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Thu, Feb 09 2012
Weekend Blog: Back to square one
Just when Bulgaria was about to escape from the Mogilino syndrome, the country and Bulgarian society got another punch in the face from Western media. This time it was not the BBC but The Times.
An opinion column, written by charity fundraiser Rosa Monckton, published in the paper's February 13 issue, portrayed the terrifying and horrible fate of Bulgarian children put in various institutions.
It is a heartbreaking read and one cannot escape feeling horrible simply because such places, as described by the author, exist. Of course Monckton fails to mention the names of the institutions she has visited or the names of the staff she claims to have spoken to (if we don't count the blonde Cruella de Vil she refers to) but it does not matter because Bulgaria does have an issue with children in institutions.
Most people outside Bulgaria would probably name Bucharest as Bulgaria's capital but they would have probably heard of Mogilino and Kate Blewett's documentary Bulgaria's Abandoned Children. The latter used all known editing techniques to present the children at the Mogilino home as suffering and dying under the careless and cynical supervision of staff. This did not stop the film going around Europe revealing what a cold-hearted society Bulgaria's is.
To be honest when I watched some of it I felt the same. I even had to touch my skin to feel whether it was warm.
Now Monckton's story draws an even more desperate picture of Bulgaria's children and of Bulgaria. The latter is described as one of the "old communist countries" (as we often joke with colleagues it will be funny to see how long it will take Western media to stop referring to South East Europe as former communist states, but that's another subject).
Monckton's story is a real eye-opener, I must say. She claims that "In Eastern Europe there is still a widely held belief that disabled children are best dealt with by being removed from their families and separated from society". Hmm, I don't remember being taught that in school or at home but, if she says it, it must be right. What do I know? I have only grown up here blinded by the truth.
Monckton continues to tell her fellow citizens how things work in Bulgaria "So the flow of children into the institutional system continues, with many parents being forced by the State to hand over their children at the moment of birth if a disability has been diagnosed".
It is true that a lot of laws have been passed in Bulgaria in the past 20 years, but I kind of forget the one which forces parents to give away their children. But, again, let's assume that Monckton knows best.
After all, she had visited eight institutions in Bulgaria while I have visited only one so far and it must have been one of the few exceptions because it had nothing to do with those she describes. Anyway, let's move on.
"I asked to go into one of the rooms and picked up the nearest child, a living skeleton. And what was wrong with him? He was blind. Just blind. But now he was starving to death, rocking and banging his head against the side of his cot." Frankly, after such a statement nothing can be said to justify Monckton's horrifying experience in a Bulgarian children's home.
She also tells her fellow Brits that, unlike Romania, which used to have this problem, "Bulgaria remains in denial". Then she gives us the culprit: "The Government sees little need for change".
In Bulgaria she says "where the State was the guarantor of all moral values, it dehumanised society. The idea of charity, of social responsibility, of caring for others, was eradicated".
So here am I, living in a dehumanised society that doesn't care about anyone and anything. The fact that every Christmas, for the past five or so years, Bulgarians donate more than a million euro to children with health problems must be an exception.
The fact that after Blewett's film both the state and society admitted that such a problem does exist and in less than few months these very same Bulgarians donated a further million euro for their relocation and treatment must also be an exception.
And Bulgaria is not exactly the richest nation in Europe, but charity has no price as Monckton tells us that "in homes for the dying in India, you find volunteers serving food, cleaning, or simply talking to patients 24 hours a day. There is a purpose and a feeling of life, and hope, in even the most impoverished homes."
Well Bulgaria does not have homes for dying. Yet.
An opinion column, written by charity fundraiser Rosa Monckton, published in the paper's February 13 issue, portrayed the terrifying and horrible fate of Bulgarian children put in various institutions.
It is a heartbreaking read and one cannot escape feeling horrible simply because such places, as described by the author, exist. Of course Monckton fails to mention the names of the institutions she has visited or the names of the staff she claims to have spoken to (if we don't count the blonde Cruella de Vil she refers to) but it does not matter because Bulgaria does have an issue with children in institutions.
