But you should see their families
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1921/swssr.v12i3.458Keywords:
<i>child abandonment</i>, <i>institutional care</i>, <i>countries in transition</i>, <i>Bulgaria</i>, <i>Roma</i>Abstract
The use of institutional care in countries in transition to capitalist economies in Eastern Europe and Central Asia continues to grow. This paper shows how common understandings of reasons for entry to care that blame parents lead to policies that are unable to address the situation of children and families. Effective social policy needs to find ways to see the predicaments of parents and overcome the blindness that can be induced by prejudice and ideology. The paper demonstrates how a small research project involving Roma women as researchers in Bulgaria was able to make parents visible and challenge commonly held views leading to the development of an effective local alternative to residential care.
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