Second International Conference “Victimization of children, dimensions and prevention” held in Sofia

Special guest Vice-Minister of Justice, Ms Velina Todorova, presented the steps in the reform, outlined in the National Action Plan fulfilling the State policy concept in the area of child justice (2012-2020). Other official guests were the Deputy Chair of the State Agency for Child Protection, Ms Darinka Yankova; Dr. Anu Aromaki-Stratos, psychologist from the University Hospital in Turku (Finland); and Prof. Jean-Pierre Pourtois (Belgium).

The conference was organized in partnership with the Ministry of Justice and with the financial support of the OAK Foundation, the Daphne III, the Fundamental Rights and Citizenship Programmes of the EC.

Is it enough for us to have child interviewing rooms, in order to be satisfied? How and who can interview the child victims and witnesses of crime? Children's Participation in Legal Procedures and Child-friendly justice were the main topics discussed on the first day of the conference.

Dr Anu Aromaki-Stratos, who has a long experience as a psychologist of children participating in legal procedures in Finland, presented details about forensic interviewing of child victims of sexual abuse as well as practices in forensic interviewing of children in Finland. The Bulgarian achievements and the difficulties in this sphere were presented by Dr Nadya Stoykova, an expert, working for SAPI, and a director of the National Specialized Team for Children Interviewing.

„Maltraitance or Bientraitance?"- the meaning of upbringing, the attitude towards children, how and what are we doing as parents, as experts, were the important topics on the second day of the conference. Mr Jean-Pierre Pourtois, who is a professor at the University of Mons (Belguim), president of the International Association of Training and Research in Family Education (AIFREF), Director of the Centre for Research and Innovation in Family and School Social Pedagogic (CERIS), and also an internationally recognized expert on resilience approach, spoke about this "new" term Bientraitance (which directly translated from French means "good treating"). Nelly Petrova, an associate professor at the Sofia University and President of SAPI, presented the "good parenting" as the best prevention of victimization of children.

The main topics were presented and discussed through practices of Bulgarian and European experts in various thematic groups. "Program for Prevention of Violence and Mobilization of the Competences in the Intimate Relationships among Adolescence" was the presentation by Dr. Jeanne Meyer. She is а pediatrician from Nancy, France, SAPI's partner in the promotion of the resilience approach in Bulgaria, and the approach of co-education when working with young mothers with difficulties in taking care for their children.

CSSCF Shumen, CSSCF Vidin and Community Support Center-Sofia (all managed by SAPI), schools and non-governmental organizations, working for children's well-being, also presented their good practices.