The 2027 budget plan will include many measures to support families and children, deputy labour and social policy minister Lilia Stoyanovich said at the Annual Meeting of Local Authorities in Albena.
The second part of the "I Choose Bulgaria" programme opens next week. Until now it covered Bulgarians returning from abroad. The new part is for people moving within Bulgaria: it will help families leave the big economic centres for smaller towns and villages and add to the local workforce.
Stoyanovich spoke in a discussion titled "How can successful local solutions become national policies?" She said that as of August this year, 469 community social services for children and families operate in Bulgaria. They are used by 17,000 people every day, and the state pays for them.
She said national and local decisions will fit together better if the state sets common goals, provides the money and makes it easier for municipalities to report on and evaluate the models they use. Municipalities are closest to families and can adapt measures to the demographic profile and real needs of people. Successful models can be copied in other municipalities where they would be useful.
The deputy minister said children should be supported together with their families, and responsible parenting should also be encouraged. When parents cannot give the care that is needed because of money problems or low education, the state and municipalities should step in with suitable programmes.
Stoyanovich explained that EU money adds to national funding and allows new measures and mechanisms to be tried, which can then become part of national policy. With these funds, measures will be tested over the next two years so that the rules can be changed.
People should be able to stay in small towns or leave them by choice, not because there is no work or no access to childcare, she added.