary.
On Monday I visited the Mogilino care home with my colleagues Emilia Maslarova and Miglena Tacheva. We saw its reality, not a movie. I wanted to see with my own eyes what is done with public money, the money of us all, for the abandoned children. What is not done. I had previously watched the entire BBC documentary at the computer in my office. I had felt terrified and helpless. I had requested from the Social Ministry all relevant information in order to form my own picture, my own opinion. I had answered all letters I had received. I knew I had to go there. I contacted one of the large Austrian foundations that now establish in Bulgaria their work devoted to supporting institutions for disabled children. I suggested that they could start their work with Mogilino (they informed me that they were beginning their activity in Bulgaria with an initial sum of EUR 2 millions). They immediately accepted the idea and the next day sent their representative from Bucharest... directly to the care home in Mogilino. They contacted me again, saying that the situation there was much better than they expected... they couldn't begin with this home, it had everything, they would look for an institution in real need.
The children met us with joy. Emilia Maslarova knew most of them by name, they also knew her (I admit I was moved by this). The women employed at Mogilino asked me, "Why did Mrs. Kate lie to us, she promised us funds, support to the care home scheduled to be closed, this was the reason we let her make her film here. Why doesn't it show how we hug the children." The Bulgarian National Radio asked Mrs. Kate about the promised money - I tried, she said, but...
I know that the first reaction of every normal person after seeing such a documentary is to feel miserably. Unhappy. To touch wood secretly. To ask, "My God, why do such terrible things happen!" I know that the audience at the Red House applauded Kate Blewett. It is absurd to applaud after you have seen this documentary...
Children with severe mental and physical disabilities are born - I am saying this with deep sorrow - in all parts of the world. Despite the progress, despite globalization, despite scientific research and medicine. 10% of the EU population are people with disabilities. This is a tragedy and it looks the same painful way around the world, regardless whether these children are filmed in a specialized institution or in their own homes. Alas, some of the parents - in all parts of the world - abandon these children of their own. Perhaps they think they save their own future lives, they save themselves, their partners, their other children. The children in Mogilino are abandoned but only some of them have signed documents by their parents that they can be adopted by somebody who would be willing. Therefore, the state will facilitate the procedures for their adoption.
They have rights. According to Bulgarian and international laws. To film them, to expose details about their life, their medical record, their appearance - you have to obtain somebody's consent. Who allowed a camera to film over months their faces, their wounds, their catatonia. Who alowed a camera to film them naked?! Even if some of these chilren had the chance to be taken by adoptive parents, now after the documentary has broadcasted them as an edification, would anybody want to adopt them?!
We are living in Bulgaria. Bulgaria unfortunately isn't a rich country, not yet. The care home in Mogilino had to be closed back in July 2006 according to an act by the Government. The local Municipality council took a contrary stance. But the living condition for these children there are good, I am saying this only after I saw it with my own eyes, even Kate Blewett says it. There are cosy dormitories, there is a playroom with a pool of baloons, there is a special therapy room made back in 2001 with a water bed. 67 disabled children are under the care of 60 employees. Yes, there is no professional care in the true modern sense for these children. Yes, there aren't many experts (teachers, therapists, psychologists) who would agree to live and work constantly in a village and give individual care to each child. Here, the state is obliged to offer a solution - by providing much higher pay or by gradually moving these institutions to large cities. But we must say frankly that whatever tha state does, it will never change the fact of the tragedy - these children are, first, sick, and second, abandoned.
I ask myself, why do we cause ourselves this humiliation to applaud the filming of a tragedy. What is this urge? The tragedies everywhere in the world look the same way in a film. But the tragedy must be a bell calling for help, not an occasion to administer "justice".
I said in Mogilino that I am convinced that society must become and is the natural partner of the state in the matters concerning people with disabilities. Organizations of citizens can provide the specialized care and approach for this, similarly to the situation in all modern states. We in Bulgaria won't have a true elite until our successful people begin philantropic work. Until the philantropists of today and of today's scale are born. I also said that in Bulgaria, foundations are made by poor people with ideas, while abroad foundations are made by rich people with sentiments. We'll see the time when true celebrities will devote a part of their money to true causes. It won't be today but it will happen. And then the applause will be for the people who solve problems. Not for the creation of a problem by exposing accumulated problems. Not by putting a lable on a state... and by the following applause for this."
