Bulgaria's Abandoned Children Find Hope (Amazing People Documentary) | @RealStories

[Music] in 2007 the film Bulgaria's abandoned children exposed tragic levels of neglect in mogilino an Institute for disabled children the film created an international outcry viewers politicians across Europe demanded that conditions were urgently [Music] improved this year I returned to Bulgaria to see how the lives of a handful of those children have been transformed since they were rescued from millino the first part of this film shows the terrible Damage Done by inadequate [Music] care the second half demonstrates the extraordinary transformation that can take place in young lives with good [Music] care Bulgaria has the highest number of disabled children growing up in institutes in Europe Europe over 9 months I followed the lives of some of the 75 mentally and physically disabled children of millino social care home [Music] [Music] fasy is blind and was diagnosed with cerebel py when she was three a condition many are labeled with [Music] here she was abandoned as a child as were over half the children in this room for some their only disability is their blindness and the doctors say that's it yeah do you believe that there's nothing that can be done for her do your legs hurt you Milan has been at millino for 14 years he doesn't speak Mr there is no education here but Milan fills his time by working for the staff at least by helping out with the laundry he gets outside while the others remain confined within the building Milan was also abandoned as a baby his parents are both dead now so his legal guardian is the Institute director [Music] unlike many who have suffered years of institutionalization Dei has only recently arrived here before this she was living with her mother Dei is autistic but is trying hard to adjust to her new environment Dee writes to her mother every day did she reply to your letter Dei did mother couldn't cope with her living at home so she sent her to millino her mother knew that unless she sent her far away Dei would find her way back [Music] [Music] home foreign foreign speee [Music] [Music] [Music] a third of these children are labeled as bedridden the staff simply leave them in their beds all day they are given no physiotherapy or any other treatment most of these children are much older than they look but due to the bad diet they simply don't grow I am told there are several deaths in this room each [Music] year [Music] for spech foreign spe spee [Music] horrendous I don't understand how the staff can actually walk away and change an NA and change the bed sheets and think that that it's fine to leave this child like this they're freezing the fingers are free we can get that thumb H look at that thumb look at that it's just horrendous [Music] vasy and her roommates are sometimes left for hours on end just sitting on their [Music] potties if the staff let go of this blind child's hand he simply freezes like a stat you he stays like this completely motionless until a Cara takes his [Music] hand this has been vas's life for 14 years day in and day out nothing changes [Music] [Music] you so [Music] two months later I arrive unannounced shortly after Dawn dei's storm is just waking up [Music] whilst all the other girls are naked Dee chooses to be dressed she's managed to hang on to a small purple handbag where she keeps a few precious things no one else has any possessions most of the carers in The Institute are women yet this group of naked adolescent girls is being supervised by a [Music] man the second man is now showering the girls surely there are enough women here for naked girls to be helped by a female carer all clothes are communal they are numbered to identify which room they belong to Dei remains isolated from the others the fact she has no one to talk to must get very frustrating how many of these girls could have leared to speak if the staff had made more of an effort to talk to them as they were growing up [Music] the last time we were here Didi was reading magazines but now she has started to rock a classic sign of becoming institutionalized [Music] d mik spe a member of Staff walks past ignoring Milan's appeal for [Music] help Milan's father was an alcoholic and his mother was diagnosed with oligophrenia Milan too supposedly has oligophrenia as to most of the other children this is not a diagnosis that is used in the west it's a label created in the Soviet era and was often used to justify the warehousing of people in mental asylums oh yeah yeah it's a sweater different one who's that who's that who's that is that you again it's you [Music] huh the children suffer a range of physical and mental disabilities but they are all lumped together and labeled as untreatable having been diagnosed at a very young age most of these children have never seen a [Music] specialist their initial diagnosis is rarely questioned and it becomes a life sentence [Music] [Music] Milan and his friend misho have been ordered to collect up the toys and put them on the boy beds but they both seem on edge Milan seems wary of this Cara speee put there is blood onto Milan's nose and I fear that the carer has been hitting the children [Music] [Music] spee foreign spee for foreign fore foreign [Music] oh [ __ ] [Music] [Music] vasy is obviously in pain [Music] [Music] the nurse seems to be ignoring what looks like a break in her right lag [Music] [Music] what happen to her her legs [Music] [Music] here [Music] [Music] fore [Music] [Music] [Music] for [Laughter] fore speee [Music] [Music] Dee clings to the belief that her mother will come and get her but Milan has been listening to the staff and he knows the truth it's laundry time again I can see immediately that Milan and misho have both been [Music] hit Top video Dr I told the director what I had seen she accepted that the carer had physically abused the children and even told us that he had a history of violence she said that because we had witnessed the mistreatment she would dismiss him perhaps Milan and Misha's abuser thought his secret would be safe because he had chosen two mute boys to brutalize [Music] [Music] when I returned to millino the abusive staff member has gone so to have Milan and misho they've been moved to a small group home several hundred miles away oh my God what happened vas's leg was broken it's now in a homemade splint and she is classified as bedridden I fear for vasi even more now that she is better ridden they are the weakest and the ones most likely to end up in the village graveyard I've seen how the carers passively accept the lives of these children trickling away [Music] one of his thumbs here is missing what what happened to his [Music] thumb what is the nurse specifically doing to help [Music] him do you think that's okay that the nurse and Doctor are not doing anything to help save his other thumb [Music] Dei still writes to