A major ministerial conference on ending the placement of children under three in institutional care was held in Sofia, Bulgaria on 21 and 22 November 2012. Organized by the Government of the Republic of Bulgaria in collaboration with UNICEF, it brought together representatives of twenty governments from Eastern Europe and Central Asia, experts from the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, international and local NGOs and the academic world to discuss strategies and emerging good practices to support vulnerable families and prevent baby abandonment and the placement of children below the age of three in institutions.
This presentation by Elena Bogdan, from the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Belarus, introduces social services available in Belarus for the identification, intervention, care, and rehabilitation of children under the age of 3 with disabilities, in order to prevent their abandonment and placement in institutions.
