Equilibrium hosts a visit by the Sаuchastie Association from Varna.

The visit took place on 10th May 2013 at Ruse social services complex and we should start by congratulating our Varna colleagues on winning an award from the Dutch Tulip Foundation for 2012 project of the year. It was earned on the basis of tireless effort and hard –won results.

The Sаuchastie and Equilibrium teams spent an afternoon discussing common difficulties with foster care, the prevention of abandonment and reintegration of children into their biological families – significant parts of the work of both organizations. The discussion focused on the main “stumbling stones” in these areas including lack of coordination and transfer of information among institutions and regulatory issues.

The exchange of information revealed many similarities in the approaches used by the two organizations leading to our mutual success in securing stable foster placements.

Our guests were especially interested in our early intervention work at the city’s maternity hospital that stems the flow of infants towards institutions – a key component of the multidisciplinary prevention work in Ruse.

In turn, the Sauchastie team explained their model of working via trained Roma mediators who are part of their team and at the heart of their work in the community.

We exchanged literature and ended the day by planning future collaboration.