President Georgi Purvanov has urged Parliament to speed up its work on amendments to the Family Code, particularly the section dealing with international adoptions, and finalise them before the end of MPs' term this summer.

At a March 30 2009 round table on the problems of parentless children in Sofia, Purvanov, together with Social and Labour Policy Minister Emilia Maslarova, voiced support for amendments designed to facilitate adoptions of Bulgarian children by foreigners.

As reported earlier by The Sofia Echo, the Ministry, together with the association of organisations accredited to serve as intermediaries in international adoption procedures, have proposed an amendment to the Family Code by which children could be put up for adoption if their biological parents have withheld contact for six months.

Currently, amendments are between their first and second reading in Parliament. Purvanov expressed his hope that they would be voted on in the near future given that Parliament's term is due to expire in June or July when the country has its next elections to Parliament.

"It is unthinkable for this Parliament to complete its term without adopting the new Family Code," Purvanov was quoted by Bulgarian-language Dnevnik daily.

Purvanov said he would press the leaders of three ruling parties to expedite work on the Family Code. He quoted statistics revealing that more than 200 children had been abandoned in social homes since the beginning of the year.

He welcomed news that more than 6000 children had been removed from social homes and and were now living with relatives. A total of 7276 children with special needs were currently living in institutions, he said, as quoted by Dnevnik.

Purvanov also expressed dissatisfaction about bureaucratic delays hanging over construction of day-care centres in municipalities. Eight million leva has been allocated for the construction of seven day-care centres from the state budget since March 2008 but construction has not started because of long tender procedures.