Center for counseling and legal assistance for children in Pazardzhik
After the Methodology and documentation of the Center for Counseling and Legal Assistance for Children service was developed, all three teams were formed. They went through initial training, with ongoing training planned. The service was implemented in the Roma communities of Plovdiv, Pazardzhik and Lom, and now an expert of IGA performs periodic monitoring of the three services.
The center in Pazardzhik is located in the “Iztok” district, in a separate office rented by IGA. So far, its team has worked on 12 cases.
The most common problems are weak parental control and neglect by one or both parents, the child falling into an inappropriate circle of friends that has a bad effect on his motivation for learning and devel
opment, lack of interest in education and accepting it as a value, provoked from lack of interest of the parents (often abroad, with contact only by phone), upbringing by grandparents whose authority is not recognized, frequent cases of non-recognition by the biological father and the lack of any interest and control on his part, low parental capacity, many children in the family and inability of parents to take good care of everyone and exercise the necessary parental control. There are also cases of constant aggression in the family, which repels the child and makes him seek salvation on the street, as well as in the use of alcohol and other harmful substances not permitted for his age, emotional instability, strong outbursts of anger, low motivation to attend in classes, repeating the class,
Work was also done with a student who had imposed warning under the Juvenile Delinquency Act, due to physical aggression. He is placed under enha supervision of the parents, with an obligation to strengthen the control of the minor’s circle of friends.
The activity is directly aimed at the general goal of the project: to introduce and develop an effective integrated approach aimed at improving the status and opportunities of children in contact with the law in the three Roma communities in Bulgaria, as well as at the specific one: to increase the quality, as and access to specialized services for children from Roma communities.
