261 Bulgarian children from foster families from 1 to 12 grade received backpacks with school supplies and kits, a gift from the leading telecom Mtel and the National Foster Care Association on the occasion of the school year start. 30 of the backpacks are especially for the first-graders placed in foster families. The bags contain the much-needed abacuses, crayons, notebooks and many other toolkits to help cross the school threshold for the first time. The initiative has been going on for a third year, with the National Foster Care Association and Mtel having helped around 500 foster carers so far.

Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Policy Rositsa Dimitrova, together with the members of the NFCA management board Alexander Milanov and Tsvetelina Radulova and the coordinator for Pleven District Tsvetoslava Lazarova, attended the first day of "Knezitsa" elementary school in the town of Knezha. In 2017/2018, first-graders in this school will be three children, placed in foster families in the town. The Mayor of Knezha Iliycho Lachovski also attended the opening of the school year.

 "Foster families are particularly important for children in distress. The school is the secure place, where they have to be accepted. I believe that education is the only way out of isolation and the real integration in the economy, Rositsa Dimitrova, Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Policy, told the parents and the students.

 "The big adventure for children and their parents begins with the first school day. Most children in foster families have a difficult start in life but thanks to the education and support of their foster parents they will have a safe childhood and a happy future”, said the foster mother Tsvetelina Radulova, who is also a member of the Management Board of the National Foster Care Association. Alexander Milanov from the parents organization added that the school should be a secure place for all children, regardless of their social status and the difficulties in their lives. "We are very worried that children from foster families are often not very welcomed to kindergartens and schools and are treated as problematic and different",  Milanov said. He recalled that the Ministry of Education and Science is planning trainings for the pedagogical staff about foster care, its public functions, and peculiarities in caring for abandoned children.