About bulgaria’s orphan crisis

Bulgaria has the highest orphan rate in Europe and the fastest declining population in the world. Only fifty percent of Bulgaria’s orphans live past the age of twenty; of those that survive, fifty percent engage in a life of criminal behavior, homelessness, drugs, disease, and prostitution. Years of traumatic experiences at the orphanages cripple these children both physically and emotionally, leaving them with debilitating mental and physical illnesses. Bulgaria also has a very high rate of birth defects, which directly correlates with the high rate of child abandonment. Alarming statistics and findings like these help us understand the urgency of turning our attention to this country in crisis.

About One Heart Bulgaria

One Heart Bulgaria works diligently to mitigate the needs of suffering children in dozens of orphanages and two children’s hospitals. We have created an infrastructure that provides for the children’s basic needs and have created programs that enrich their daily lives, bringing joy into their difficult world. We also provide training for Bulgarian physicians, orphanage caregivers, foster care providers, pediatric physical therapists, and families seeking support. In addition, we create abandonment prevention programs that help decrease the likelihood of parents abandoning their children.

Our Mission

One Heart Bulgaria was created to dramatically improve the lives of thousands of children living in orphanages. We provide for the children’s immediate, critical needs and sustain an infrastructure that will ensure their long-term social, emotional, mental, and physical health. We work towards the deinstitutionalization of these children by supporting foster care initiatives and services in the community that support families in keeping their children. Our abandonment prevention programs provide underprivileged girls and women with prenatal care and classes, with the goal of reducing birth defects and preventing child abandonment. All of our initiatives and programs assist in a movement to shut down Bulgaria’s orphanage system.

Our Goals

Thousands of children in overcrowded and underfunded Bulgarian orphanages are suffering without basic amenities, nutritious food, medical care, love, and a hope for their future. One Heart Bulgaria’s goals are to provide for immediate, critical needs and build an infrastructure that will ensure long-term social, emotional, and physical health for the children it serves. The result of One Heart Bulgaria’s efforts will be a generation of children and young adults who have the opportunity to develop and reach their potential in a healthy and supportive environment, enabling them to become happy and successful members of the Bulgarian society. We achieve this by:

Providing nutritious food, bedding, beds, basic hygiene articles, and medical support for children at risk for malnutrition and disease
Providing regular and reliable interaction with trained Bulgarian mentors, teachers, coaches, and other concerned and loving adults to guide and teach orphans and help diminish emotional, social, and intellectual developmental delays
Providing access to specialized medical care and physical therapy for children with disabilities
Funding special projects and renovations at the orphanages
Providing literacy programs, occupational skills training, and opportunities to develop new talents

Our long-term goals

Help deinstitutionalize children throughout Bulgaria and reintegrate them into Bulgaria’s society as healthy, well-adjusted citizens
Help Bulgaria move from an orphanage system to a foster care system
Eradicate child abandonment
Help close down the orphanage system to end Bulgaria’s orphan crisis.

We achieve these goals by:

Supporting foster care programs by helping with program development, training, and increasing awareness in-country.
Working with underprivileged pregnant woman and parents in the communities who are at risk for abandoning their children.
Work with pregnant women and physicians to reduce the occurrence of birth defects through education, training, and prenatal care.
Partnering with local organizations and child protective services to improve services for families with children with disabilities.
Support medical services and social services that work to ensure that parents of children with disabilities are able to keep their children.