Thursday, November 01, 2007
Does anybody know what happened to Sofka?
I received the following comment to my Sept. 17 post about the BBC documentary Bulgaria's Abandoned Children:
"I am the mother of 2 Roma children that I adopted from Bulgarian orphanages 10 years ago. My daughter was 7 years old. When we were in Bulgaria visiting our daughter we found out that she had a twin. Further investigation let us to find out that the twin was still alive but was "severely affected." We asked for a medical evaluation and we were denied our request. We asked to visit her and we were told we would not be permitted to visit. We offered donations and they refused them. I was told by our facilitator that these places were horrible places. For 10 years I have been haunted by the thoughts of my daughters twin living in conditions that I would not even let my pets live in. Never having a family, never having access to medical help or services that may have changed her life. Every time I look at my daughter I wonder, what happened to this girl named Sofka. She would be 17 now.
My daughter doesn't know she has a twin. By the time we adopted her she had been so severely neglected physically and emotionally that the effects were lasting. She continues to struggle with post traumatic stress disorder from beatings and other events that she can't even verbalize. She is developmentally delayed. BUT she is getting the help she needs, she has enough to eat, she is living the life that her sister was never given the chance to live.
Maybe someday we will find out what happened to this girl."
I am reposting this comment with the meager hope that it may be read by somebody who knows the fate of this abandoned girl named Sofka (maybe Sophia). If you know something about it, please write a comment. If you are a Bulgarian blogger, you may go to my Bulgarian blog where I have translated this publication, copy it and republish it in your blog, so that it is read by more people.
"I am the mother of 2 Roma children that I adopted from Bulgarian orphanages 10 years ago. My daughter was 7 years old. When we were in Bulgaria visiting our daughter we found out that she had a twin. Further investigation let us to find out that the twin was still alive but was "severely affected." We asked for a medical evaluation and we were denied our request. We asked to visit her and we were told we would not be permitted to visit. We offered donations and they refused them. I was told by our facilitator that these places were horrible places. For 10 years I have been haunted by the thoughts of my daughters twin living in conditions that I would not even let my pets live in. Never having a family, never having access to medical help or services that may have changed her life. Every time I look at my daughter I wonder, what happened to this girl named Sofka. She would be 17 now.
My daughter doesn't know she has a twin. By the time we adopted her she had been so severely neglected physically and emotionally that the effects were lasting. She continues to struggle with post traumatic stress disorder from beatings and other events that she can't even verbalize. She is developmentally delayed. BUT she is getting the help she needs, she has enough to eat, she is living the life that her sister was never given the chance to live.
Maybe someday we will find out what happened to this girl."
I am reposting this comment with the meager hope that it may be read by somebody who knows the fate of this abandoned girl named Sofka (maybe Sophia). If you know something about it, please write a comment. If you are a Bulgarian blogger, you may go to my Bulgarian blog where I have translated this publication, copy it and republish it in your blog, so that it is read by more people.
Monday, October 08, 2007
Online petition to help Bulgaria's abandoned disabled children
This petition is at http://www.bgpetition.com/izostaveni_deca/index.html. It is triggered by the shocking BBC film about a Bulgarian institution for disabled children (I've blogged about this film at http://mayas-corner.blogspot.com/2007/09/bulgarias-abandoned-children.html). Unfortunately, the petition is for Bulgarian citizens only.
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
How to help the institutionalized disabled children of Bulgaria
Below, I am reposting a comment by Elizabeth Stubbins to my Sept. 17 post Bulgaria's Abandoned Children, with admiration to her work.
