When a young person leaves the Family-Based Care Centre, it is normal because they have turned 18 and want to taste freedom – not having to ask ‘Madam, may I go out?’, having no curfew, being able to stay overnight at friends’ houses, and so on.
Of course, this young person will also have no food or shelter. What they might be entitled to is the following assistance:
- if the parent has died and had at least some period of social security contributions, the child receives a survivor’s pension until the age of 18 (or until the age of 26 if they are a full-time student). The survivor’s pension is a percentage of the deceased parent’s pension (50/75/100 per cent depending on the number of heirs), and as of July 2026, the guaranteed minimum is €260.63.
- If the young person has a permanent reduction in working capacity or a type and degree of disability exceeding 71 per cent, they may receive between €238.95 and €294.10, depending on the percentage determined by the Medical Expert Commission (TELK).
- From the summer of 2026, Sofia Municipality introduced new support specifically for young people who have grown up in residential care (family-type care centres, transitional accommodation, etc.) — this is not a pension, but a monthly allowance equal to the minimum wage, for those of them who are enrolled as full-time students at an accredited Bulgarian university (first degree, not previously obtained). Applications are accepted all year round.
Very often, young people in care do not perform well at school, but they receive sympathy from their teachers and graduate with the minimum possible pass mark. Every parent in Bulgaria knows that if we, as parents, do not engage with our children, high academic results are almost impossible. Even if that involvement is simply talking to them about how important it is to study, without helping them with their homework, it is up to us adults to instil in children the motivation to learn. And when a child grows up without parents, education does not become a priority for them.
So when a young person leaves care because they’ve turned 18, they often haven’t completed their secondary education. Let’s look at one particular young person we work with – we’ll call him Alex. Alex is 18 and will soon turn 19. He has completed Year 10 with one exam still to take. He is currently living with his brother, but he really wants his own flat. This month, he did not receive his social security benefit of 260 euros. To receive it, he needs to obtain a certificate from his school confirming that he is continuing in Year 11. The school secretary will be able to issue the certificate in November. Until then, there’s no money.
We cannot employ him under a subsidised employment scheme, because such schemes usually exclude students. The idea is to ensure the scheme does not become a reason for a young person to drop out of education. We had a difficult conversation with Alex, in which we had to agree that it wasn’t worth him dropping out of school simply because he was unemployed and couldn’t benefit from being hired through our project. We started to think of another solution.
Our partners, the Give Time Foundation, work with a supermarket chain that is keen to employ vulnerable young people. So we suggested that Alex have a look at the vacancies on their website. However, like almost every other employer, they require a 12th-grade qualification. That’s another two years during which Alex would have to figure out how to support himself.
If Alex works, realistically speaking, he won’t be attending school very often. But if he’s enrolled in full-time education, the teachers will let him pass. If, however, he studies part-time or attends evening classes – which would be fairer – he loses both his social security pension and the teachers’ sympathy. Whatever marks he gets in his exams, that’s it.
And because he’s 18 and hasn’t finished secondary school, the next two years will see him working in the grey economy. No one will hire him on a contract because he lacks an education certificate.
And so, the system encourages young people to pretend they’re attending school whilst working illegally. And that’s in the best-case scenario. Alex wants to work and wants to complete his education. Others like him prefer a life of crime and to have nothing to do with school or fixed working hours.
It would help if subsidised employment schemes and social security benefits allowed for all forms of learning and were designed so that education and work go hand in hand. It would help if employers were willing and ready to hire young people who are still studying. There are a few here and there who have left care and are completing their education years later. Let us not encourage learning only up to the age of 26 – learning is a lifelong process. Young people leaving care need work and they need education, and these two things go hand in hand.
The social integration of young people leaving care is a societal issue. Our society as a whole would be better off if we resolved it.
And meanwhile Alex is still looking for a job.