The material has been prepared by experts of the Bulgarian Center for-Not-for Profit Law, and was issued with the Open Society Institute - Sofia support.

The book was published in 2004 for the first time. Its second edition is a response to the huge interest towards social services and the opportunities for decentralization in this field. The present second, complemented edition is consistent with the following amendments to the legislation governing the social services delivery.

The second issue follows the structure of the first one. It consists of two parts. Its first part has practical application as in the questions-answers format tries to indicate the most important issues, related to the activity of the NGOs as social services providers. In this first part the registration in the Social Assistance Agency and the licensing in the State Agency for Child Protection are clarified in terms of papers needed, sequence of actions that must be taken and deadlines for issuing of statement of the relevant state bodies, as well as reasons for termination of registration/license. In the same section the procedure for holding competitions for commissioning the delivery/management of social services to private providers is clarified in practical terms.

In its second part, the publication presents the main legal definitions in the social sphere as well as the full texts or extracts from the key legislative acts in the sphere as The Social Assistance Act and its implementing regulations, The Child Protection Act and its implementing regulations and the Ordinance for the Criteria and the Standards of the Social Services for Children.