The recent BBC documentary 'Bulgaria's Abandoned Children', which showed the horrible living conditions in a social care home for children with disabilities in Bulgaria's Mogilino made UNICEF take action, unicef.org.uk said.

A plan has been developed by the Bulgarian government to be implemented in partnership with UNICEF and an alliance of NGO's.

In the short term perspective UNICEF would provide assistance to improve the quality of immediate care for children living in the institution and would bring in specialists to meet the children's needs – physical and psychological.

In the long term, UNICEF would assist the assessment of services available in the region, to find appropriate alternatives for care for the children, including foster homes, unicef.org.uk said.

UNICEF also requested that Bulgaria's government provided information on the conditions in other institutions for children with disabilities.

UNICEF supported the development of policies in this area and put forward recommendations. It supported a project for the development of foster care so that more children from institutions could be placed in a family environment, unicef.org.uk said.