The Samaritans association has expressed concerns over breaches of the rights of children placed in foster families. The grounds for the alert were spot checks, carried out by The Social Assistance Agency in the period of 5-7 November 2014 in the Stara Zagora municipality.

“Foster parents from the region informed us that the checks were carried out without any warning for them or the children. The families were visited in their homes and the children were observed at school without preliminary preparation or the presence of a trusted adult. The children were called by the principal of the school, taken out of class with no explanation, and led into a room, where two absolutely strange adults were waiting for them. The “strangers” asked them questions, connected to their life stories and future. One of the children was asked if they knew something about their mother and whether they would like to see her. The mother of said child was deprived of parental rights and is forbidden by law to see her child. Another child was asked whether they could be adopted. In this case the foster mother is the guardian of the child and The Department for Child Protection is not planning an adoption. After the conversation with the inspectors, one of the children said: “I despaired, because I thought that they would move me to another family. I said: no, please don’t!”. This happened after the child had been asked by the inspectors whether they knew what adoption was. Another child told their foster parents that they had been in a cold sweat during the entire interrogation.” The Samaritans Association wrote in their letter.

The building of a connection and reliable relationships with the children is key in order to enable them to share and talk about sensitive and painful topics, such as their families of origin and their identity. Studies show that children, who have been placed with foster families tend to suffer from attachment disturbances. From the very beginning of their work with a given child, foster parents and specialists try to help them to build up the skills necessary to not trust and speak to strangers indiscriminately in order to protect them from potential dangers.

“We know how easy it is for children who exhibit indiscriminate attachment to go off with anyone who speaks with them. Some children have directly said to the inspectors that they “do not talk to strangers”. This situation poses another important question. If the inspectors have knowledge about the trauma children in foster care have been through, why did they not plan their approach accordingly and instead place the children in a difficult situation?”, the letter also says.  

“There is a common characteristic of all children who are placed in foster care, and it is fear”, specialists from the Samaritans Foundation commented. Fear that they will be moved and the stability and security that they have found will be lost. When they see social workers, accompanied by strangers (in this case a man and woman), who are asking them exploratory questions, the children and youth break out in a “cold sweat” and the fear is activated.

“We cannot help but ask ourselves other questions. What would have happened if the question “do you see your mother”, which was asked during the inspection, had been directed toward the foster child, who witnessed their father murder their mother? Why do we ask this question? Because the situation described above leads to the conclusion that the inspectors were not aware of the circumstances of the children they were interviewing and we know that the choice of which child and foster family should be interviewed is random.”, says the analysis of the social workers and psychologists of the Samaritans Association.

"We wonder what the effectiveness of this “random spot check” appoach is, given the fact that there were no signals of irregularities or worrisome circumstances surrounding those who were checked. The main result we see are worried and offended foster families and scared children. We have been building trust and a sense of transparency among foster parents and see good results for the children placed with them. We suppose that the results from the spot check will show that the children placed in foster care in the Stara Zagora municipality are doing well. The main rule in the child protection systems is that children are the top priority and their rights must be protected. We believe that this inspection violated those rights.” stated the specialists of the Samaritans Association. 

 The association suggests: 

• That the meetings with foster children and families be planned together with all participants and interested parties invested in the provision of foster care, instead of only with the subdivisions of the Social Assistance Agency.
• The opinion and help of the foster parents and specialists who work with the children should be sought when organising the conversations with the children;
• The inspectors should acquaint themselves with the children’s circumstances;
• The child should be accompanied by an adult they trust;
• The child should be prepared emotionally to face the conversation with the inspector;
• The approach should be tailored to the region in which the spot check is being carried out and the specifics of the provision of the foster care service in the area should be taken into account.