Accomplished missions

• September 2008, Ilia’s first trip to some Bulgarian homes.
• Publication in Output Magazine, October 2008.
• Helping the rebuilding of a transitional home for adolescents leaving the ‘Slunchitze’ orphanage in Gorski Senovets:
  TRANSITIONAL HOME

For young people leaving the Home for Mentally Retarded Children and Adolescents,

Gorski Senovetz village, Veliko Turnovo region

The ‘Home for Mentally Retarded Children and Adolescents’ in Gorski Senovetz village, Veliko Turnovo region is a specialized institution, which provides social services to those in need.

Here, in 1993 arrived Milen Tanev Iliev born on 27 July 1989. He was abandoned by his mother; his father is unknown. The boy has a slight mental retardation, but because of his continual stay at the institution, he’s grown to be very dependent on it. During his education at the adjunct school he learned how to read and write. He can add and subtract numbers up to 100, but makes mistakes with addition and division. He recognizes geometric shapes. He can draw and arrange paper cutouts nice and cleanly. He enjoys working and helping out the older and younger. He has built-up regular habits of hygiene. He’s always clean and well dressed. He meticulously protects his personal belongings. Since he turned five, he began stuttering when speaking fast. He doesn’t like conflict, but is very social and friendly. Since he was very little he’s been dreaming of being a cook, and so he’s very rigorous in the kitchen. Up until the end of June 2007 he studied in Veliko Turnovo city and has already acquired a profession: “assistant – chef.”

In August 2007 he began working at the HMRCC in Gorski Senovetz village as a kitchen worker, where his main responsibility is serving food to the children.

Milen can do many everyday tasks by himself – he prepares his own breakfast, goes to work and comes back, shops, takes care of his personal hygiene.

In Gorski Senovetz village, very close to the HMRCC we have acquired a single-family house with a garden and farmhouses. The house has four rooms and a hallway. There are no bathroom and toilet facilities. We have built a heating installation using our own home funds. We have arranged furnishing of all four rooms. We still need money for the renovation of the two rooms where Milen will be living, as well as for the construction of a bathroom and toilet inside the house. For the execution of this renovation a total of 9515,02 BGL is still necessary.

I turn to you, with this statement, with a request to help us collect these funds. It is very important for Milen (and after a year for other adolescents) to begin to live in an independent home, where he could learn to live by himself with some help and support, which will be crucial for his independent integration in society.

Thank You!

With respect: Bistra Boteva

Current projects.

The project Baba i Vnuche (Granny and Child) will be implemented in a home for mentally retarded children and young people, where children with various degrees of developmental disorders are accommodated. This initiative will help children with more severe mental retardation.

Children who have a complete locomotor activity disorder require a higher level of individualized care, including a more intensive encouragement of their progress in their psychomotor development. In addition, there is typically a sharp restriction of autonomy, which makes them dependent on the care staff in their overall care in terms of nutrition, hygiene procedures, physiological needs, opportunity for movement and others. The feeding process with such children runs in a manner corresponding with the age of a baby. They take in liquid, pureed food with a pacifier, in a horizontal position. The other daily activities are carried out in a similar way. Because of their severely impaired health, a significant part of their everyday life goes into a very limited, uniform environment. Often, the impact of this environment and the lack of a regular adult to perform daily childcare, generate various psychological symptoms associated with emotional deficits and shortcomings in the use of the individual time. Most characteristic of these symptoms are the auto-aggressive manifestations, which can reach various degrees of self-harm, ingestion or handling of own body excrements and other objects, as well as many other harmful habits.

Each child exhibits excitement and a positive change when receiving individual attention and support, which has a positive impact on his/ her overall development. With the change of the usual everyday environment and especially at the presence of a long-lasting individualized relationship with an adult, the children react emotionally and show interest and curiosity, which drives them to a positive direction. In some cases, it is possible that the above-mentioned severe psychological symptoms become reduced or even disappear.

In these situations, the contact with a regular adult could have a very helpful and even healing effect on the child. The adult has the ability to satisfy the necessity for receiving and for love, to acknowledge the child’s presence as valuable and meaningful, to compensate to some extent the absence of a mother figure. In this way the overall cognitive development and potential is being stimulated, and in some children the desire for living returns.

According to some specialists in this field, such an individualized relationship with someone who loves him/ her and doesn’t underestimate him/ her, who treats the child as something more than a mouth to feed and a body to clean and dress, can greatly improve n his/ her condition. Traditionally, in a child’s life, the mother fulfils this function. At the absence of a mother figure, when as a result of various circumstances she is unable to fulfill her obligations, this function can be performed by another person, who takes special care of the child, who speaks to him/ her and who allows him/ her to understand that he/ she could be liked and loved.

The project proposal intends to engage senior women with the everyday care for the above-mentioned children, at a half-working day schedule for all working days of the month. Each woman will take care of two children from the home and will receive a monthly salary. The goal is to develop an individualized relationship with a regular adult, which will support the child according to the above-described method. This process will take place in accordance with the everyday activities of the children and the curriculum of the home, as well as with additional individual activities. Suggested activities include walks around the home and village area, two meals, individualized games and recreation activities according to the child’s personal interests, including activities inside the psychomotor room of the home, etc. Each of this activities is to be personalized for each child and should correspond with his/ her current needs.

During the walks in the areas of the home and the village, the distortions and mobility abilities of each child should be taken into account, where all aid and technical resources available in the home will be used, thereby promoting the possibility of movement, the enrichment of experience and ideas. Supporting factor in this process will be the verbal contact, which the caring woman will maintain with the child.

The daily meals should promote feeding, appropriate to the age – the transition from pureed to solid food, use of utensils (spoon), encouraging individuality and others. Impact factors on the emotionality of the child will be verbal and non-verbal contact with him/ her.

Similarly, the games, individual activities and exercises in the psychomotor room will continue to run. In this way, the children involved will receive a unique opportunity for interaction, helping their importance to a person who is not part of the staff of the home. Each of the women will be trained and prepared for this type of interaction. The selection will be based on experience in the care of children and the respective education, where the presence of a positive attitude and acceptance of children with special needs will be crucial.

Date: 30.05.2009

Prepared by: “The sector for work with children in institutions”

/Veneta Liubenova, social worker/

/Ogniana Ilieva, psychologist/

/Perunika Myhailova, social worker/

Zlatina Chervenkova, social worker/