Introduction

Introduction

Child and Family Welfare Policies

Child and Family Welfare Policies

Integrated Quality Services for Vulnerable Children

Integrated Quality Services for Vulnerable Children

 

Introduction

© UNICEF/ Romania00258/Pirozzi

Happy painted face

The situation of the welfare of children in Romania since 1989 has encountered two serious challenges: the legacy from the communist regime according to which many children were placed in Placement Care Institutions and the present transition to a market economy. During the communist period a pro-natalist policy of banning contraceptive methods and abortions produced a high number of unwanted children that were left in the care of state institutions.
Vulnerable children have now become a priority, and a great deal has been done in the past few years to improve the situation. The most obvious improvement is the closing of many of the large institutions for abandoned children (institutions accommodating over one hundred children). The Assessment of Child Protection Reform in Romania, 2004 names the major achievement of reforms which is also represented by the decrease in the number of children living in placement centers by 40% over the last four years. In addition, the abandonment prevention services and sets of community-based services were created. A great number of children dropped out of the system during these years, most of them through reintegration with their natural families or simply because they turned 18. UNICEF performed though also a sound analysis of gaps still existing in the system and thus, expected outcomes for future are likely to impact positively on the progress of the implementation of the child protection reform and on identifying the needs for improvement vis-à-vis the approaches and capacities of the various stakeholders.

UNICEF’s current response is reflected mainly in assistance with technical expertise, strategic thinking and planning, and in financial support for best practices and models of excellence in the child protection sector. No matter if targeting chronic issues like the children left or abandoned by their families to medical and/or protection state institutions for care represent, which represents only one ring within a chain leading to the failure of duty bearers to fulfill children’s rights, UNICEF is committed to understand manifestation and characteristics of the problem and about current practices promoted by duty bearers, and lead to re-defining the needed tools for enabling the protective environment for child and family. If targeting emerging issues, like trafficking, labor, delinquency, all forms of violence to which children are exposed, UNICEF will also encourage for understanding of behavior of parents or other caregivers, functioning of institutions and professionals and the cultural values and practices of a broader society, which are defining to what extent the environment becomes protective or abusive for the child.