Most people outside Bulgaria would probably name Bucharest as Bulgaria's capital but they would have probably heard of Mogilino and Kate Blewett's documentary Bulgaria's Abandoned Children. The latter used all known editing techniques to present the children at the Mogilino home as suffering and dying under the careless and cynical supervision of staff. This did not stop the film going around Europe revealing what a cold-hearted society Bulgaria's is.
To be honest when I watched some of it I felt the same. I even had to touch my skin to feel whether it was warm.
Now Monckton's story draws an even more desperate picture of Bulgaria's children and of Bulgaria. The latter is described as one of the "old communist countries" (as we often joke with colleagues it will be funny to see how long it will take Western media to stop referring to South East Europe as former communist states, but that's another subject).
Monckton's story is a real eye-opener, I must say. She claims that "In Eastern Europe there is still a widely held belief that disabled children are best dealt with by being removed from their families and separated from society". Hmm, I don't remember being taught that in school or at home but, if she says it, it must be right. What do I know? I have only grown up here blinded by the truth.
Monckton continues to tell her fellow citizens how things work in Bulgaria "So the flow of children into the institutional system continues, with many parents being forced by the State to hand over their children at the moment of birth if a disability has been diagnosed".
It is true that a lot of laws have been passed in Bulgaria in the past 20 years, but I kind of forget the one which forces parents to give away their children. But, again, let's assume that Monckton knows best.
After all, she had visited eight institutions in Bulgaria while I have visited only one so far and it must have been one of the few exceptions because it had nothing to do with those she describes. Anyway, let's move on.
"I asked to go into one of the rooms and picked up the nearest child, a living skeleton. And what was wrong with him? He was blind. Just blind. But now he was starving to death, rocking and banging his head against the side of his cot." Frankly, after such a statement nothing can be said to justify Monckton's horrifying experience in a Bulgarian children's home.
She also tells her fellow Brits that, unlike Romania, which used to have this problem, "Bulgaria remains in denial". Then she gives us the culprit: "The Government sees little need for change".
In Bulgaria she says "where the State was the guarantor of all moral values, it dehumanised society. The idea of charity, of social responsibility, of caring for others, was eradicated".
So here am I, living in a dehumanised society that doesn't care about anyone and anything. The fact that every Christmas, for the past five or so years, Bulgarians donate more than a million euro to children with health problems must be an exception.
The fact that after Blewett's film both the state and society admitted that such a problem does exist and in less than few months these very same Bulgarians donated a further million euro for their relocation and treatment must also be an exception.
And Bulgaria is not exactly the richest nation in Europe, but charity has no price as Monckton tells us that "in homes for the dying in India, you find volunteers serving food, cleaning, or simply talking to patients 24 hours a day. There is a purpose and a feeling of life, and hope, in even the most impoverished homes."
Well Bulgaria does not have homes for dying. Yet.
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I think we should than Rosa Monkton for trying to bring a problem into the light. I like her reference to the many of us who search for humanely raised chickens to serve for dinner but do nothing to help children who are living in such conditions
In my opinion the author only tries to discredit the article of Rosa Monckton, but doesn't present any counter arguments. I get the impression that he's just insulted. I also grew up in Bulgaria and during my childhood I never went to school or played with a child with disability. So, I ask myself now where were those children. Or maybe in Bulgaria children with disabilities are born less friquently than in the rest of the world? It is true that in BG all children left in the institutions, not only the ones with disabilities (who in most cases are [...]
Read the full comment left there by their parents) lead horrible lives, full of pain and neglect and devoid of human affection. It is useless to deny it and it is stupid to be offended when told that the BG society is not charitable, because it is not. We make donations on Christmas for the orphanages, but children need food and toys and books during the whole year. And most of all they need love and human contact. And let me ask you how many Bulgarians have ever visited an orphanage or played with a child or did anything, no matter how small to make a child feel loved? I think not very many. As a Bulgarian I can say that I'm appaled by our "charitable society"
It seems like the Cold War propaganda is still alive and well and the desire to assert victorious superiority over the vanquished has not yet vanished. Watching Little Brittain just seems so dreadfully appropriate right now.
Excellent contribution, Kay Montes, please receive my sincere congratulations!
