45798 children and 33579 families were assisted within “Children in Moldova are cared for in strong and secure families” project
Chisinau, 13th of December 2017. 45798 children and 33579 families have been supported, in the last four years, as a result of the family support and strengthening programmes development within ”Children in Moldova are cared for in strong and secure families” project, which was implemented in 11 districts of the country. The Project results were publicly presented on Wednesday, the 13th of December c.y. by ”Partnerships for every child” NGO /P4EC/. The event was attended by the representatives of public and central authorities, specialists from the local social assistance and education departments, health sector, NGOs, and international experts, as well.
Mrs Stela Grigoras, the Minister of Health, Labour and Social Protection, who joined the event, underlined the importance and the impact of the project in our country, in the context of the child care system reform. „The Children in Moldova are cared for in strong and secure families Project has brought a series of innovative concepts, approaches and programmes in Moldova, thus adding a substantial value to our efforts, as central and local authorities, in promoting and ensuring the well-being to children and families from our country.” – mentioned Mrs Grigoras.
In the conference opening, Mrs Lynn Vega, the Deputy director of the USAID Moldova mission mentioned: “Since 2010 the number of children in residential care has decreased tenfold. USAID is very proud of these achievements. Recognizing the need to finalize what has been started, USAID is currently designing its next Child Protection activity to help Moldova finalize its Child Care Reform and push deinstitutionalization over the finish line.” – declared Mrs Lynn Vega.
Mrs Daniela Mamaliga, the Director of Partnerships for Every Child, stated: „These are almost 4 years full of analyses, assessments, debates, learning, development, testing/piloting, adaptations and a lot of direct work with the child and its family. The key-components we focused on while implementing the project, have been focused on strengthening legal framework, building national and local capacities, developing and strengthening the social services system, with a particular emphasis on prevention and family strengthening”, pointed out Mrs Daniela Mamaliga.
Mr Valentin Crudu, Head of the Mainstream Education Directorate, Ministry of Education, Culture and Research, spoke about the need of the inter-agency collaboration to ensure child wellbeing. ”The school has to be friendly to each child, regardless of their special needs, learning and developmental experiences, their family’s financial possibilities, it’s social status, information and educational level, etc.”
During the conference the Communication Web Platform „e-copil.md” (e-child) was launched. The platform itself hosts a virtual space of interactive communication and is a way of sharing information; it was especially created to facilitate the exchange of experience and continuous learning for all those interested in child’s wellbeing and family strengthening. The platform is dedicated both to professionals working in child and family protection field as well as parents and children.
The key achievements obtained by the end of the project are indicated below:
- 5 out of 7 assessed boarding-schools were closed and 270 children were deinstitutionalized (some of them where re-integrated in their biologic families, while others were placed in the extended family and in family alternative services). Other 2 special schools for deaf and hard of hearing children from the city of Cahul, and the village of Hirbovat in Calarasi district were assessed in the view of their re-organization, according to the needs of children placed in these institutions;
- In 11 project-districts the Family Support Service and Foster Care Service were developed;
- 604 children and 60 parents benefitted from the support provided within PANDA programme – a psycho-social assistance programme for children and adults who live in the same environment with alcohol addicted persons;
- 10 local Advisory Boarding Councils for Child Participation (ABCs) were created in 10 districts of the Country with more than 200 active members on board. There was also one National ABC set up by the Ministry of Health, Work and Social Protection, which counts now 28 young advisors;
- The UN Committee on Child’s Rights in Geneva recommended for nationwide expansion the ABC model and PANDA program, which were developed with USAID support.
- Almost 26.000 professionals responsible for child protection were trained within the project, in the application of the Law 140; the revised Case Management; the organization and functioning of Gatekeeping Commission; the Primary Intervention, the Prevention of Child abuse, the Family Support Service, etc.;
- The central authorities were assisted in the process of strengthening the legal and normative framework;
- The Instruction on the inter-agency cooperation mechanism for primary prevention of risks and for ensuring the child wellbeing was worked out and proposed for approval – this is to establish a common framework and language for professionals from areas related to child and family’s development.
The ”Children in Moldova are cared for in strong and secure families” Project was implemented by P4EC, with the financial support of the USAID, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, Labour and Social Protection, the Ministry of Education, Culture and Research, and the 11 project-districts: Ungheni, Falesti, Calarasi, Telenesti, Cahul, Orhei, Nisporeni, Causeni, Singerei, Rezina and Soroca. The above-mentioned project was launched in 2014.