Interview by Yana DOMUSCHIEVA

Ivan Stanchov was born on 1 April 1929 in Sofia.He is the grandson of Dimitar Yanev Stanchov,Bulgaria’s Ambassador to the UK, Minister of For-eign Affairs, and Prime Minister. His father, IvanDimitrov Stanchov was also a diplomat. The fam-ily emigrated to the USA in 1943. There IvanStanchov graduated from Georgetown Univer-sity and founded his own company called CrestaMarketing. In 1990 he returned to Bulgaria fol-lowing 47 years of exile. He was appointed am-bassador to the UK and Ireland. In 1994 he be-came Foreign Minister, and later foreign policyadvisor to presidents Peter Stoyanov and GeorgiParvanov.In 1994, Stanchov established Karine Dom, adaytime rehab and integration centre for chil-dren with mental disabilities in his grandfather’shouse in Varna. The centre was named after hiscousin Karine who was born with cerebral palsy.The centre provides care for more than 100 chil-dren every day, and trained professionals en-courage these children to grow up with their fami-lies and attend normal state schools. LaterStanchov also founded the Gavrosh Associationwhich provides shelter and schooling for home-less children in Varna.

- Mr Stanchov, in your opinion, what is it that the statecan do to prevent what we saw in the BBC documen-tary?

In order to prevent what was happening, the stateshould have admitted that the problem was there, andagreed to work on it with Bulgarian and foreign NGOsand voluntary workers.

- And who should assume responsibility for what ishappening to those children?

I think it is more than clear that the control over whatis happening to those children, as well as the disrespectfor children’s rights and the standards for working withchildren, lies fully with the Ministry of Labour and SocialPolicy and the State Agency for Child Protection.

- What can be done for them at this point?What needs to be done for those children here and

now is what should have been done over the years,and that is to identify each child’s problems and, basedon the evaluation, qualified specialists should determinewhat is best for the child, e.g. adoption, foster care, orsmall family homes. Obviously the procedure would in-volve time, expertise, volunteer work, and funds but mostof all it would need understanding and support at cen-tral level.

Good Practices Work”Hands and Heart!”

- It would seem that we are trying to grope our waytoward the western model where children with disabili-ties who are not living with their families are being raisedin small family homes run by NGOs. What needs to hap-pen to see this model operational in Bulgaria, too?

- Work needs to be done at central level for the iden-tification of a clear vision and structure with clear re-sponsibilities for deinstitutionalisation; for the qualificationand motivation of those working in the sector of peoplewith disabilities, as well as for the development of suffi-cient and adequate services using existing good prac-tices; for changing attitudes toward people with disabili-ties and staff working with them. This is necessary for theprevention of abandoning children in institutions andfor the successful leading of children out of existing insti-tutions.

- We’ve seen numerous success stories of the chil-dren from Karine Dom. How has this been possible?

The success of the children who attend our centreis due to the fact that they live in a normal family envi-ronment and are provided complex qualified servicesin accordance with their needs. These include earlyintervention, individual evaluation, an individualprogramme for work with each child by a motivatedand highly qualified multi-disciplinary team who - quot-ing a good friend from the UK - ”work hands and heart”.We also work with the children’s families and our teamis in constant contact with schools and pre-school insti-tutions, state, regional and local administrations, as wellas the media. All this provides for successful inclusionof children and their families in the community, a suc-cessful inclusive education of a large number of chil-dren, and, subsequently, successful prevention ofabandoning to institutions. In the last few years KarineDom has also operated as a training and resource cen-tre. We have held numerous training sessions on vari-ous subjects for professionals working with children withdisabilities in social homes and daytime centresthroughout Bulgaria, as well as some from FYROM andMontenegro.

The whole team at Karine Dom are ready to go onsharing their experience in developing new forms ofservices for special needs children.

- And how is Karine Dom supported?For 14 years now Karine Dom has supported itself

through charity. Specific projects have been fundedunder EU or other donor programmes. Obviously, thisisn’t easy but it is a fact. Of course, in the long run andin view of the sustainable development of quality ser-vices, state funding will be needed. I hope that now,considering the government’s deinstitutionalisationpolicy, Karine Dom will be able to apply for funded del-egated activities.

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