IFCO 2012 Conference, Bulgaria (21-24 October 2012)

Children who need special care, like children with intellectual disabilities, should not live in institutions. In Bulgaria, there are still many children who live in institutions. In October 2012, there will be a conference in Sofia, which is the capital of Bulgaria. In this conference, people will talk about how to give children the care they need and respect their rights.

Next year’s conference of the International Foster Care Organisation (IFCO) will take place in Bulgaria on 21-24 October with the hope that it will unite young people and policy makes from all over Europe and will open a constructive dialogue on quality foster care of children, who need it.

“Unfortunately, in Bulgaria we have more than 6.000 children who live in institutions... Over the last 10 years, the civil sector, the government authorities, media and the whole society are doing a lot to change this situation…This is why we are very honoured to have the IFCO 2012 conference in Sofia; because we have a lot to share with you…” With these words, the director of “For Our Children Foundation” in Bulgaria and member of the board of IFCO (International Foster Care Organisation), Ivana Shalapatova, opened the video about the upcoming Regional Training Conference in Sofia.

Under the title “It takes a village to raise a child”, the conference will be dealing with developing quality foster care in transforming societies. It will be held between 21 and 24 of October 2012, with the expectation to gather children, young people, professionals and policy makers from Bulgaria and other Eastern European countries. The conference is promising to offer its participants interesting workshops and speeches, which will contribute to a positive change in children’s lives.

For more information and registrations in the conference, you can visit its website: www.ifco-sofia2012.com.

The International Foster Care Organisation (IFCO)

The International Foster Care Organisation (IFCO) is an international network dedicated solely to the promotion and support of family based foster care across the world. We are a volunteer and member based organisation providing a multi-cultural platform for young people, foster carers, social workers, academics, researchers, volunteers, media, policy makers and others to network and share information on a global basis. IFCO fully supports recent UN legislation stating that all children have the right to a family and our role is to enable the exchange of information through our conferences, consultation and networking to facilitate improvement and promotion of this model within a fostering environment.

More information is provided in the IFCO website.