I'm so glad that Bulgarian bloggers are covering this issue. In 2006, I conducted a human rights monitoring mission to the social care homes at Dzhurkovo, Petrovo and the Sofia Home for Children With Mental Disabilities, and posted my findings at: http://warehousesofneglect.civiblog.org/blog
I still remember spending the first evening with my team (a translator, a Bulgarian lawyer, and a guy from Sofia who was helping coordinate the mission). The only man in the mission sat and cried after we visited Dzhurkovo - he was Bulgarian and had never seen an institution, not wanting to believe that conditions were as bad as they are.
I have posted ideas as to how people can help, and I would be very grateful if you could include my site in your blogroll, and re-post the five points below:
1. The Bulgarian charity Karin Dom (www.karindom.com) is the first Bulgarian organisation to work specifically for the rehabilitation and social integration of children with disabilities. They accept both donations and volunteers. If you are unable to give money yourself, then sponsored activities or local events might raise sufficient funds for a donation.
2. Other non-governmental organizations work to end mass institutionalization of people with mental disabilities throughout Eastern Europe and the CIS, and worldwide. Donating money to these organizations, and spreading awareness of their work may be helpful in the long-term. Three such organizations are: the Mental Disability Advocacy Center (www.mdac.info), the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee (www.bghelsinki.org) and Mental Disability Rights International (www.mdri.org). MDRI has not engaged recently in advocacy or research concerning Bulgaria.
3. Spreading awareness and writing letters to your MEP may be a good way to help. The European Parliament Disability Intergroup is the EU forum to discuss issues relating to the treatment of people with disabilities. A Google search revealed that the Lib Dem MEP Liz Lynne is strongly involved with the Intergroup, and she may well be interested in receiving a letter from you, even if she is not your MEP. Liz Lynne MEP's website is at: http://www.lizlynne.org.uk/pages/disability.html
4. Donating clothing, shoes etc. to the social care homes may not result in the change that is urgently needed. When I visited Dzhurkovo in June 2006, I saw bags and bags of donated clothing lying unsorted and undistributed in a downstairs storeroom, while the young adult residents of the home wore dirty clothing and mismatched socks (no shoes). The only soft toys I saw at Dzhurkovo (also donated by people in Western Europe) were in the Director's reception room, out of reach of the teenage residents. There are allegations by some Bulgarian NGOs that donated goods are "distributed" by the workers at social care homes into the villages, taken perhaps as "perks" of their jobs, rather than reaching the institutionalised children for whom the donations are intended. I did not see any direct evidence of this while in Bulgaria, but Bulgarian-based experts have assured me that corruption is a real danger.
5. My first priority for activism and reform in Bulgaria is skills-based, not political. I would love to see a team of European and US/Commonwealth experts in paediatrics, child development, child psychiatry and psychology, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, and special education travel to Bulgaria to each of the country's many social care homes, and to train workers in best practices for child welfare.
If this were to happen, the visits by experts must be accompanied by policy change and an honest and thorough approach to deinstitutionalization - dismantling the institutions and implementing community-based care alternatives that respect the right to health, the right to education, and the right of all disabled persons to live lives of dignity, self-reliance and community integration.
It would be helpful if volunteers could coordinate such a network of experts - by raising awareness in your workplace, among your friends and family, and in any community groups of which you are part. Online recruiting would be very helpful.
Thank you,
Elizabeth Stubbins
I'm so glad that Bulgarian bloggers are covering this issue. In 2006, I conducted a human rights monitoring mission to the social care homes at Dzhurkovo, Petrovo and the Sofia Home for Children With Mental Disabilities, and posted my findings at: http://warehousesofneglect.civiblog.org/blog
I still remember spending the first evening with my team (a translator, a Bulgarian lawyer, and a guy from Sofia who was helping coordinate the mission). The only man in the mission sat and cried after we visited Dzhurkovo - he was Bulgarian and had never seen an institution, not wanting to believe that conditions were as bad as they are.
I have posted ideas as to how people can help, and I would be very grateful if you could include my site in your blogroll, and re-post the five points below:
1. The Bulgarian charity Karin Dom (www.karindom.com) is the first Bulgarian organisation to work specifically for the rehabilitation and social integration of children with disabilities. They accept both donations and volunteers. If you are unable to give money yourself, then sponsored activities or local events might raise sufficient funds for a donation.
