The family is the best and most irreplaceable environment for bringing up children. This is what Head of State Rumen Radev said at a meeting with the UNICEF representative for Bulgaria Dr. Jane Muita. The two were unanimous that the efforts of the institutions should focus on offering support for the parents, improving the social environment, increasing incomes and improving the access to healthcare and education.
Children are our future and Bulgaria should start overcoming the demographic crisis by encouraging responsible parenthood, the bringing up of children in the family and reducing the numbers of cases of abandoning children, Rumen Radev further said. The Head of State identified as a challenge for Bulgaria also the high percentage of children exposed to the risk of poverty and uncovered by the education system, which makes it imperative to make these problems priorities of government policy.
Dr. Jane Muita highlighted Bulgaria’s contribution within UNICEF to implementing the policies of the international organization directed toward the development of the children and the efficient safeguarding of their rights. She called for intensifying the actions and dialogue with the young people in our country that will become parents. Despite the demographic crisis, our country is among the European countries that have the highest percentage of young parents, a lot of which have no education and remain isolated from the programs for education, training and the acquisition of professional skills. Jane Muita also noted the importance of the efforts for a full educational integration and socialization of the impaired children.
The two shared the opinion that Bulgaria has achieved considerable progress in de-institutionalization and bringing the children back in a family environment - since the beginning of this process the number of children brought up in specialized institutions has dropped ten times and the process is expected to end earlier than planned, in 2020.
At the meeting Rumen Radev also noted the contribution of the two initiatives of the presidential institution – “the Bulgarian Christmas” and “Support a Dream” for offering support to the medical treatment of sick children in Bulgaria and for the social integration of children and young people deprived of parental care.
The Head of State emphasized that during his forthcoming participation in the 74th session of the UN General Assembly in New York, he will highlight the importance of UNICEF’s international mission, and also the necessity of more active support for the work of the institutions that work toward improving the children’s social environment.