'Social orphans' in institutional care in Bulgaria: Voices from children in the orphanage in Plovdiv

Bulgaria has one of the highest numbers of children in institutional care among CEECs. Population at age from 0 to 17 has been decreasing after the collapse of communist regime - from 2,273 thousands in 1989 to 1,459 thousands in 2003 (UNICEF Innocenti 1 This document does not mention the year publishing. Research Center, 2004:56). Yet, the rate of children in institutional care has been increasing from 1,281.4 per hundred thousands populations at age from 0 to 17 in 1990 to 1,466.6 per hundred thousands in 2002 (UNICEF Innocenti Research Center, 2003:84). While the total number of children in Bulgaria may have decreased, the rate of children who are not cared by their parents has increased. This trend indicates that there may be systematic failure in the domain of care for children and youth in Bulgaria.