Around 20% of the children in Europe live in poverty, compared to 44% in Bulgaria. “The accommodation of children at orphanages and similar institutions is harmful to them. It slows down their development and reduces their ability to integrate into society,” said Michela Costa, a member of the working group for deinstitutionalisation at the European Commission. According to her, around 1 million children in Europe live outside their families.

“However, institutionalisation of children in Europe is still widespread and this is particularly true for many countries of the former Soviet system,” Costa added. She cited UN figures, according to which some 600,000 children in Central and Eastern Europe live in residential care.