The Times is a most reputed publication so I assume they should welcome hosting pertinent comments about opinions (especially when defamatory!) expressed in their columns; let alone the right to retort. I'm sure many readers of this well-known magazine would only appreciate reading a different perspective to Rosa Monckton’s sensational exposé. Have you considered sending it over to The Times? I think you should.
I myself did write a short comment (you're limited to only 300 characters in "have your say" section below [...]
Read the full comment the article) at timesonline.co.uk the other day. Guess what? It hasn't been published yet. I guess my comment wasn't exactly in line with most views they deemed worth publishing but I'm still hopeful it would turn up eventually..
Who is Rosa Monckton? "notable charity fundraiser" an 'entrepreneurial jeweler', mother to a child with DOWN (no "s) Syndrome, married to a journalist" “friend to Princess Di” Where is her "expertise” as related to the care of children in Bulgaria? Her credentials? How many orphanages in Romania has she visited since she is clearly an "expert": quoting Rosa "Because, unlike Romania, which has made huge progress in the reform of its institutions and has shown that it is ready and willing to change, Bulgaria remains in denial? The Government sees little need for change. Nor has it come under the [...]
Read the full comment sort of pressure that Romania faced when it was in discussions to join the European Union and reform of its children's institutions was a condition of entry." She has visited precisely NONE, I can assure you. (Romania closed the orphanages and where are the children that were in care now? What happened to the children? Do you really want to know? Why don't you go on a trip to Romania Rosa and do a little investigation there since you are so "knowledgeable". Please be sure to take pictures of what you find and include an email or mailing address when you share your "investigation" results as I am sure there are many others beside myself that would like to respond to your "teaching".
May I ask, why are you creeping along the floor to “visit” an orphanage in Bulgaria? Are you not welcome because you have no credentials or knowledge that would allow you to present as a professional with a desire to report what you REALLY saw?
Eight orphanages? my, that is amazing: there are 33 orphanages for children under the age of three years of age: why only eight? Were the children that are being prioritized for adoption due to their needs so that they can receive additional medical care doing too well for your level of propaganda? My child's life was saved in a Bulgarian orphanage: she was diagnosed with Hydrocephalacy and received a shunt at three weeks of age. She was kept near the hospital in an apartment with a caretaker from her orphanage for 30 days following her surgery in case of any post surgery problems. She was encouraged to co-sleep with her twin to follow the much documented need for twins to stay near each other to develop both emotionally and physically.
My son who was raised in a Bulgarian orphanage until he was 22 months old was born missing an eye. Boy, Roma and with a medical need…….three strikes and …..he was loved, encouraged and absolutely cherished by all of the staff of the orphanage….and last year, my son asked to return to Bulgaria to “meet the lady who loved me while I was waiting for you and Daddy to bring me home”. We not only returned to Bulgaria but were allowed to spend a week visiting both of the orphanages where our children lived as infants as their guests…….allowed to play in the play groups, to sleep there at the orphanages……oh, and when we picked up our daughters, the gold necklaces we had placed on them when we visited were still on them when we returned four months later……truly a. “shameful place”.