2. Other non-governmental organizations work to end mass institutionalization of people with mental disabilities throughout Eastern Europe and the CIS, and worldwide. Donating money to these organizations, and spreading awareness of their work may be helpful in the long-term. Three such organizations are: the Mental Disability Advocacy Center (www.mdac.info), the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee (www.bghelsinki.org) and Mental Disability Rights International (www.mdri.org). MDRI has not engaged recently in advocacy or research concerning Bulgaria.
3. Spreading awareness and writing letters to your MEP may be a good way to help. The European Parliament Disability Intergroup is the EU forum to discuss issues relating to the treatment of people with disabilities. A Google search revealed that the Lib Dem MEP Liz Lynne is strongly involved with the Intergroup, and she may well be interested in receiving a letter from you, even if she is not your MEP. Liz Lynne MEP's website is at: http://www.lizlynne.org.uk/pages/disability.html
4. Donating clothing, shoes etc. to the social care homes may not result in the change that is urgently needed. When I visited Dzhurkovo in June 2006, I saw bags and bags of donated clothing lying unsorted and undistributed in a downstairs storeroom, while the young adult residents of the home wore dirty clothing and mismatched socks (no shoes). The only soft toys I saw at Dzhurkovo (also donated by people in Western Europe) were in the Director's reception room, out of reach of the teenage residents. There are allegations by some Bulgarian NGOs that donated goods are "distributed" by the workers at social care homes into the villages, taken perhaps as "perks" of their jobs, rather than reaching the institutionalised children for whom the donations are intended. I did not see any direct evidence of this while in Bulgaria, but Bulgarian-based experts have assured me that corruption is a real danger.
5. My first priority for activism and reform in Bulgaria is skills-based, not political. I would love to see a team of European and US/Commonwealth experts in paediatrics, child development, child psychiatry and psychology, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, and special education travel to Bulgaria to each of the country's many social care homes, and to train workers in best practices for child welfare.
If this were to happen, the visits by experts must be accompanied by policy change and an honest and thorough approach to deinstitutionalization - dismantling the institutions and implementing community-based care alternatives that respect the right to health, the right to education, and the right of all disabled persons to live lives of dignity, self-reliance and community integration.
It would be helpful if volunteers could coordinate such a network of experts - by raising awareness in your workplace, among your friends and family, and in any community groups of which you are part. Online recruiting would be very helpful.
Thank you,
Elizabeth Stubbins
Monday, September 17, 2007
Bulgaria's abandoned children
A documentary of this title, by Kate Blewett, was aired by BBC4 Channel on Sept. 13. It featured one of our numerous infamous institutions for disabled children. Bulgaria has more institutionalised mentally and physically disabled children than anywhere else in Europe (http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/documentaries/features/bulgarias-children.shtml). They are either abandoned because of their disabilities or become disabled as a result of institutionalization. I wanted to write a serious post about this, but I simply cannot, so I put together citations of strong words said by concerned people.
Gererd O'Donovan wrote in Telegraph, "Kate Blewett’s Bulgaria’s Abandoned Children (BBC4) contained another 90 minutes of undiluted horror. Anyone familiar with the Romanian orphanage scandals of the early Nineties will have stared in shocked disbelief that nearly 20 years on precisely the same pattern of appalling cruelty and neglect is being repeated in another former Communist state. The chief difference is that Bulgaria is already a member of the European Union... It is no exaggeration to say that most domestic animals are treated better than these unfortunate boys and girls, who get little treatment and no education or stimulation, and are condemned to rock silently and slowly waste away in body and mind. At times it was impossible to believe the cynicism of the staff. At others, it was impossible not to turn away from the pain and suffering on display. Nothing on television this year has brought me closer to tears" (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2007/09/14/nosplit/bvtv14last.xml).
