Timely support transforms childhood in Bulgaria step-by-step
From early delays with walking and speaking to the moment Sylvia dances and says her first words, timely and consistent support gives a 6-year-old with cerebral palsy the chance to grow and thrive
Today, six-year-old Sylvia loves to run, dance and play. This wasn’t always the case: diagnosed with cerebral palsy, she took her first steps at the age of three – the outcome of almost eighteen months of examinations, support and rehabilitation provided by the mobile team at the Community Support Centre in Burgas, Bulgaria.
"Sylvia loves it when I sing to her songs and play music. I am happy to watch her dance, because until she was two years old, she could not even stand firmly on her feet," says her mother, 28-year-old Zhyumbyula.
Zhyumbyula, gave birth to her first child, Sylvia’s oldest brother, at just 13. Since then, she has raised her five children independently, with occasional help from relatives. With so little support and living in a Roma community, Zhyumbyula and her children slipped through the cracks of the national systems meant to help them. The children were unregistered in school, unseen by the health care system and overlooked by social services.
In 2021, a pilot project for testing the European Child Guarantee programme in Bulgaria created a mobile team of social workers to support the most vulnerable families with children. In April 2021, one of the team members, social worker Katya Kirova, came across a child in Burgas who showed signs of development delay. It was Sylvia.
"She was quite tiny and sat supported by pillows so she wouldn't fall,” Kirova says. “And now here she is – she is already running and full of energy."
With the help of the mobile team, Zhyumbyula began to take Sylvia to the doctor and to rehabilitation appointments. "I believe that with their help, things will get even better,” she says. Not only her daughter, who has begun to speak, but her other children. “My sons are also doing well. The oldest is finishing 8th grade and wants to become a car mechanic. I dream that they will all be healthy and become good people," says Zhyumbyula.
Katya is proud of Sylvia’s progress and continues to work with her as her therapist. At the Community Support Center, the child also sees a speech therapist, psychologist and physical therapist, and all the specialists work closely with her mother.
"Today, Sylvia is not only walking, but she is running, she wants to communicate with the children, she smiles, she develops. She is enrolled in kindergarten,” says Maria Atanasova, the manager of the Community Support Center in Burgas. “It is a vivid example of the fact that when the case is covered in time, there can be amazing results and this child can develop potential that even specialists did not initially imagine. This is our reward for the work."
Sylvia and Zhyumbyula are just two of the 3,600 children and 2,800 parents who were supported by the mobile teams created for field work. They work in seven municipalities within the framework of the 3-year pilot project for testing the "European Child Guarantee" in Bulgaria, funded by the European commission. They have helped access health, education, and social services and benefits, prevent school dropouts, early marriages, and family separation.
The teams continue to work together with the social assistance and child protection services to provide comprehensive support to vulnerable families with children. Today, Bulgaria has a National Action Plan for the implementation of the European Child Guarantee, which aims to lift 200,000 children out of poverty by 2030.
