Mihaela Dotsova, speaker of Bulgaria's parliament, has called staff at the State Agency for Child Protection "Bulgaria's quiet heroes." She made the comment to mark the agency's 25th anniversary, parliament's press office said.

The agency is building an information system to track reports of violence against and among children. Labour and social policy minister Natalia Efremova said in September that the system will keep all data on each report in one place, no matter which child protection body filed it or whether it was later withdrawn. The goal is a much faster response.

The anniversary is not just a mark on the calendar, Dotsova said — for people with heart, reason and soul, it stands for 25 years of caring for Bulgaria's children. She said the staff's daily work sometimes fills in for a mother's love, and they act with good sense and reason to find the best path for children at risk.

"Their work is measured by the number of smiles they've brought, not the number of reports they've written," the speaker said.

A mature, developed society can be judged by two things, Dotsova said: how it treats the elderly and how it cares for children. She said the agency's campaigns show how children's problems change over time and have helped shape government policy on children's rights and better care.

Dotsova pledged that parliament will look at every sound proposal for better solutions for children.