Mladost Settlement is an ongoing project for the social integration of young people leaving the institutional environment. It consists of three modules (blocks) with 16 private rooms each, equipped with bathroom and furniture, and four studios. The capacity of the settlement is 72 people. The settlement was launched in 1999 with the opening of the first module.
There are three homes for upbringing of parentless adolescents and one social institution for professional training of young people with mild mental disability in the territory of the municipality of Plovdiv. Each year, a group of approximately 50 children, of which 20 are complete orphans or children left by their biological parents with a declaration, leaves these institutions. These children are left with no social support, nowhere to live and are not competitive on the labour market. They might as well be regarded as “victims” of a protection system that does not correspond to the needs for personal development, socialization and independence of the young people. We are quite familiar with the consequences of this inert upbringing that is so well researched. Failure to solve the problem with the socialization and integration of these children creates premises for deviant behavior, which impacts the overall social environment.

Mladost Settlement was created to satisfy the initial residential needs, the necessity for social supervision, as well as for counseling, informing and instructing the children who are leaving the institutions.
By finding them a home and a job and by providing them with social support we strive at promoting these young people’s adaptation to their future independent lives.