based services (such as day care centres for children with disabilities, helping the lone mothers with child care, prevention of child abandonment at the stage in maternity ward, the development of social service „Foster care”, etc.). In order to reduce the stay of children in these institutions it is necessary to accelerate the process of deinstitutionalization through creation of alternative services in the community and to improve the communication between the „Social Assistance” directorates, the homes for medical and social care and the parents of abandoned children. According to art. 16 of the Rules and Procedure of the HCDPC homes for medical and social care for children can open day-care centre for disabled children reared in a family environment that is physically and/or mentally disabled and in need of daily rehabilitation and physiotherapy. When inspected by the NPM it has been found that only in the HCDPC - Blagoevgrad, operates a day care centre for children with disabilities. Other homes do not provide such social services. Living conditions and provision of care in the institution Overall, it can be concluded that living conditions in the inspected HCDPC are satisfactory. A significant problem that the NPM noted is the lack of infrastructure for children with disabilities. Only one out of five inspected homes has got such infrastructure. There are no ramps and/or elevators in other homes. Lack of adequate infrastructure for children with disabilities violates art. 9 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, ratified by a law passed by the 41th National Assembly on 26th January 2012. As a main problem in these homes the NPM finds application of different standards related to child care. In some homes are placed small number of children (up to 50), which favours the personalized care. In other homes, the number of children reaches 100. Examples in this regard can be given – these are the homes in the cities of Plovdiv, Vratsa and Vetren. The capacity of the HCDPC - Vratsa is to accommodate 165 children and at the time of inspection of the NPM 54 children were housed. The capacity of the HCDPC - Plovdiv is 140 children, and at the time of the inspection the home housed 82 children. The capacity of the HCDPC - Vetren is 60 beds and as at the date of the inspection 50 children were accommodated. The findings of the NPM are that exactly in the HCDPC - Vetren individual care for children is the best. Therefore the NPM believes that in order to provide better care for children the capacity of all homes for medical and social care should be reduced up to 50. Access to education and training The right to education of the children is impaired and this is again due to the lack of infrastructure for children with disabilities in the municipal kindergartens. As an example can be pointed out the Blagoevgrad municipality that refuses to take children with disabilities from the HCDPC Blagoevgrad. The motives of the municipality are that are no suitable kindergarten infrastructure for them. Another problem that children from homes face is the lack of specialized transport required for transporting children to educational institutions. Most of the children are handicapped. The Ministry of Health is necessary to provide funds for the purchase of specialized transport. Medical Care 27 Annual Report of the National Preventive Mechanism | OMBUDSMAN OF THE REPUBLIC OF BULGARIA