Under the banner “Guaranteeing a Happy Childhood”, the State Agency for Child Protection ran a competition by asking municipal authorities to nominate organisations that work with children for the outstanding quality of their work.
Nominations could be made under three categories – Innovation, Successful Change and Sustainable Development. To make matters confusing, Equilibrium was nominated twice. Ruse municipality applauded our work at the new early years’ centre while the local authority in Byala felt those services managed by Equilibrium in their town deserved recognition. We manage family-type accommodation and a social rehabilitation centre in Byala.
The State Agency compromised and awarded first place to Equilibrium in the category Successful Change in recognition of our work in early intervention with young children. The Ruse centre is recognized as a leading force in the field of early years’ care and education but – as an advocate for radically strengthening family support in Bulgaria – Equilibrium takes a highly progressive approach to the provision of social services for children at risk and vulnerable families. This is exemplified in our work in Byala where victims of institutionalization now lead happy and productive lives.
The award ceremony took place in Sofia on the evening of 21st November. David Bisset, Nadejda Petrova and Ivaylo Minkov represented an Equilibrium network of 135 dedicated professionals working together to raise the standard of provisions for children and families.