The "social care home" shown is located in the small village of Mogilino. Our authorities prefer to hide such institutions in far-away corners, so that to be as invisible as possible and also, as sometimes is openly said, to provide jobs for local people (!). The BBC team mentioned that the home is "the main employer" in the village. As an autistic American commented, "The jobs for local people is a big issue to politicians when the institution is in a small community, and, thus, a major employer in the area... The employment of people who don't live in institutions ranks higher than the human rights and dignity of those inside them, at least in many politician's minds."
Personally shocked by what she saw, Kate Blewett sent a letter to the Bulgarian ambassador. You can read it at http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/documentaries/features/bulgaria-prod-letter.shtml. It says, "...We observed severe physical neglect. In one case a child's leg was broken, and carers seemed oblivious to the great distress they were causing the child by manhandling it with a broken leg. In other cases children became visibly thinner and weaker over the months of filming. Three children died during the period of filming (i.e. 3 children out of 75 died over a 9-month period - M.M.). The Director of the Institute said she chose the children's diets and that they were adequate. Yet the nurse said the children were suffering from malnutrition as a result of inadequate diets... As well as observing the physical abuse of children by workers, we were also made aware of allegations of sexual abuse...".
Ambassador Matev in his reply (http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/documentaries/features/bulgaria-embassy-letter.shtml) paints such a rosy picture as if he is describing a different planet. The end of his letter will tell you all you need to know about the arrogance of Bulgaria's ruling oligarchy: "Not a single Institution has received a bad or unsatisfactory assessment for the health services they provide... It is my sincere hope that the position of the Bulgarian government will be reflected in your documentary."
I haven't seen the film but here are random quotes from people who have, commenting the same Telegraph article:
"Unbelievable! Is Europe still in the dark ages. How dare a member state be guilty of such grotesque abuse! The unremitting physical pain some of these children were obviously in was unimaginable, the circumstances of their environment would not be permitted in the worst prisons in the world, some international outcry would have limited such atrocities. I would hope this documentary is broadcast again and again, and Again!! gut wrenching as it is, so that the public becomes aware of the disgraceful attitudes and ignorance of a country that has been allowed to join the EU."
"There are a lot of places with similar conditions all over Bulgaria. I hope EU will do something - because our goverment is blind for this problem. In every home for physically and mentally disabled persons in Bulgaria you can see the same situation. Posted by Man from Bg." (Note that he hasn't written his name. There is a growing tendency for Bulgarians who criticize to remain anonymous - M.M.)
"That director needs to be jailed! how can people get away with such atrocity? Lame excuses such as 'its just their disease,' and 'i've done everything i'm supposed to do' just doesn't cut, it's absolute evil and self-interest. Some of those images were as terrible as those we've seen at concentration camps. Those poor babies, something must be done! What can we do?"
"Since watching Bulgaria's unwanted children last night my heart has ached, the worst thing was that the people running the home think that they are doing a fantastic job! I saw how they force fed them so fast these poor children barely had time to swallow, then how the big boy (Milan) was beaten by the male care worker, the poor boy worked so hard to please and you could see his terror trying to get his chores done perfectly."
"I'm sure there was a lot more abuse physical and sexual. God, blokes were showering young vunerable women, and children were being battered and starved to death. God knows to what extent things were really bad, because they were putting on a good show for the cameras."
"I saw the prgramme two days ago. I couldn't believe my eyes. It just looked like Auschwitz. They were naked, emaciated and led to the showers. Moreover, the fact that the 'carers' were fat made me sick. The people running these 'care homes' must be brought befiore a tribunal for crimes against humanity."
"I have visited several of these orphanages over the last decade, and know that the story at Mogilino is common elsewhere. The responsibility for perpetuation of the problem lies with the central and local governments, and the orphanage directors, many of whom don't know how to change the situation, and some of whom don't want to."
"People who are thinking about going on holiday to Bulgaria should cancel holidays in protest and write to the government and explain that the apalling conditions in this care home along with the whole social care system must be addressed with extreme urgency. As Bulgaria has a thriving tourist economy and enjoy profits, the Bulgarian Government must realise that people will not enjoy their holiday if they know that children with special needs are left in cruel concentration camps."