her mother though none of her letters are ever posted they remain in her handbag because de's mother has made it clear that she no longer wants any [Music] contact Dei has become more and more institutionalized over our 9 months of filming she now rocks relentlessly [Music] spe [Music] [Music] [Music] you see [Music] in the 13 years that vasy has been at morgillo her health has declined very severely as a young teenager she would dance and sing when she arrived she looked like a normal little girl it is our last day at morilo and the director has finally agreed to talk to me on camera when I look at the condition of the the children in the bedridden room I don't know why the staff don't actually care they don't seem to care or do anything about it foree for after the original film was broadcast the government said millino was an exception but the bulgar Aran Helsinki committee which has been investigating homes for some years said it was representative of many homes across the country under intense pressure from the media and the public the government asked UNICEF to help the children of millino this led to Medical assessments of every child with some being hospitalized suffering from severe malnutrition and neglect I went back to see how Dei Milan misho and vasi are all getting along the last time I was with Dee she was lost in an isolated world of rocking today she shares a bedroom with her best friend fidan [Music] they are in a specialist adult boarding school for young people with educational problems [Music] dei's mother contacted the director when Dei first arrived here a year ago that was the last the director heard from her [Music] [Music] at school Dei is learning one of her favorite subjects forign foreign speee fore speech fore all the students stay here for three years to learn social and life skills to help prepare them for the outside world some will graduate into jobs and live independently others like Dei who need more help will move into smaller homes with resident carers after a year here Dei is now fitting in well it was a different story when she first arrived and fidan was on the receiving end for for speee basy is in a home for the blind around 100 miles from millino the last time I saw her she was in a pitiful [Music] condition she unrecognizable is she not unrecognizable fore wowe [Music] [Music] foree speee spee [Music] foree fore speech fore speeech [Music] [Music] [Applause] hey Milan hey how are you this is the first time I have seen Milan since his abuse good to see you drinking C you have this just told me that this man is Millo he needs to know we're not taking him back there though doesn't he how does Milan communicate abouto you watch the film watch what does this mean this means that Ino he cried a lot oh do you cry here no Milan is Keen to go inside as he has something to show me oh Milan you been he's got two of these two of these fishing for fishing for fishing he wants to go and get his medal yeah okay you going to show us that's is misho is never far away from Milan [Music] there are six other young people of mixed abilities living here Milan and misho came here after the abuse at millino the difference here is that they have trained carers and are treated with respect everyone helps with daily household tasks and Milan and Misha remain Inseparable when they first came here they were very withdrawn and the staff found scars on their heads and bodies you Milan has watched the film over and over again and with his Cara he likes to point out his morgillo friends and his abuser do you remember this [Music] man for Fore [Music] [Music] fore [Music] [Music] for after the initial broadcast on the BBC European foreign minister and ambassadors visited millino and viewers from all over Europe came with gifts and help for the children Bulgaria's abandoned children's trust was formed funded entirely by donations from viewers the trust sent Specialists to help the children and to give staff training what became immediately obvious was that once children received proper care and detention their lives are transformed without the Public's response to the film Dei might well still be warehoused in millino slowly becoming hopelessly institutionalized there has never been a proper system for placing these unwanted children it has always been a bit of a lottery a child was sent where there was space regardless of the disability today with the right support Dei is thriving [Music] fore spe [Music] [Music] [Applause] Milan has a job now he's proud of what he does and it gives him misho and their housemates a real sense of purpose and contribution to Society they get paid according to the quantity they produce and last year their work brought them all the bonus of a holiday together foree [Music] fore [Music] for Fore fore [Music] so he's very happy and he's had an operation on his mouth for de's new friends are very important to her but one of them is leaving soon as her three years here are coming to an end mamae [Music] fore [Applause] [Applause] fore fore foreign speech speech for like Dei B's mother also abandoned her to her life in Institutes [Music] recently vas's mother went to the local government and asked if her daughter could be moved closer to where she lived so she could visit her for later this year vasy will be moving into a smaller group home and the hope is her mother will visit [Music] that [Music] thank you for my Pinocchio I shall take it with me because we have to go now okay we go to the you come to the with us Milan and misho will live in this small group home for the rest of their lives for spee speee [Music] [Music] [Music] like Dei vasi Milan and misho 48 of morillo's 73 inmates have now been moved to Better Homes 25 children are still in millino but the care they receive has greatly improved but there are still enormous challenges ahead for the Bulgarian government many more smaller family style homes need to be created for the 8,000 children still remaining in large institutes across the country Bulgaria is one of the newest and poorest members of the European family and the time has come for the United European Rescue of these condemned children they surely must not be abandoned again [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music]

Channel: Real Stories

Views: 50,747

Keywords: documentary 2023, full length documentaries 2023, documentary movies - topic, free documentaries on YouTube, Real stories uk, real stories full documentary 2023, real stories, abandoned children, parents, Documentary, Full Documentary, Amazing Stories, Channel 4 documentary, Full length Documentaries, orphan, only human, tlc, heartwarming, parenting, BBC Three, sad, Real Stories, Amazing Documentaries, Extraordinary people, BBC Three documentary, BBC documentary, bulgaria

Id: mCHafUIVuuE

Length: 59min 2sec (3542 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 22 2024