On children in care

Sir,

I read with interest the article and editorial on children in care in this week’s (March 21) The Sofia Echo.

I believe that any child who has been deprived of parental care and finds themselves in residential care is going to demonstrate disturbance in their behaviour and it would be naive to believe otherwise.

It is therefore imperative that people who work with children in care be trained. This means that people who manage the homes should be qualified not only in residential care but also in the principles of management.

Care workers should be enabled to attend training courses which inculcate the principles and values necessary to enable them to work effectively with children and young people who have been placed in residential care.

Yes, there is a need to assess the particular needs of individuals and specialised placements established to meet those needs, and it will cost a considerable amount of money. The people who are responsible for the homes could start by moving towards eliminating multi-bedded rooms and providing the children and young people with a degree of privacy.

Further education establishments should be encouraged to run both management and residential care courses, of course it will take time and effort but there will almost certainly be money available from one source or another to finance the courses.

Yours faithfully,
Peter L Knight MA
Varna