A view of one of the parental protests in 2019 against the anti-family policies and laws
2019 was marked by the emergence of a wide family rights movement in Bulgaria. Parents, distraught at the total neglect of their rights, and at the clear putting in opposition to each other their parental privileges and duties, on one side, and the "right of the child," on the other, pushed back against the government policies and new laws.
A brief chronology of the events in 2019:
- a homeschooling organization and our own Freedom for All publish statements and petitions critiquing the new National Strategy for the Child 2019-2030 and its anti-family ideology, Jan 2019;
- a petition is added, it reaches over 30,000 signatures, Feb 2019;
- A Facebook group is started by two concerned mothers, Feb 2019;
- the Strategy is withdrawn by the government but applied in the newly adopted Social Services Act, March 2019;
- the FB group grows exponentially to over 100,000 members, May 2019;
- Street rallies and protests are held in various cities in the nation, May-June 2019;
- First attempt at addressing the issues with members of Bulgarian parliament, July-Aug 2019;
- A first international conference on child kidnapping by Social Services is held in Sofia, with guests from the UK, Austria, and most notably from Norway, whose notorious Barenevernet (Child Protection Services) is being sued in the European Court of Human Rights for parental rights and human rights violations on more than 30 cases, Sept. 29, 2019;
- Generally, central media continuously ignore the serious arguments against the new SSA and its anti-family and totalitarian essence, depicting the family-rights groups as "extremist," "right-wing," and "religious sects," May-Oct 2019.
- a non-profit organization is formed, Parents United for Children (ROD), to express the views of the movement and give it public legitimacy, the Facebook group grows to over 210,000 members, Oct. 2019;
- Protests, meetings with representatives of parties in parliament, sympathetic to the cause continue. FFA and ROD submit a brief legal analysis (see below) insisting that SSA should be entirely revoked as totalitarian and anti-family and anti- basic human rights, to the National Assembly. One of the political parties in parliament introduces a law with a single provision: the revocation of SSA, Nov. 2019;
- Dec. 2019 - parent' group's protests and critical publications continue media debates and conversations with politicians. The National Assembly postpones the enactment of SSA, due to become active on Jan. 1, 2020, for 6 months.
It remains to be seen if the government will honor parental rights and concern or will yield to the pressure from the EU, Norway and big donors who insist on changing societal mores and values in small Eastern European nations, including Bulgaria.
