Establishing child protection systems at local level to ensure the protection of children from abuse, neglect and exploitation in the Republic of Moldova

The project purpose

This Project comes to pilot and demonstrate how to strengthen and integrate child protection mechanisms so that all social services provided to children and families at local level are able to prevent, identify and protect children from neglect, abuse and exploitation. The Project purpose is that by December 2013, 2000 vulnerable children and their families in Falesti and Ungheni have improved access to family support and child protection services, including systems to prevent and protect them from family separation, violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation. The Project objectives are the following:

1. Preventive and protection models of child protection mechanisms have been designed, tested, incorporated into current service provision and capacities built to integrate these models into the child protection system in Ungheni and Falesti;
2. Professional and public attitudes and behaviours are changed from stigmatizing towards supporting vulnerable families and children to prevent child separation, neglect, abuse and exploitation.

The intended outcomes are the following:

1. Specialists working in social assistance, education, health and other child-related sectors in Falesti and Ungheni are able to prevent, identify and protect children-victims of neglect, abuse, exploitation;
2. Public attitude shifted towards condemning and reporting abuse;
3. Child protection models developed at local level are analysed and incorporated into national policy development.

In the first 8 months the Project carried out a qualitative survey on perceptions of professionals and general public toward child abuse phenomenon, gaps in the system and ways of working to prevent at early stage all types of abuse. Additionally there were assessed all social services provided in both regions in order to identify the existing child protection policies and practices in the system. On the bases of research findings and according to the training needs assessment a training strategy together with curricula and training materials were developed covering different target groups of professionals. In order to facilitate early intervention and identification of the child abuse cases a Child Help Line will be established in both regions. The concept and Regulation were developed. The new service is integrated and established within the existing social services system and is going to be launched in March, this year. The capacities of staff that will provide the service were built and the working procedures developed.