A/HRC/43/40/Add.1 60. The Government is currently establishing an age-assessment procedure and has agreed to create an interim care facility for the identification and temporary care of unaccompanied migrant or asylum-seeking children. While external funds have been obtained, the project’s implementation has been delayed because of resistance from municipalities to hosting a facility on their territory. Recent legislative amendments granting residence permits to unaccompanied children until they reach the age of 18 years are a welcome move. However, the absence of alternative care arrangements will limit the effectiveness of these amendments. Although a coordination mechanism outlining the roles and responsibilities of various institutions was agreed upon in July 2017, this mechanism has yet to be formally adopted. 61. The Special Rapporteur concludes that although much has been done to provide victims with first-hand support, progress concerning the integration, long-term care, specialized rehabilitation and recovery of child victims is lacking. Child-centred specialized training that includes a gender perspective is necessary in order to build a pool of professionals capable of working with severe cases of abuse in a holistic manner. The lack of appropriate reception arrangements upon arrival at the border, the lack of an adequate age-and gender-appropriate referral procedure upon apprehension following irregular entry or stay, the lack of integration support and the lack of prospects for the future contribute to the high absconding rate of unaccompanied children and expose them to the risk of exploitation. 3. Child participation and empowerment 62. Although the Child Protection Act (art. 15 (1)) states that all children aged 10 years or over must be given a hearing in all administrative or judicial proceedings concerning their life and well-being, 26 the exercise of this right remains at the discretion of the professionals involved in each case.27 The meaningful participation of children in decisionmaking and the right of the child to be heard remains one of the most disputed and neglected rights, owing to patriarchal social norms and age-related stereotypes. There is also a lack of general understanding of the concept of children’s evolving capacities, in the absence of guidance on how to ensure the meaningful participation of children in decisionmaking. 4. Prevention 63. Although the National Programme for the Prevention of Violence against and Abuse of Children (2017–2020) and the corresponding action plan (2017–2018) are in place, these plans are focused on procedural response aspects rather than on early prevention and protection of children. While the responsibility for child protection and prevention are centralized, their provision is provided by local services and public administrations linked to the municipalities, which raises issues of coordination and coherence. The implementation of multidisciplinary team approaches comprising social workers, educationalists, psychologists and health practitioners is not systematic throughout all municipalities. Services are understaffed and underfunded, and social workers face huge workloads and lack the resources necessary to respond effectively. The national coordination mechanism for combating violence against children lacks efficient identification and communication mechanisms; it has poor intersectoral cooperation between the health-care, education and social services systems; the capacities of its multidisciplinary teams are insufficient; and it lacks trained specialists from the child protection system, the police and the justice system. 64. Although the Government has taken several capacity-building measures to improve inter-institutional cooperation and coordination, there has been no joint training for representatives of all the coordination mechanisms to streamline common understanding of intervention strategies. The Special Rapporteur repeatedly heard about the challenges faced 26 27 14 The granting of hearings for children below the age of 10 years is discretionary (art. 15 (2)). UNICEF, “UNICEF Country Office in Bulgaria: strategy note for the country programme 2018– 2022”.