Resocialization of the Street Children

This project studied the phenomenon of street children through various forms of action dealing with them. The target group included 100 children who frequented the Pygmalion and Open House day centres in Bucharest. On the basis of this sample it was possible to establish the main problems of the street children: reasons for appearance, age on the street, origin, family size, attitude towards parents, reasons for street life, consumption of toxic substances, reasons for detention by the police, main health problems, needs and wishes. The work in Bucharest was supplemented by visits elsewhere in Romania and abroad which provided a breadth of understanding and knowledge of the specific profile of street children, of the complexity of their problems and of their prospects. A comparison of the causes of the phenomenon, and study of some projects and intervention programmes both from Romania and abroad provided the basis for a proposed strategy for combatting the problem. The practical activities on the project included continuing counselling and informative and education activities with the children in order to motivate them to change their life. Further mediation was aimed at changing the hostile approach of the public opinion and some people in authority towards these children. The experiments with schooling and professional resocialisation of the street children provided clear evidence of the possibility of reintroducing them into the social framework but this will require systems and mechanisms specially developed to achieve this.

Drug Use and Attitudes Toward Drugs among Young Bulgarian Males

This project aimed to evaluate young people's attitudes towards drugs and to draft preventive strategies for use among young people at school and during military service. Three target groups were surveyed: young heroin users in Sofia, drug users undergoing treatment in the Military Medical Academy, and male students between the ages of 16 and 18. The research showed that more than half the respondents had used heroin for the first time before they were 16 and 11% tried it first at the age of 13, the lowest age registered since drug use in Bulgaria has been studied. One in five male students aged 16 to 18 has used hashish or marijuana at least once and amphetamines and non-prescription medications are the second-choice drugs for Bulgarian school pupils. The best predictors of drug use among young people are drug use among friends, early alcohol and tobacco use, perceived availability of drugs, an underrating of the health hazards of drug use and a lack of proper information about these, willingness to take drugs, where and with whom the young people have grown up, and a sensation-seeking attitude.