Presenting the Center for Counseling and Legal Assistance for Children in Pazardzhik
Yesterday in the Press Club of BTA, Pazardzhik, an information day was held within the project “Specialized services for children in conflict or contact with the law”. During the event, the activity of the specialized service Center for counseling and legal assistance for children created under the project was presented.
Dimitar Rusinov – project manager, presented the results so far, emphasizing key activities and products: information days, trainings, workshops with the institutions, reports, analyses, features of the consultation process, established partnerships, signed agreements, publicity activities, as well and the implementation stages of the service itself.
The lawyer of the Center in Pazardzhik also made a presentation. He presented the profile of the children with whom he worked, focusing on certain cases, the reasons why the children fell into this group, the trends and processes in the Roma community as a whole.
The presentations of the speakers aroused great interest among the participants of the information event. Speeches were made by the directors of RDSA and DSA, the head of the RED, representatives of the Children’s Pedagogic Room, the District Prosecutor’s Office, the secretary of the LCPJD, the director of the Education and Culture Directorate in Pazardzhik Municipality, directors of schools with predominantly Roma students, etc. The debate about what are the main reasons for children to come into contact with the law or even conflict turned into a fruitful discussion. It became clear that the institutions individually work a lot with these children, but the relationship in terms of inter-institutional cooperation could be improved.
The conclusion – the problems of our children are a reflection of social phenomena and processes, united the participants in wishing for greater initiative, as well as responsible institutional and personal support.
The project is funded by the Justice Program of the Norwegian Financial Mechanism 2014-2021 and aims to introduce and develop an effective integrated approach aimed at improving the status and opportunities of children in contact with the law in three Roma communities in Bulgaria – Pazardzhik, Plovdiv and Lom.
The leading organization of the project is Crime Prevention Fund IGA, and the partners in its implementation are the Roma-Lom Foundation, the Roma Regional Development Foundation, Plovdiv and Save a child, Norway.
