Mothers appeal to the President and ministers: "Save Bulgaria’s abandoned children!"

Sofia, 1 October 2007 – Late last week a group calling itself “Movement of Bulgarian Mothers” published a petition to President Parvanov, the Ministers of Labour and Social Policy Emilia Maslarova and Healthcare Radoslav Gaidarski, the Chair of the State Child Protection Agency Shirin Mestan and the Chair of the Parliamentary Human Rights and Denominations Commission Ognyan Gerdjikov.

The petition initiators state they were shocked by the BBC 4 film “Bulgaria’s abandoned children” dedicated to the lives of children with mental disabilities in the Mogilino institution, broadcast on September 13. They insist that the state authorities take urgent measures to improve the fate of these unhappy children. For a short period only, the petition was signed by 1271 people (data as at 07:50 on 1 October 2007).

The petition is available on http://www.bgpetition.com/izostaveni_deca/ and everyone can read its text and join it.

The BHC was the first organization which - five years ago - described the situation in this institution and appealed to the responsible institutions to dramatically improve the quality of care for these children. The BHC researcher Slavka Kukova is consultant to the documentary which shook British viewers.