“Deciding on more than 600 foster families, which have signed contracts and are supported by the Social Assistance Directorate in the country, to mandatorily transfer to the control of the regional teams for foster care, is a decision, which was discussed neither with National Foster Care Association, nor with anyone else for that matter. This decision was made "in the dark" and is brought to the attention of foster parents in an authoritarian, unprofessional and rude manner.” This has been said in a letter from the National Foster Care Association to the Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Policy Zornitca Rusinova, executive director of the Social Assistance Agency, Ivaylo Ivanov, the head of the project "I Too Have a Family" and the National Children’s Network. With this letter NFCA calls for an emergency meeting, during which to discuss the situation and tension, which have arisen.

Below is the complete text of the letter:

Calls from foster parents, whose foster care service provider are the directorates for social assistance have become more frequent at the National Foster Care Association. Foster parents are disturbed by the arrogant, unprofessional conduct of most administrators of the project "I Too Have A Family," in announcing the news that foster parents will work for local foster care teams. In some cases, foster parents had to provide the entire set of documents, while threats towards them, stating that if they do not participate in further trainings once they transfer toward the foster care teams, they will cease to be licenced foster parents, have not been spared.

 Deciding that more than 600 foster families, which have signed contracts and are supported by the Social Assistance Directorate in the country, should be transferred mandatorily to the teams for foster care, is a decision, which was consulted neither with the National Foster Care Association, nor with anyone else for that matter. This decision was made "in the dark" and brought to the attention of foster parents in an authoritarian, unprofessional and rude manner. We, at the National Foster Care Association, are not surprised by this approach - most social workers on the project "I Too Have a Family", working for local foster care teams are unprepared, untrained and with serious knowledge gaps in their skills to work with foster families. NFCA would like to state that rude and authoritarian behaviour is not in the interest of any of the participants in the process. The abrupt change and putting of pressure on of foster parents is not in the interest of children in foster families. We want to reiterate, that switching to a different "foster care" provider for is a personal choice and right.

As an interested party, NFCA has some clarity regarding the upcoming changes in the model of foster care. At the same time we want to explain, that so far there are no clearly defined rules nor details on the implementation of the new scheme for foster care financing and this creates concerns about hidden motives not in the interest of the quality of foster care.

The National Foster Care Association would also like to reiterate, that the process of change should begin when there are clear rules, criteria and norms. The actions of administrators and foster care teams show, that there is no clarity about the consequences, both for the children and foster families.

NFCA will continue to rely on the partnership approach of the institutions in the interest of children and their foster families.