On Father's Day, a protest was held in the country's larger cities "No to parental alienation and yes to shared parenting", BNT reported.
Parents came out with a demand for equal rights in raising children after divorce. They insisted on urgent changes to the Family Code.
Over 100 thousand children in our country are victims of parental alienation after divorce - data from the "For Shared Parenting" foundation shows. In recent years, the number of fathers seeking support has increased significantly.
"In general, there are more fathers who suffer from parental alienation because when the child is a little older, he or she stays with the mother more often. But in recent years there has been a sharp increase in mothers who also cannot be with their children, said Desislava Avdzhieva from the Foundation for Shared Parenting:
The protesters demanded legal changes so that even after a divorce, both parents would share the care of the child. So far, three bills have been submitted to parliament.
"We propose that there should also be a change in the Civil Procedure Code, which would provide for a special claim procedure for parental disputes, so that the court can finally make adequate and quick decisions on parental disputes", said lawyer Plamen Borisov.
"This should happen in the name of the children, and not only in the name of the fathers", said parent Stilyan Alexandrov.
There was also a protest in Varna.
"It is important that parental alienation be criminalized, because this is a very severe form of psychological violence against children of all ages,", said parent Ivo Doshev.
Victims expressed their dissatisfaction in other major cities in the country as well.