Would you REALLY like to be welcomed into the orphanage system of Bulgaria as I am? I am invited and allowed to come, choose the orphanages I would like to visit and encouraged to see ALL children(yes, even the children who are terminally ill); the kitchens, the laundry's the children with special needs, the children with permanent disabilities and those that are entirely healthy. I am allowed to prioritize placement of children with identified special needs and search for families that feel that they can parent such children and desire to do so. Beautiful wonderful children who have had excellent care, medical intervention and are just waiting for a family to choose to provide their forever family. Would you really like to see some of the children that we have brought home from these "shameful places"? Would you like to meet the Director’s (are you aware that by law ALL DIRECTORS of the orphanages in Bulgaria MUST BE LICENSED physicians: hence her questions to you: (are you aware of the number of children born with Down Syndrome who have irreparable heart defects?) who not only can tell you the child's need but their circumstance which placed them in need of a family? Would you like to see actual photographs of the orphanages? (or did you have a little hidden camera hiding inside your pocket while you were creeping along like a criminal to report the "rest of the story"? can you prove that any photos you can produce were taking in Bulgaria?) Can you tell us exactly what orphanages you visited? How is your OPINION related to the way a European woman dresses pertinent to who she is as a person or the challenges she faces each day? Have you lived in a post communist country? Oh, no, let me see “The daughter of a viscount, Monckton has the confidence that comes with her class, and the slight disconnection from the rest of us that comes from a lifetime of privilege. It is irresistible to note that she once told a newspaper that she was hopeless at cooking but had a really sweet girl called Jane who did it all for her and got somebody in if she needed extra help.” From The Times August 28, 2007
Are you aware of the upcoming conference specific to Intercountry Adoption to be held in Sofia in March? You seem to be right on top of all aspects of what is REALLY taking place in Bulgaria so I would expect that you would be attending? Have you sent in your registration fee that is going to the care of the children in the orphanages? Perhaps you can sit next to the US Ambassador to Bulgaria to share your information? Or maybe a journalist from the UK? Or perhaps one of us from a US adoption agency who has actually worked with the officials, the Directors, the children in need of a family? There are many well versed persons who are working to assist with all levels care for the waiting children of Bulgaria: did they invite you to speak?
The sad part Rosa is that your slander is damaging to those very children who are waiting to be adopted by creating fear in the hearts of those that are considering really helping the children of Bulgaria through adoption.
Where did you get your information??? There were 2,310 children adopted from Russia last year, 606 from the Ukraine, 540 from Kazakhstan (yes, those are all Eastern European countries) and from Bulgaria...................27 children came home to the USA. Your knowledge (or lack there of) is frightening............. children with Hydrocephalacy do not "ooze their brains out"......... (Their ventricles enlarge: their skulls enlarge to accommodate the extra spinal fluid but their brains do not ooze out!). Are you aware of the "Shunt for Life" project that has been actively purchasing the shunt device and paying for any child born with hydro in the country of Bulgaria to have surgery?(active and functioning for the past eight years) Would you actually like to speak to the American coordinator for this project and meet some of the children whose lives have been saved by the generosity of not only donators but the officials in Bulgaria who have made it possible for the children to have surgery at the best hospitals?
Do you really have any idea of why the children are placed in an orphanage? Truly? No one "rips the child from the mother's arms"........do you really want to start comparing the foster home placement of the United States to orphanage care in Bulgaria? As Americans have the 'right to parent;' children go home to families that have no desire, knowledge or ability to parent and the children then are then removed by our Department of Social Services and placed in foster care..........and then they go back to their birth parents who have pulled it together for a few weeks and take their child home until they neglect or abuse or expose the child to drugs and then they are removed and placed in yet a different foster home......and this cycle continues until some judge decides to put an end to this 'superior' system of caring for children in need and allows the child to be adopted.....talk about 'abuse’. Why don’t you come to the US and see our foster children in their “nappies” that are denied families because we have a “better way” than orphanage care.
I know of a beautiful little girl waiting for a family, she has had heart surgery, she is developmentally on track, about six months delayed, walked on her own at two years, two months. In May of 2007 she had surgery …… ……. a clinic of pediatric cardiology, where surgery was conducted to resolve her congenital heart malformation: closure of the morbid ventricular defect…oh, and yes, she is first a person and then a child who happens to have Down Syndrome……did I fail to mention that she is also an orphan living in one of those “shameful places” called an orphanage in Bulgaria? I can help you go through the steps to adopt such a child if you really would like to “make a difference’ in a child’s life.
The children of Bulgaria are placed in orphanages due to the inability of the parents to care for the children and these parents KNOW they can't care for the child. Do you know that parents of children in an orphanage have six months to decide on one of three options related to the long term plan for their child? 1) They can come and get the child and take them home 2) they can pay the country to raise the child in the orphanage or 3) they can relinquish the child for adoption. Wow........talk about accountability!
You know Rosa, I could keep knocking holes in your presentation but honestly, I truly doubt that you want to know what is really taking place as truth is rarely as interesting as rumor.
