€1 million grant to benefit babies in Bulgaria
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€1 million grant to benefit babies in Bulgaria
"We are extremely proud to support Hope and Homes for Children, as a respected and qualified partner in helping vulnerable children across the globe.”
Jens-Jørgen Pedersen, Senior Advisor, VELUX Foundations
19 October 12
The VELUX Foundations have awarded Hope and Homes for Children a grant of €986,290 towards our work to eradicate institutions for babies in Bulgaria.
About 8,000 children are currently growing up in institutions across Bulgaria. More than 2,000 of them are under the age of three and live in 31 designated institutions for babies – the highest number in the EU. Nearly 99 per cent of these infants are not orphans, with most having been abandoned due to the pressures of poverty, prejudice or family breakdown.
The majority of Bulgaria’s institutions for babies resemble cold, sterile hospitals, while the worst have been described as death camps. All are a legacy of the communist era and the economic and political instability experienced in the 1990s.
During the next two years, with the VELUX Foundations' support, we will focus our efforts in Bulgaria on closing eight institutions for babies as the most sensitive period for a child’s brain development is in its first three years. Every 2.6 months spent in an institution before the age of three can stunt a child’s growth by one month and significantly lower their IQ levels. Fortunately experts believe institutionalised babies can make a rapid recovery, provided they’re placed in a family before the age of three.
We will reintegrate nearly 400 young children back into family environments as part of a process known as Deinstitutionalisation (DI) – the closure of institutions and the development of alternative family-based care services. This will involve establishing foster care networks, training local childcare professionals and providing practical and innovative solutions to keep vulnerable families together.
The Bulgarian Government will then use the project as a model of best practice which will be scaled up and replicated on a national level - helping the country to lead the way in DI across the region by ultimately closing its entire network of 127 institutions for children of all ages.
The VELUX Foundations were created by Villum Kann Rasmussen - the founder of VELUX windows and the VKR Group. It supports non-profit projects with scientific, cultural, artistic or social objectives.
"We are extremely proud to support Hope and Homes for Children, as a respected and qualified partner in helping vulnerable children across the globe,” said Jens-Jørgen Pedersen, Senior Advisor at the VELUX Foundations.
Download the lastest issue of HOPE to read about the project in detail or find out more about our work in Bulgaria.
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