Between March 13 and 16 this year, Partnerships for every child organized a study visit to Bacau, Romania, for practitioners and specialists of child and family protection departments of Falesti and Ungheni. The study visit is part of the activities performed by P4EC within the development of welfare system for children's protection from abuse, neglect, and exploitation in the mentioned two rayons - a project supported by Oak Foundation.
The goal of the visit to Bacau was to present to the Moldovan specialists the work of the Child Hotline of the Social Assistance and Family Protection Department of Bacau District Council. Thus, the representatives of Falesti and Ungheni SAFPD were able to familiarize with the Child Hotline concept, in order to adjust it to the realities of the Republic of Moldova, and build capacities of the Moldovan specialists in the implementation of this service.
The agenda of the visit included workshops with the administration of Bacau Social Assistance and Family Protection Department and with the staff of the Child Helpline service. The issues discussed were: The development of social services for the protection of abused, neglected, exploited, and trafficked children; Specific emergency interventions for the protection of abused, neglected, exploited, and trafficked children; The role and activity of the Child Hotline team and of the mobile team of emergency intervention; Specialized intervention and development of services for the protection of children from abuse and neglect; Types and characteristics of the service beneficiaries, partnership relation with NGO and other institutions representatives; risks assumed in the intervention process; lessons learned during the service implementation, etc.
Some of the lessons learned within this experience exchange visit refer to the responsibility of the LPAs in the solution of the problems existing at community level, direct involvement of local actors in the solution of cases of abuse and in the organization of awareness raising activities at community level.