"Take Action Now! why don't we all "BOYCOTT BULGARIA"? Just refuse to holiday, or buy property there, and then you will see Bulgaria 's Goverment get themselves together and spring to action. At the moment they DON'T CARE."
"Stop Saying "If only there was something I can do ...". There is! WRITE TO YOU Mep TODAY AND DEMAND THAT THIS IS ADDRESSED IMMEDIATELY .. I have already done so via e-mail ... it costs nothing and if enough people do it they could act ... they are definitely the people who can make a change ... if you do have money DONATE IT TO THE CHARITIES LINKED ABOVE." (There are links to charities both at the Telegraph page and at the BBC page - M.M.)
"Please Please Help these People, the young and the old who are being abused and tortured. We all need to send out a strong message to Bulgaria whose Goverment does not care,and is rotten and corrupt. 1.Do Not Holiday there, 2.Do not buy Property there 3.Write a letter (a short one will do) if possible to the Bulgarian Goverment. Tell them you, and all your mates are Boycotting them unless all the instituitions for the vunerable are greatly improved and monitored by the E.U . including money, food and clothes from charities, because that too is stolen, from the vunerable."
"Shame - and indeed guilt - on us if we do nothing."
UPDATE: The film is available online. A commenter kindly sent me the link: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-9176914173325307126. I don't know whether the copy is legal, but even if it isn't, I think this case is worth some copyright violation. Go and watch the video, if your nerves are strong enough to endure.
Gererd O'Donovan wrote in Telegraph, "Kate Blewett’s Bulgaria’s Abandoned Children (BBC4) contained another 90 minutes of undiluted horror. Anyone familiar with the Romanian orphanage scandals of the early Nineties will have stared in shocked disbelief that nearly 20 years on precisely the same pattern of appalling cruelty and neglect is being repeated in another former Communist state. The chief difference is that Bulgaria is already a member of the European Union... It is no exaggeration to say that most domestic animals are treated better than these unfortunate boys and girls, who get little treatment and no education or stimulation, and are condemned to rock silently and slowly waste away in body and mind. At times it was impossible to believe the cynicism of the staff. At others, it was impossible not to turn away from the pain and suffering on display. Nothing on television this year has brought me closer to tears" (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2007/09/14/nosplit/bvtv14last.xml).
The "social care home" shown is located in the small village of Mogilino. Our authorities prefer to hide such institutions in far-away corners, so that to be as invisible as possible and also, as sometimes is openly said, to provide jobs for local people (!). The BBC team mentioned that the home is "the main employer" in the village. As an autistic American commented, "The jobs for local people is a big issue to politicians when the institution is in a small community, and, thus, a major employer in the area... The employment of people who don't live in institutions ranks higher than the human rights and dignity of those inside them, at least in many politician's minds."
Personally shocked by what she saw, Kate Blewett sent a letter to the Bulgarian ambassador. You can read it at http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/documentaries/features/bulgaria-prod-letter.shtml. It says, "...We observed severe physical neglect. In one case a child's leg was broken, and carers seemed oblivious to the great distress they were causing the child by manhandling it with a broken leg. In other cases children became visibly thinner and weaker over the months of filming. Three children died during the period of filming (i.e. 3 children out of 75 died over a 9-month period - M.M.). The Director of the Institute said she chose the children's diets and that they were adequate. Yet the nurse said the children were suffering from malnutrition as a result of inadequate diets... As well as observing the physical abuse of children by workers, we were also made aware of allegations of sexual abuse...".
Ambassador Matev in his reply (http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/documentaries/features/bulgaria-embassy-letter.shtml) paints such a rosy picture as if he is describing a different planet. The end of his letter will tell you all you need to know about the arrogance of Bulgaria's ruling oligarchy: "Not a single Institution has received a bad or unsatisfactory assessment for the health services they provide... It is my sincere hope that the position of the Bulgarian government will be reflected in your documentary."
