UNICEF Bulgaria, the State Agency for Refugees, local councils and partner organisations are launching a national foster care campaign for unaccompanied children who are seeking protection in Bulgaria, UNICEF said. In 2025, 573 unaccompanied refugee children asked for protection in Bulgaria.
Unaccompanied children are those who came to Bulgaria alone, without a parent or a responsible adult. They need safety, care, stability and a setting as close to a family as possible.
The campaign is part of "Creating alternative social services for unaccompanied refugee children in Bulgaria", a pilot project for the country. The EU co-funds the project, and the State Agency for Refugees, which is part of the Council of Ministers, runs it. Its partners are UNICEF Bulgaria, the International Organisation for Migration and the municipalities of Burgas, Ivaylovgrad, Malko Tarnovo and Tundzha.
The Social Assistance Agency also backs the campaign. Together with local councils, it works to strengthen, promote and develop foster care across Bulgaria. Foster care is a way to raise children at risk in a family setting.
The agency says its child protection departments handled 174 cases of unaccompanied foreign children in 2025 and took steps to protect them. Of these children, 155 received support through residential care services, including family-type placement centres, crisis centres and transitional housing. Fifteen were placed with relatives or other close people, and four are with foster families.
The campaign wants more people to become foster parents and give safe family care to children who need protection. These include refugees and migrants who have lived through loss, separation, violence, conflict or forced displacement. The partners want to build public support and show that behind every statistic is a child who needs safety, trust and a chance to start again.
UNICEF says its main message is that every child, wherever they come from, has the right to care, protection and the chance to grow up in a family. Around the world, millions of children leave home because of conflict, violence, poverty and crises, and unaccompanied children are among the most vulnerable. They often need extra support that takes account of the trauma they have lived through, their cultural and language background, and the need to adapt to a new place.
"No child should go through the hardships of migration alone," said Mio Nemoto, UNICEF's representative in Bulgaria. Nemoto said a child who arrives without an adult needs not only protection but also care, stability and human support. Foster care in a family gives the child a chance not to face the future alone.
Dimitar Ivanov, head of the State Agency for Refugees, said it matters to the agency that the children have hope and a future. They are now in the agency's Safe Zones. He said the effort will bring results if this care is built on with alternative social services in family-type centres. Ivanov pointed to refugee children who have settled well in Bulgaria, and to the first foster families for unaccompanied children, though there are far fewer than he would like. These make him believe it is possible, he said.
UNICEF Bulgaria has another campaign, "There Is No Such Thing as Someone Else's Child", which began in July. It backs programmes to end violence against children, inclusive education, early intervention and care for the youngest children in Bulgaria. It also helps children in humanitarian crisis zones and areas hit by natural disasters around the world.