The article examines the essence of (and life in) Home No. 8 for children and adolescents with mental disabilities in Sofia until the beginning of the 1960s. For this purpose, a microhistorical approach is used, based mainly on the documents from the archive of the home. Through a rare case of a pet who won the Toto 2, the daily life of the home for disabled children, the living conditions, the upbringing and education of the adolescents, their participation in work activities and organized entertainment is presented. The question is raised about the reticence of this type of institutions in the period of socialism and the possibilities and ways of contact between them and the outside world.