Decentralisation has become a major test for municipalities in regards to children’s homes, as the story of Sofia’s Assen Zlatarov children’s home shows.

In March 2007, municipalities in Bulgaria were given the right to own and manage the children’s homes in their districts. With the power came responsibility and the need for clear vision. The lack of the later two has led to a critical situation. The home in Nadezhda borough in Sofia, which in 2003 the State Agency for Child Protection described as an example of how children homes should be organised, today faces a crisis that could see the end of years of success in its work with children.

In 1994 Assen Zlatarov home for children deprived of parental care was no different from any other children’s home in Bulgaria. Five years after the fall of communism, the home was in desperate need of funding and a new vision. Through the initiative of Zoya Sokolova, the director of the home, this vision and funding was found, in the shape of partnership programmes with Dutch SAC-Amstelstad organisations – currently operating under the name Spirit. Sokolova’s choice was not a difficult one to make, as Spirit is the largest organisation in the Netherlands providing alternative forms of child care.

“In 1994 we were under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Education and we were allowed to search for assistance from outside Bulgaria,” Sokolova told The Sofia Echo on March 16. An exchange programme for the home’s staff was started and things developed quickly. “In 2000, the policy of the ministry was to allow homes to form NGOs that would work for the benefit of the homes. This was how we formed the foundation Step By Step (SBS) with the sole purpose of helping the home and the children.” Spirit and SBS were natural partner organisations. A number of projects were started. “We were so successful with the partnership and applying the Spirit model for organising children in small autonomous groups that colleagues from other homes were asking for our expertise,” Sokolova said, recalling the successes of the programme. The programme was financed by the programme Small Projects of embassy of Dutch ministry of foreign affairs (Matra KAP).

In March 2007, after the decentralisation process, the home came under the jurisdiction of Sofia municipality. This was when things started to change.

“Some of the children that the municipality started sending us came with serious behavioural problems. Naturally we are not in a position of being about to pick children who come here but the home simply did not have the experience or expertises in working with children who have such serious problems: pick pocketing, prostitution, theft, etc.” The home has always been a place for children who for some reason have been left without a home. They continue to go to the school they are used to and simply live in the home. It seemed as of no one from the municipality cared that the Assen Zlatarov home was not just one of the many orphanages in Bulgaria. “We are simply not an orphanage in the classic sense,” Sokolova said.

Lacking the experience and the ability to deal with such children the Dutch model applied by Sokolova inevitably started to suffer, she admitted.

Things took a serious turn on February 29. The whole staff of the home was summoned to a meeting at the municipality. At the meeting were Albena Atanassova, deputy Sofia mayor for healthcare and social work; Minka Vladimirova, head of the municipality’s social works department; SBS representatives; Gert Klijn, Spirit’s project manager; and Dimitar Dimov, mayor of the Nadezhda borough.

“In no uncertain terms we were told that the model we were applying was not working and it had to be terminated. As did the partnership with SBS,” Sokolova said. It came as a surprise. The formal reason for Atanassova’s decision was the complaint made by two of Sokolova’s employees. “They said the model was not working because of the children with behavioural problems and Atanassova took their word for granted. I was not even given the opportunity to defend the model,” Sokolova said.

“Dimov made a joke of us. He said: ‘What do you want me do? Applaud you because you’ve had some successes? Stop, you’re almost making me cry. This is not a gathering of the social ministry.’ It was awful.”

According to Sokolova, the two employees were well prepared. “They had it all written down in advance. It was a surprise because they had never said anything to me about their worries. I admit the model was not working properly but it was not the model’s fault but the way they wanted us to work: in complete darkness. There is no vision of how the municipality wants to develop this activity.”

After the meeting Sokolova was told to prepare a plan for the home’s development without SBS. “I will not do it because I believe the model is working and see no alternative.” And anyway, she said, to make it work she needs more staff. “Since the decentralisation, I am no longer allowed to manage my budget. I am simply an administrator with little executive power. It is all controlled by the municipality.”

She suspects that Dimov actually encouraged the two employees to file a complaint. “He is the one who has sent all the information to Sofia municipality about us and I know he has sent a letter to Atanassova asking for my dismissal,” she said.

The only comment that Dimov was prepared to give The Sofia Echo was that the model was not working and had to be changed, as did Sokolova. “There was an inspection of the home being carried out at the moment and I will not comment any further. Ask the media office of Sofia municipality,” he said on March 18.

“The problem is not Sokolova but about compliance with the law,” Vladimirova told The Sofia Echo on March 18. “The SBS contract with the home expired in 2007 and has not been renewed. The partnership can continue either through agreement reached with Sofia municipality or after wining a public tender. We are currently working on the tender procedures,” she said.

Tenders were in compliance with the municipality’s view on the development of care homes. “We want to let NGOs into the homes as external suppliers and SBS can apply just as any other NGO can,” she said. “Also Sofia mayor Boiko Borissov will increase the number of staff in the homes in the next few months,” she said. “We have told Spirit and the Dutch embassy this.”

As for whether the experience at Assen Zlatarov should be preserved, Vladimirova said: “It is not about what children are sent to the home for, they are wonderful as any other children. We must stop using the children as an excuse.”

In the meantime SBS has frozen its partnership with Assen Zlatarov. Spirit has sent an open letter saying it was reconsidering the aid it provided because of “the recent negative attitude of the Sofia municipality regarding the work of the organisation”. For Sokolova this means eight less staff and a “horrible working atmosphere”. “You can imagine how we all feel after the two employees helped Dimov in his effort to put an end to the model. It is affecting the children as well.”

On a personal level Sokolova is not excluding the possibility of resigning. “I can’t offer them anything else besides the model we have applied for the past 14 years,” she said.