Most often I am the 'voice of balance' and share all that can to assist every child in need of a family but today, I share my passion and knowledge for the people of Bulgaria: you demean the very persons who I call friends, co-workers, advocates for PEOPLE who happen to be children while you hide behind the premise of 'experience' that is shot full of vicious untruths.
Please let me know if you care to REALLY see the children of Bulgaria and the orphanage system as a WHOLE within this country that is putting forth tremendous effort on the part of children. Who are you Rosa? And what is your motivation to discredit so many who are working to bring change about? really?..........show us your credentials, the orphanages you visited, your knowledge of a country that is post communist and learning to function as a free economy. I sure hope you are wearing sensible shoes........that surely must be a sign of expertise and knowledge.....(and next time you write something, you might want to run a spell check on your article before you find someone to publish your rubbish)..
I'm English and I love Bulgaria. Somebody close to me not only works with Bulgaria’s child welfare system but has invested person welth and time into the problem. Thats right an English man.. Rosa Monchton speaks for herself not England. If anyone has a problem with Rosa Monckton’s article and her stereotypical view of the whole of Bulgaria's Child welfare issues, Then please direct your words at Rosa and don't be hypercritical and attack the U.K as a country of nearly 70 million people(69,9 million of which use the times newspaper to hold fastfood not relevant information).
I'm [...]
Read the full comment an English man and I love Bulgaria!!
the author does raise some serious issues - its just a shame to be following the stereo type of 'denigration' of the entire country, and not mentioning much of the hard work which has been done in recent years to improve things/ No doubt Rosa can play the hero at a few East Sussex coffee mornings...
the author does raise some serious issues - its just a shame to be following the stereo type of 'denigration' of the entire country, and not mentioning much of the hard work which has been done in recent years to improve things/ No doubt Rosa can play the hero at a few East Sussex coffee mornings...
I think Rosa Monckton should never have come to visit one of "the old Eastern bloc countries" that is "where the State was the guarantor of all moral values, it dehumanised society", so "the idea of charity, of social responsibility, of caring for others, was eradicated."
To ease her of her worries she'd rather keep on lobbying for the Royal Family and looking after her business and lavish property.
The family live in a secluded mill house in East Sussex, surrounded by dogs, ponies, ducks and sheep. (have a look at: [...]
Read the full comment href="http://www.rosamonckton.com" target="_blank" >http://www.rosamonckton.com )
She built a career as a businesswoman, becoming managing director at Tiffany and chief executive of Asprey & Garrard. She married the journalist Dominic Lawson, son of the former chancellor Nigel, and they have two daughters, Savannah, 13, and Domenica, 13, who has Down’s syndrome. Monckton has spoken openly about how she was floored by the birth of her youngest child, and how she appreciated the direct warmth of her friend Princess Diana, who offered to support her and became Domenica's godmother.
Oh, and regarding the issue of Diana, Princess of Wales' alleged pregnancy, Monckton told a BBC documentary in December 2006 on the conspiracy theories surrounding her death, that Diana had had her period while on holiday with Monckton about ten days before she died. Now that's the type of activity she's really good at!
Mr. Stoyanov, congratulations with your comment; Well written! I wonder if The Sofia Echo will reply on this...
I have the impression that Mr. Kostadinov, just like many Bulgarians, knows very well what happens with many of the disabled children in Bulgaria. The fact that these things are disclosed hurts him, what is understandable; And this is the same with the fraude proofs by OLAF, the BBC report on Ivan Slavkov, and many other things; It is not nice to understand that some of your compatriots/leaders/institutions act far unther the level of the 2009 European ethical [...]
Read the full comment and legal standards.
There are 3 ways to react:
1. the "sheep behaviour" - (this is Bulgaria!)
2. Let's try to do something!
3. Denial, a defense mechanism postulated by Sigmund Freud, in which a person is faced with a fact that is too uncomfortable to accept and rejects it instead, insisting that it is not true despite what may be overwhelming evidence;
Sorry, but journalists do not belong in cat.3 They should have a deontology that goes for the highest standards; Their words should lead to a better society!
Mr. Kostadinov belongs to the third category; This, combined with the fact that he has some power in the society - as a journalist - puts a grave responsability over his acts: by denying these situations makes him an accomplice in not solving these situations; Den Haag has work to do!
