This summary report describes the project UNICEF has undertaken with the government of Bulgaria to establish a nationwide regional approach to foster care development based on its pilot experience.
The implementation of the project involved building partnerships at national and local levels to develop a common approach to foster care provision, improve quality of foster care, build supportive network for foster parents. The project also managed to establish and apply common understanding on foster care principles, procedures, roles and responsibilities. 9 regional foster care centers were created in the pilot regions, and the government of Bulgaria and UNICEF jointly launched a national foster campaign, ‘Every Child Wants a Family,’ to raise public awareness of foster care and motivate new candidates to become foster parents. As a result of the project, more than 330 foster families were established and 350 children were placed in foster care. Due to increased public awareness and improved system capacity, the numbers of foster parents in the country rose to 1,022 at the end of 2011 and a total of 855 children were placed in foster care.