I haven't seen the film but here are random quotes from people who have, commenting the same Telegraph article:
"Unbelievable! Is Europe still in the dark ages. How dare a member state be guilty of such grotesque abuse! The unremitting physical pain some of these children were obviously in was unimaginable, the circumstances of their environment would not be permitted in the worst prisons in the world, some international outcry would have limited such atrocities. I would hope this documentary is broadcast again and again, and Again!! gut wrenching as it is, so that the public becomes aware of the disgraceful attitudes and ignorance of a country that has been allowed to join the EU."
"There are a lot of places with similar conditions all over Bulgaria. I hope EU will do something - because our goverment is blind for this problem. In every home for physically and mentally disabled persons in Bulgaria you can see the same situation. Posted by Man from Bg." (Note that he hasn't written his name. There is a growing tendency for Bulgarians who criticize to remain anonymous - M.M.)
"That director needs to be jailed! how can people get away with such atrocity? Lame excuses such as 'its just their disease,' and 'i've done everything i'm supposed to do' just doesn't cut, it's absolute evil and self-interest. Some of those images were as terrible as those we've seen at concentration camps. Those poor babies, something must be done! What can we do?"
"Since watching Bulgaria's unwanted children last night my heart has ached, the worst thing was that the people running the home think that they are doing a fantastic job! I saw how they force fed them so fast these poor children barely had time to swallow, then how the big boy (Milan) was beaten by the male care worker, the poor boy worked so hard to please and you could see his terror trying to get his chores done perfectly."
"I'm sure there was a lot more abuse physical and sexual. God, blokes were showering young vunerable women, and children were being battered and starved to death. God knows to what extent things were really bad, because they were putting on a good show for the cameras."
"I saw the prgramme two days ago. I couldn't believe my eyes. It just looked like Auschwitz. They were naked, emaciated and led to the showers. Moreover, the fact that the 'carers' were fat made me sick. The people running these 'care homes' must be brought befiore a tribunal for crimes against humanity."
"I have visited several of these orphanages over the last decade, and know that the story at Mogilino is common elsewhere. The responsibility for perpetuation of the problem lies with the central and local governments, and the orphanage directors, many of whom don't know how to change the situation, and some of whom don't want to."
"People who are thinking about going on holiday to Bulgaria should cancel holidays in protest and write to the government and explain that the apalling conditions in this care home along with the whole social care system must be addressed with extreme urgency. As Bulgaria has a thriving tourist economy and enjoy profits, the Bulgarian Government must realise that people will not enjoy their holiday if they know that children with special needs are left in cruel concentration camps."
"Take Action Now! why don't we all "BOYCOTT BULGARIA"? Just refuse to holiday, or buy property there, and then you will see Bulgaria 's Goverment get themselves together and spring to action. At the moment they DON'T CARE."
"Stop Saying "If only there was something I can do ...". There is! WRITE TO YOU Mep TODAY AND DEMAND THAT THIS IS ADDRESSED IMMEDIATELY .. I have already done so via e-mail ... it costs nothing and if enough people do it they could act ... they are definitely the people who can make a change ... if you do have money DONATE IT TO THE CHARITIES LINKED ABOVE." (There are links to charities both at the Telegraph page and at the BBC page - M.M.)
"Please Please Help these People, the young and the old who are being abused and tortured. We all need to send out a strong message to Bulgaria whose Goverment does not care,and is rotten and corrupt. 1.Do Not Holiday there, 2.Do not buy Property there 3.Write a letter (a short one will do) if possible to the Bulgarian Goverment. Tell them you, and all your mates are Boycotting them unless all the instituitions for the vunerable are greatly improved and monitored by the E.U . including money, food and clothes from charities, because that too is stolen, from the vunerable."
"Shame - and indeed guilt - on us if we do nothing."
UPDATE: The film is available online. A commenter kindly sent me the link: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-9176914173325307126. I don't know whether the copy is legal, but even if it isn't, I think this case is worth some copyright violation. Go and watch the video, if your nerves are strong enough to endure.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)