Developments and successes, which have marked our activities as an association in 2012: -

This year, Society and Values Association (SVA) took another huge step forward by starting constructive actions to strengthen the marriage and family, and concurrently continued our work to protect the rights of parents, children as well as the rights and dignity of women. 

Below is a brief overview detailing some of our most important achievements for 2012: -

New Child Law:

At the end of 2011, SVA first issued an official statement alerting the public as to the dangers, which are hidden within the proposed Child Law.  This law proposed breaking fundamental parental rights, which could facilitate the process for children to be taken away from their families far more easily.  As a result of our public statement, a number of parental organizations and movements were formed in Sofia and other cities. 

SVA was a co-organizer as well as a participant in a round table discussion in Parliament, earlier this year and participated in a series of civil actions, public debates, media broadcasts and protests on this topic.

At this round table Parliamentary discussion, Allan Carlson, chairman of the World Congress of Families, sent a letter to the Bulgarian authorities giving his input on the issue.  Later as a consequence of the common civil actions initiated and supported by SVA, the proposed Child Law was frozen and the planned upload to the Council of Ministers site in May, postponed.

On 12 December hundreds of Bulgarian parents gathered in front of the Bulgarian Parliament to protest against the latest education draft of the Law on education. The draft stipulates compulsory preschool education for children aged 4 and sanctions parents who do not enroll their 4-year olds in preschool. The draft heavily sanctions parents who organize their own children's daycare in the form of parents cooperatives, where a number of parents put their children (up to 7-10) in a private home to jointly take care of them.

The cold, minus zero celsius temperatures did not prevent parents from going out to voice their protest, bearing infants and small children in the freezing wind.
After the protest, a Round table was held at the Bulgarian Parliament, in which representatives of the educational ministry, the educational industry and parents' organizations took active part.