The National Network for Children welcomes the efforts improving the legal framework related to the families rights of social support through aid and social services. As an association of 115 non-government organizations working for the development and implementation of quality policies and services for children and families, we have always underlined the need to ensure better and more targeted support for the most vulnerable through the optimization of child benefits.
The experience of the member – organizations of the National Network for Children supporting families in caring for their children shows that there is a need of a complete legislative reform, not just a change by pieces. We still worry that the consideration of family and child payments happens separately from the entire child protection process. We think that approaches for synchronization of processes of services and support to families and social payments to them related to child care should be searched. We realize that this is a difficult and responsible task but we also believe that this is the way to optimize the efficiency of resources input in benefit packages to achieve real impact on the lives of children in Bulgaria. It is time the government policy from reactive and uneconomical to become proactive and cost-effective regarding the social assistance care. This will not happen if children money support is separate and is outside the context of the family support and the provision of universal services for children and families welfare. The practice shows that the current system of income support mainly through social benefits and social payments often invests resources later in family child care or if it reacts on time, it is in shortfall. The monetary support currently is not part of a complete approach assisting child and family, and this leads to a low efficiency. Proofs of this are the numerous cases of abandoned children and crumbling families.
Therefore, our fundamental position is that we need a complete reform of social assistance at the heart of which should be the principle of social benefits linking to social work. We believe that the payment supports should be granted after an individual assessment of the concrete family situation, which will address not only the income of the parents, the visit of a compulsory pre-school education and others, but will also consider all other factors that determine the ability of the family to care for their children.
August 12th, 2013
The National Network for Children