Two girls from the Mogilino social care home will be transferred to the first shelter for people with mental disabilities in the town of Pernik, near Sofia, Tsveta Dergieva form the Bulgarian association for persons with intellectual disabilities (BAPID) told Focus news agency.

The shelter in Pernik will be opened several months from now, she added.

Together with the Mogilino girls, the shelter will accommodate six more people of the same age, all from the Pernik region. They would take care of the housekeeping and share responsibilities in the house, but each would have a separate room.

Bulgaria plans to build a chain of such shelters throughout the country, borrowing from European experience, Focus said. The Pernik region authorities agreed to grant the free use of a building owned by the municipality for a period of 10 years, which would be turned into a shelter. Dutch and Belgian non-governmental organisations had promised financial aid to repair  the building and train the personnel in the shelter.

The fate of the children, sheltered at the Mogilino social care home become of international interest after in September 2007 BBC4 broadcasted a documentary of the poor living conditions in the home.