Good 3.59 is the score the state received for its care of children and families. This marks the first time since 2012 that institutions have “moved” from average to good performance for all 13 editions of the NNC’s annual monitoring “Report Card – What is the Average Government Score for Childcare?”. It is noteworthy that for the total nine areas in the report, only the scores for “Child Welfare” and “Early Childhood Development” are lower than the previous year, all other scores are now higher and, with the exception of “Child Health”, move up from “Average” to “Good”.
Report Card 2024 was presented to politicians and media in the National Assembly building, hosted by the Committee on Children, Family, Youth and Sport and in the presence of children from the Megaphone Youth Network, who addressed questions directly to the politicians. The announcement of this year’s result was attended by members of the parliamentary committees on health, education, labour, social and demographic issues, as well as the executive authorities – Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, Ministry of Education and Science, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Youth and Sports, experts from the Sofia Municipality, Agency for Social Assistance, Directorate for Social Assistance, etc. who took part in the discussion on the state policies for children and families in the country over the past year.
Data and main conclusions from the report, as well as the assessments in each of the nine monitoring areas were presented by Georgi Elenkov – Director ‘Policies for Children’ at NNC, Antoaneta Ivanova – Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus Association Bulgaria, Prof. Nelli Petrova, Chair of the Board of the Institute for Social Activities and Practices, Kaloyan Damyanov – Chair of the National Association of Resource Teachers, as well as Iliyana Kartuleva, Mihaela Koleva and Christian Mirchev from NNC’s Youth Network “Megaphone” posed direct questions to the politicians in the hall. Highlights were presented to the Commission on three of the nine areas of the report: Education (good 3.78), Child Health (average 3.49) and Justice for Children (good 3.77).
The expert survey is again based on data from more than 25 national state and municipal institutions, the analysis and evaluations of 41 authors and 7 external evaluators, as well as the opinions of more than 3 200 children, youth and adults who participated in this year’s surveys. According to NNC, qualitative differences between the work of caretaker governments and the work of a regular government are visible. The six-month partial political lull in the second half of 2023 has led to a faster process of adoption of several overdue reforms, including in the welfare system, social services, protection from domestic violence, child justice, and adoption. Key reforms have been undertaken in education, early childhood development, child and maternal health, and the structure of the SACP. However, for yet another year our country remains without an adopted National Strategy for the Child (2024-2030) – the necessary basis for multi-sectoral integrated support for children and families. Policies to address regional disparities in maternal and child health, early care, education, and access to services are particularly important. The key is to stop regression in the protection system.
The grades in the “Report Card” are written on the principle of those in school – from Weak 2 when the state has not taken any action to address the problems in the areas of the report, to Excellent 6 when measures have been introduced with proven effectiveness. The annual report assesses the progress of state institutions in child care in 9 areas – Child participation, Child Welfare, Family Environment and Alternative care, Protection from all forms of Violence, Child Justice, Early Childhood Development, Child Health, Education, Sport, Culture and Leisure.
What do the scores tell us in “Report Card 2024 – – What is the Average Government Score for Childcare?”
Child Welfare I Average 3,24
In ten years, the number of children in Bulgaria has dropped significantly, and infant mortality remains one of the highest in Europe. In 2013, the number of live births in the country was nearly 66 600, and in 2022 it will be 10 000 fewer. Preliminary figures for 2023 are for fewer than 50 000 births. The child poverty rate in Bulgaria is one of the highest in the EU – 26.1%. One in four children in the country lives in deprivation and 43.5% of children at risk of poverty experience material deprivation. Thus, 25% cannot have equipment to play outside, 16% do not have appropriate books for their age, nearly 15% cannot have at least one meal a day with chicken, meat or fish, 19% do not have a second pair of shoes for the season and 27% do not get a break outside the home for at least a week. Children of migrant workers are vulnerable – one in four children in this country live without one or both parents as they work abroad. Nearly 40,000 have dropped out of education. Many of these children, placed with relatives and in foster care, remain invisible to the state. A positive development is the reform of the social assistance system, thanks to which the amount of social benefits is now determined according to the poverty line in the country in order to increase the volume and coverage of benefits. The lack of systemic measures to include children and reduce the negative impact of the social environment and geographical differences on their living conditions remains a problem. More data and infographics are available HERE.
