Increasingly Less Bulgarians Would Become Foster Parents, Want to Be Paid

About 63% of Bulgarians would not become foster parents under any conditions, and one in six would take home a child at risk if they received a salary and child benefits from the state, shows data from a nationally representative survey of Trend polling agency, commissioned by the National Association for Foster Care.

The survey was carried out in December 2020. The results bear out the trend of the recent years towards lower interest in foster parenthood. Experts explain this trend by the vehement attack on the rights of the child and family from different religious and political communities, as well as by the fake news related to the protection of children in our country.

Over 50% of Bulgarians are of the opinion that children abandoned by their parents are placed in foster care, that one in four children in foster care is a victim of violence, and about 14% of our compatriots believe that children are placed in foster care because of poverty. These figures also confirm the official statistics to some extent- the highest proportion of children in foster care are victims of poor care and negligence, including violence. In our country, the number of children actually abandoned, as well as those without parents, is gradually decreasing.

When asked under what conditions they would become foster parents, the Bulgarians set the condition to receive a salary and means for child maintenance from the state. This is not uncommon and is confirmed by a series of polls over the years.

The paradox is that in the public domain, the main criticism of foster care parenthood is the insistence on the part of the prospective parents to receive a financial reward for their work, and at the same time it is also a leading motive for our compatriots to...