III. HOMES FOR CHILDREN DEPRIVED OF PARENTAL CARE In line with the process of de-institutionalization of children in Bulgaria, the NPM inspections have established a tendency to reduce the number of both the children placed in homes for children deprived of parental care (HCDPC) and the number of specialized institutions. However, at present their number is still rather high. Capacity of part of the homes inspected reaches up to 90 („Princess Mary - Louise” - Plovdiv), 75 (HCDPC „Zlatarov” - Vratsa), 70 (HCDPC „Olga Skobeleva” Plovdiv), 61 (HCDPC „Zlatarov” - Yakoruda), which severely limits the possibility to provide quality and personal care. As a best practice in this field can be pointed out the two centres of social services for children and families in Bratsigovo and Roman inspected by the team of NPM. Living conditions and care provided in the institution The facilities in the inspected homes (excluding the HCDPC – village of Razliv, the HCDPC „Rada Kirkovich” – city of Plovdiv) are in relatively good condition. Children have the necessary privacy space, personal and hygiene supplies. In some of the inspected institutions the sanitation facilities are inadequate for the number of inmates (HCDPC „Rada Kirkovich” – city of Plovdiv, HCDPC – village of Razliv), while in others partitions and curtains between the showers in the bathrooms are missing, which creates prerequisites for violating privacy of children (HCDPC „Ivan Kyulev” - Gotse Delchev). The NPM has identified regulatory gap related to the lack of funds for personal purposes during the transfer of a child from home for children deprived of parental care into a social service – residential type. The Children deprived of parental care placed in homes receive a monthly allowance – a stipend of 30 Levs, and for the children placed in a family-type centre, there is no legal basis for the award of a stipend. On this occasion, a recommendation was sent to the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy (MLSP) to amend art. 7, para 4 of Decree No 207 of the Council of Ministers of 03.10.1994 on eligibility for scholarships by students after completion of primary education, which provision should include except from existing homes for children deprived of parental care, but also the social services of residential type. In response to the recommendation the MLSP has accounted the regulatory gap and inform the NPM that the problem will be subject of an interinstitutional working meeting with representatives of the Ministry of Education and Science in order to prepare a draft amendment to the Decree No 207 of the Council of Ministers of 3.10.1994 towards providing funds for scholarships for children using social residential care services - „Family-type Centres” and „Transitional Housing”. Another serious problem that has been identified is related to the provision of daily and weekly care in two of the homes inspected (HCDPC „Zlatarov” – city of Yakoruda and HCDPC „Ivan Kyulev” – city of Gotse Delchev). Most of the children there are placed on condition of day and night care, but although formally eligible for placement in an institution, in the opinion of the NPM team they should not be placed in a home for children deprived of parental care. In interviews with the staff 34 Annual Report of the National Preventive Mechanism | OMBUDSMAN OF THE REPUBLIC OF BULGARIA