Family Environment and Alternative Care I Good 3,67
In 2023, support to parents and children in family care and those in alternative care (residential or family-type) remains ineffective. In the middle of last year, the Regulation on the Quality of Social Services came into force, but the practice has shown a lack of understanding and difficulty in implementing its quality requirements. Concrete actions were taken to accelerate the closure of the four remaining old-type homes, but in the end, none were closed, and the Ministry of Health abandoned the construction with European funds of the envisaged infrastructure for permanent medical care. 2023 was the last year in which, after more than a decade of funding with EU projects, the state had to change the model of foster care. However, no reform was implemented and there were more deletions of foster carers than entries. Foster care as a whole has stagnated and since 2015 the proportion of children aged 0-17 placed in foster care has increased by only 1.5%. To date, there are nearly 1,500 children placed in foster care in the country. A total of 52 780 Ukrainian citizens have remained in Bulgaria. In the school year 2023/2024 there are 882 Ukrainian children in kindergartens and 2 886 pupils in schools, for whom additional Bulgarian language education is provided. A record 3,843 cases of unaccompanied children were registered in 2023. The problems of protection and integration of refugee children remain completely unresolved. The reform of the adoption system should be noted as a key positive step in the area of Family Environment and Alternative Care. More data and infographics are available HERE.
Protection of Children from all Forms of Violence I Goof 3,54
This area receives a higher score due to changes in the Law on Protection from Domestic Violence aimed at more effective law enforcement and the creation of safeguards to protect the interest of petitioners, including child victims. There is a lack of investment in the staffing of the social system and a lack of response to the ongoing regression in the protection system. Cases of violence against children show the insufficient capacity and resources of professionals working with and for children – social workers, law enforcement, etc., who should identify and support children and are involved in prevention, reporting and response to cases of violence. Programmes of active psychological work in schools aimed at prevention and intervention of school bullying are not supported. The SACP National Information System for the unified recording of data on violence against children is not operational. In the school year 2022/2023, 3 319 incidents of physical bullying and verbal aggression were registered by the Ministry of Education. The figures are incomplete because cases are often not publicized until they become complicated and reach the media. One in 7 children in Bulgaria report being victims of online bullying and harassment on social networks, but there is no sustained government support for the work of the National Safer Internet Centre, which received a record 46 300 reports in 2023. There were 563 reports of family violence – an increase of 2% in 2022 and 5.55% in 2021. More than 60 calls for a child at risk involved in parental conflict have been recorded. Once again, the state has failed to implement effective measures to prevent and reduce traffic incidents. There is an increased number of children killed and injured on the road – 30 children lost their lives and 1136 were injured. More data and infographics are available HERE .
Justice for Children I Good 3,77
The subject area receives the highest score compared to previous years due to the important changes from 2023 in the Criminal Code, The Law on Assistance and Financial Compensation to Victims of Crime, the Law on the Ministry of the Interior and the Instruction on the Procedure for Detention related to better guaranteeing the rights of child victims and/or witnesses of crime and children suspected or accused in criminal proceedings. In 2023, however, there was no reform of the system of combating delinquency and better prevention of child criminalization. There is no uniform standard for dealing with children in judicial and extrajudicial proceedings, and the scheduling of interrogations of child victims in a courtroom rather than in the 70 or so specialised ‘blue rooms’ that have been built around the country continues. Bulgaria still has 3 institutions with a strict restrictive regime, where children of different ages and with different gravity of the acts are interned, which is a prerequisite for further criminalization. The number of juvenile offenders (14-17 years old) is 3343, with 868 convicted offenders. However, the number of convicted juveniles aged 18-24 rose sharply to 5394. These statistics show that, in many cases, the criminalisation of children up to the age of 18 has not been successfully registered and stopped, and it is only after they reach adulthood that the state first ‘sees’ them, but now treats them as objects of criminal repression. The partial introduction of mandatory court-ordered family mediation is a positive sign, but the state continues to show an inability to prevent and effectively address highly escalating parental conflicts. There is more from the field HERE.