Mr. Kostadinov, wouldn't it be far more better that you use your pen to build a better Bulgaria?
If not, resign and make place for people of category 2!
In response to Rosa Monckton’s article published in the Times on 13 February, Petar Kostadinov has written a commentary published in the Sofia Echo, a well respected weekly for English speaking expats in Bulgaria. As someone who has spent some time observing children’s institutions in Bulgaria and has worked, apparently not successfully, for deinstitutionalisation of Bulgaria’s child welfare system, I felt compelled to offer my commentary to Mr Kostadinov’s commentary.
Mr Kostadinov’s main thrust in his commentary of Ms Monckton’s article is that it had not been written with love of Bulgaria (in line with President [...]
Read the full comment Parvanov’s famous response to Kate Blewett’s documentary) and as such it should not have been written at all. Now that this publication has happened in the hostile western press, Mr Kostadinov has seen it as his patriotic duty to try and do some damage limitation by writing this commentary so that we ‘не се излагаме пред чужденците ’. Respect!
Using your supreme powers of observation, you have discovered, Mr Kostadinov, that the suffering of the children in the Mogilino home, documented in ‘Bulgaria’s Abandoned Children’ in 2007, was the product of editing techniques. Similarly edited was the complete incompetence and carelessness of the staff there. Of course, you’ve been to one institution and you know first hand that all this just never happened and isn’t happening. And the President and Maslarova, the social minister, said so.
You say you don’t remember being taught at school that disabled children should be removed from their families and separated from society. Can you then remember being taught that disabled children should enjoy family life and school like all other children? Or can you remember when you went to school, if even one disabled child attended your school?
You joke that you can’t remember which law passed in the past 20 years ‘forces parents to give away their children’. As you never went and talked to parents of disabled kids in your preparation for your commentary, you remain happily oblivious to the fact that parents of disabled children have been and still are being bullied into giving up their child from the moment the child is born in the very maternity ward they are born, by the very ‘professionals’ whose job it is to bring new lives into the world. Since you never asked anyone, there is no way for you to know that the availability of services, financial and any other support for disabled children and their families in Bulgaria equals gross discrimination, making the upbringing of a disabled child at home almost impossible – and this has been happening since at least the 1950s.
What strikes me in your commentary is how strong your belief system is – everything you say is based on your persuasion in your real knowledge of how the system works without bothering to learn about it. Unlike most journalists who have the annoying habit of doubting things to an extent that they go and check facts before they start writing about them, you are only armed with your arrogance and your apparent belief that the incarceration of babies and children in Bulgarian institutions is western propaganda.
Having read a number of writings expressing the same point of view and remembering what happened to their authors, I cannot but predict a good future for you, Mr Kostadinov. I can see you joining the State Agency for Child Protection, which has warmly embraced the Mogilino denier, psychologist Hristo Monov, as its deputy-chair. You can also go on to become an adviser to Minster Maslarova or President Parvanov. They will appreciate and duly reward your commentary, which, though completely untrue, must have been written with love for Bulgaria.
PS: If I had the power to introduce one new law today, I would legislate to ensure that denial of the systemic abuse of children’s rights in Bulgaria’s children’s homes is an offence that brings a prison term with it. I should probably bear in mind, though, that holocaust denial is not incriminated in Bulgaria, is it?
I'm sorry for the UK press. We dont all hold such views of Bulgaria.
This comment has been removed by the moderator because it contained
Mr. Kostadinov, this is now a perfect example of what journalism should NOT be! You simply ridiculize the Times article in a cynical way; Wouldn't it be better that you jump in your car, visit 5 children homes yourself, check the BG law about disabled children, make your conclusions, and ask for minister Emilia Maslarova resignation, in big black lettertypes on page one of the Sofia Echo; you know very well that that women is so busy hiding the corruption schemes with her family and her deputy ministers; That would be good journalism mr. Kostadinov!
You [...]
Read the full comment know that today, in Brussels, there is a black cloth over the BG part of the Entropia installation; Well sir, it sad to say, but when that installation came "alive", the black cloth was probably ment to be there; You are this black cloth!