CHILD PROTECTION

Andrei’s Story

Maria’s Story

Maria moves to a Small Group Home

Maria, 6, was placed at Nadejda Home for Children Deprived of Parental Care in Bulgaria in 2006, having been found abandoned, wandering around a village. Little is known of her past except that she had been cared for by her grandmother, who could not be traced. Maria showed signs of significant neglect while living at Nadejda; she was very withdrawn and uncommunicative with poor language skills. 

In preparing Maria for her move from Nadejda, social workers helped her share her expectations of her new home and she participated in activities and outings designed to encourage group interaction communication skills. 

On ARK’s closure of Nadejda, Maria was moved into a Small Group Home and began attending her local kindergarten. Her language skills are developing rapidly and she is starting to express her wishes quite clearly. Maria was delighted to have new clothes of her own for the first time in her life and loves choosing what to wear. She is beginning to seek assurance and affection from the care staff but still has little trust in the world around her. With consistent high quality loving care in the SGH, Maria will continue to develop and will learn to know the world as a kinder place.

To ensure anonymity the person in this story is not shown in the photograph.