Early Childhood Development I Average 3,44
Although maternal and child health was identified as a priority in several strategic documents for health system development in 2023, the reported data do not show significant improvement in practices and health outcomes. There is a persistent trend that activities under the programmes for follow-up of at-risk pregnancies and for biochemical screening are being implemented at no more than 50% of what was planned. No real progress has been made in several key areas of early childhood development (ECD), from the introduction of a National Quality Framework for Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) services to the unification of the management of nurseries and kindergartens. A positive development is the constitution of a working group for activities related to the development of a strategic document for ECD with a horizon of 2030. However, it is not known how many children with disabilities or developmental difficulties who are not officially registered have them. There is a complete lack of systematic data on the number of children with disabilities and developmental difficulties at an early age. Due to regulatory gaps, there is a lack of early learning and care services that are sufficient in number and of sufficient quality and variety, and of uniform standards for ECD services that ensure tracking of outcomes and quality. In many cases, services fail to cover the most critical age for early intervention, namely 0 to 3 years. More data and findings are available HERE.
Child Health I Average 3,49
After last year’s lowest score in ten years of 2.98, this year the district is rated with the higher average of 3.49, due to two additional codes adopted by the NHIF, through which more than 550 Bulgarian children and adults will be able to apply for reimbursement of medical foods for home use from 2024. Progress was also made in the activities of health mediators. Another reason for the higher score is the known progress in the construction of the National Multiprofile Paediatric Hospital without further delay. There is a severe shortage of health personnel in the health system, low quality and coverage of obstetric care is a problem, and there are no measures to overcome regional disparities in maternal and child health. The number of nurses has doubled in 30 years, from 53 810 in 1990 to 28 827 in 2022. There are also twice as many midwives in the country – from 53 810 today there are 28 827. There is a dramatic shortage of staff in other specialties. There are only 1626 pediatricians in Bulgaria with over 1 million children, only 141 neonatologists, 53 pediatric cardiologists, 23 pediatric clinical hematologists and oncologists, 62 pediatric surgeons, and 22 pediatric psychiatrists. The infant mortality rate in Bulgaria is 4.8%, which remains above the EU average of 3.2%. The tendency for infant mortality to be significantly higher in rural areas than in urban areas (7.4% versus 4%) is persistent. That is why among the recommendations in the “Notebook 2024” are urgent measures to solve the staffing crisis in healthcare and to overcome regional disparities. The problem of the lack of combined health and social services for children with various addictions and mental health problems also remains unresolved. The lowest age of a person admitted to hospital for intoxication is 8 years, and over 14% of students report having used a substance at some point in their lives. The largest proportions had used marijuana (11.9%), amphetamines (5.5%), cocaine (4.9%), and hashish (4.8%). The first use of stimulants started on average at the age of 16. Only two cities have psychosocial rehabilitation programmes for persons under 18 who were dependent on or abused drugs, but both are not funded by the state budget and users have to pay a monthly fee. The state refuses to take measures to restrict the advertising of gambling, and the psychosocial harm is comparable to that of major depressive disorder and alcohol abuse. The MoH does not collect data on mental illness and its treatment in children and adolescents. There are only two child psychiatric clinics in the country – in Varna and Sofia, and profiled services in child and adolescent psychiatry are available in only 3 cities in the country. In 2023, 185 suicide attempts were made by children, 8 of which were fatal. Read more about child health care HERE.
