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The “I Deserve a Childhood” programme provides services to children with disabilities, developmental
delays, or deviations and their families in order to stimulate the development of the child. The Early
Childhood Intervention (ECI) specialists use a family-centred approach focused on the strengths of the
child and the family, rather than on their deficits.
THE PROBLEM:
Early Childhood Intervention is
almost unknown
When the project started in 2012, the Early Childhood
Intervention approach was unknown in Bulgaria, with
the exception of one region of the country where a
local organization was piloting a similar service (Karin
Dom Foundation – see page 21 for details). Most
people did not understand the need for continuous
monitoring of a child’s development or for the provi-
sion of professional consultations.
The gorvenment did not recognize the fact that chil-
dren in the youngest age group who have disabilities
or developmental problems need support, and thus it
did not provide any services for children in this target
group. Support only began when a child entered the
education system, which is similar to most of the
former communist countries.
One of the most important barriers to be overcome
was related to the changing of the attitudes and
thinking of parents with whom the programme has
been working. They were convinced that a specialist
is better suited to care for a child with disabilities as
they know and understand more about the condition
of their children.
THE DEVELOPED SOLUTION:
A family-centred approach
With the implementation of the “I Deserve a Child-
hood” programme, For Our Children Foundation
provides an innovative and professional service that
supports the specific target group of children aged
0–3 years, the prematurely born, and children with
disabilities, at risk of developing a disability, or with
developmental difficulties, as well as their families.
The programme empowers families to care for their
own children by helping them to have a better under-
standing of the needs of their children, by improving
their parenting skills, and by supporting them to
develop better relationships with their children. In
some cases, this programme is the only support to
the families of children with developmental difficulties
in the period between birth and their third year.
The main objective of this ECI programme is to
support parents to help their children to develop skills
as much as possible within their home environment.
The advantages of this approach can be described
in terms of the differences between the old and the
new approaches of interventions, as presented in the
following table:
Old approach
New approach
Parents are excluded Parents are partners
One approach for the
entire system
Individualized services
Focused only on the child
Focused both on the
child and the family
Focus on deficits
Focus on strengths
Fragmented services
Multidisciplinary teams
Intervention takes place
in a clinical environment
Intervention takes place
in the family environment
Early Childhood Intervention in Bulgaria can also sup-
port society to prevent the abandonment of infants.
Currently, a significant number of young children with
ECI PRACTICE:
A proven methodology introduced
from Oregon/United States
• For Our Children Foundation developed the
ECI practice supported by Early Childhood
CARES – an outreach unit of the College of
Education, Oregon, USA. The Open Soci-
ety Foundation, London, funded this initial
project from 2012 to 2014.
• Early Childhood CARES has experience in
providing early childhood intervention and
early childhood special education services
to children who have developmental delays
or disabilities. The methodology and ap-
proach implemented and developed within
the “I Deserve Childhood” project has been
practiced in various organizations, but was
new to the Bulgarian context.