In 2007 the BBC documentary film Bulgaria’s Abandoned Children caused an international outcry because the images of neglect were so shocking to witness in a country that had just become a member of the European Union. Viewers were overwhelmed with emotion and anger when they saw Bulgarian children brutalized and dying before their eyes when in State care, having been abandoned by their parents because of some form of disability.

After the transmission of the film, MEP’s and Ministers across Europe visited Bulgaria to demand changes, to ask to see conditions in other institutes and to donate money to instigate the process of change and de-institutionalization in a country suffering from the hangover of Communism. Eighteen months after filming Bulgaria’s Abandoned Children – Director Kate Blewett returned this year to Bulgaria – to film with a handful of the children featured in the original deeply disturbing documentary – to see where they are today and how their lives have changed since the outcry.

It is testimony to the power of television to bring about concrete change, and also demonstrate how even apparently hopelessly withdrawn and “damaged” children can be reached, helped and given a meaningful life and future with the right care. Bulgaria’s Abandoned Children: Revisited – shows both worlds, the past and the present in a 60 minute programme.

The 2007 film caused an international outcry because the images of neglect were so shocking to witness in a country that had just become a member of the European Union. The documentary demonstrates how even apparently hopelessly withdrawn and “damaged” children can be reached, helped and given a meaningful life and future with the right care.