Education I Good 3,78
Children in Bulgaria are educated in 1942 comprehensive schools. There are currently 549,926 pupils enrolled in them from grades 1 to 12. They are taught by 55,500 teachers, 30% of whom are over 55 years of age. PISA data illustrate the urgent need for reforms in the quality and equity of access to education in our country. Bulgaria remains among the countries with the highest educational inequalities in the world – students’ achievement depends on the financial situation of their parents; on where children live; on the type of school they attend. And in 2023, there is no effective monitoring of the implementation of educational policies, programmes and projects; there is no real inclusion of all children according to their specific needs; there is no comprehensive policy for children with SEN focused on profiling and vocational training and their inclusion in the labour market. A competency-based model of selection, training and appraisal of principals and teachers has not been introduced. It should be acknowledged that the score in the field of education in the Notebook 2024 has been raised this year due to the processes initiated by the regular government for the elaboration of a quality standard for education, the reform of the qualification and attestation of teaching professionals and changes in the Regulation on Inclusive Education. There is more about education in our country HERE.
Sports, Recreation and Leisure I Good 3,82
In 2023, the problems of children’s access to mainstream sports and physical activity continued. In many places, sports facilities in kindergartens and schools are inadequate, in poor condition or missing. Mass sports for children continue to be chronically underfunded and left primarily to the family’s capabilities. Out of 2,591 schools in our country, only 697 have a gym, the size of which meets the legal requirements. 478 schools do not have any hall or adapted room. The state of kindergartens is even more worrying – out of a total of 2,551 kindergartens with a standard hall, only 537 have such a room, and 1,259 have no such room at all. One of the reasons for the lack of sports infrastructure for mass sports is the misuse of public funds. About BGN 26 million allocated in 2020 for the construction of 24 school gyms in the country have been paid, but due to violations in the process of awarding public contracts and lack of control, only two of the gyms have actually been built. In 2023, 405 scholarships were granted to students from the schools of arts and culture, as well as to students from municipal schools, ranked first in national and international competitions. In 2023, for the first time, BGN 2 million was earmarked for supporting talented children, after the amount had not been changed since 2014. There is a lack of access to quality and diverse television content for children on the air of the public BNT. Over 80% of children under the age of 18 in our country have access to a tablet, computer or phone. The average age at which they acquire their own device is 8 years. Along with the most visited platforms, children also use platforms such as Tinder, OnlyFans and BeReal – networks where they can witness harmful content. With the age groups, the percentage of users of these platforms increases and there are users of the platforms even in the 3 to 5 years group. However, the current thematic area receives a slightly higher rating in “Notebook 2024” due to a number of positive initiatives, among which the NP “Together in the Arts and in Sports” is implemented for the second academic year in a row. However, it is necessary to implement, in cooperation between the Ministry of Education and Culture and Science, resp. Ministry of Education and Culture, on programs with a much wider national scope, focused on providing access and stimulating the interest of all children in sports, culture and arts in and outside the educational process. More data on the topic is available HERE.
Child Participation I Good 3,57
In 2023, ensuring authentic and meaningful participation for all children remains a challenge. Society, institutions and professionals working with children do not consistently recognize the need for children to express opinions and civil positions on topics affecting them and to be consistently and appropriately informed about their rights. Access to child-friendly public information about laws and policies related to them is not provided. The state and municipalities do not use digital tools for polling children. According to the children, the authorities are not sufficiently interested in their civic evaluation, because children are not voters, and often the politicians themselves behave “childishly”, neglect and belittle children’s voice and show a misunderstanding of children’s right to authentic civic participation. Pilot initiatives to educate children on human rights and civic activism are limited in scope, resource and benefits. There remains the need to adopt a National Vision for Child Participation to ensure safe, inclusive, empowering and sustainable child participation and impact in all relevant sectors and public relations.
This year, the “Notebook” of the NMD is published in two versions – a short and a full version of the report.
The shortened version of “Notebook 2024” in English is available here.
The full report in 136 pages of data, infographics and analysis in Bulgarian is available here.
Part of the campaign to present “Notebook 2024” is also a video with statesmen from the legislative and executive authorities, who over the years have used the report in their daily work, relying on the expert data, texts, recommendations and assessments contained in the annual monitoring of the NMD .
This publication was created within the framework of the “Democracy, with children’s rights” initiative, funded by the European Union and the “Open Society Institute – Sofia” foundation (OSIS). The views and opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union, the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) or OSIS. Neither the European Union nor the EACEA, nor OSIS can be held responsible for them.
