Dear friends, colleagues and like-minded people,
In 2020 we worked tirelessly to help the most vulnerable children and families in Bulgaria. Every year we support over 76,000 children and 13,000 families. National Network for Children is the largest association of organizations and citizens in Bulgaria for child protection. We are dedicated to children with disabilities, to children who have experienced violence, to abandoned children and to all children in Bulgaria in general. We work with energy and heart, because we believe that the change in a child changes Bulgaria as a whole.
In 2020 we fought for better legislation and better policies for all children in Bulgaria.
Here are our seven great accomplishments over the past year:
- We helped over 6,500 children and 3,500 families with food, medicine, disinfectants, electronic devices in the worst crisis of COVID-19 in the lockdown of our country in March and April.
- We fought to have a real children’s hospital in Bulgaria, so that parents and children to receive adequate health care. More than 6,000 citizens supported the initiative called “For a real children’s hospital”.
- We fought against groups and formations that impose lies in society, misinform and sow fears among parents for political purposes, depriving the child of the rights to a happy childhood. We fought the misinformation about the “Norwegian trains”, at a time when even reasonable people believed that a system similar to Barnevern would be introduced in Bulgaria.
- We managed to contribute to the adoption of the Law on Social Services, which was also subjected to a propaganda attack, so that we have accessible services for all children and families.
- We fought for the children in the kindergartens to be free of charge and it is already regulated in the Law on Education and Science to pay the fees of some of the children.
- We advocated for tax breaks for parents and child benefits for children from low-income families.
- We have contributed to Bulgaria being a leader in advocating for the European financial and political mechanism “Child Guarantee”, which in the next programming period will provide 5% of the European and social fund for children throughout Europe. Bulgaria is implementing a pilot project in four districts in Bulgaria.
Everything we have achieved we would not have been able to do on our own, so we thank all our known and unknown supporters, friends and civil rights activists!
We still have a long way to go to make politicians believe that children’s rights are important not only for children themselves, but for our society as a whole. In 2021, we will continue to fight unequal battles so that our children can have a happier childhood.
We wish everyone to stay active, to be uncompromising to injustice and to enjoy the success of our children, because they are not just our future, they are also our present!
Be healthy, happy and successful!
