The Ruse complex hosted a working visit by the deinstitutionalization team from Plovdiv’s centre for social support on 25th-26th April, 2013.

The meeting is part of the annual planning process for developing the capacity and professional competence of social workers from the municipal complex for social services in Plovdiv.

During the workshop, the Plovdiv social workers had the opportunity to meet our experienced team and to exchange best practice in the field of social services for children and families.

Deinstitutionalisation programmes are currently underway in both Plovdiv and Ruse. The cities are among the 8 locations where restructuring of institutions for the medical care of infants is being piloted under the “Direction: family” project of the Ministry of Health. Our team explained our working model which depends on sustaining continuous communication and coordination among all institutional and organizational stakeholders. The Plovdiv guests applauded the progress made in Ruse and expressed their ambition to achieve similar success in their district.

A lot of the discussion was dedicated to work with foster parents, potential adopters and adoptive parents. It was gratifying to be told that an attempt will be made to use our adoption model in the other city. Plovdiv social workers and families concerned with adoption are likely to attend a meeting in Ruse for “Friends of adoption” that Equilibrium has scheduled for the end of September.

Having exchanged organizational literature, we look forward to the development of our working relationship with the team from Plovdiv.