The number of institutionalized children in Moldova was reduced by over 30% in 2010. About 8,000 children still live in children's homes and boarding schools. The information was made public in a national conference involving officials working in the system, Info-Prim Neo reports. The three residential institutions in Floresti, Ialoveni and Chisinau were restructured with the support of the British nongovernmental organization Lumos. Almost one third of the children were helped to return to their biological families or were placed with extended families. The Government of Moldova launched the reform of the residential childcare system in 2007. The set objective is to halve the number of institutionalized children during five years. Twenty-six of the 58 residential institutions are boarding schools for children with special educational needs. Poverty, massive migration and the lack of appropriate social services lead to the separation of the children from family. “The reform of the residential childcare system is impossible without the development of inclusive education. The Ministry of Education should ensure every child's access to the community school and the right to education of a high quality,” said the head of the Preschool, Primary and Secondary Education Division Valentin Crudu. More than half of the institutionalized children have one of both of the parents alive. Hundreds of children are taken to special residential institutions because they suffer from mental or physical disabilities. “We believe that poverty or disability are not reasons for separating the child from the family. That's why the effort made by the local authorities and civil society should be aimed at improving child protection so that more children live in the family, go to the community school and have equal chances of asserting themselves,” said Georgette Mulheir, Lumos' Director of Operations. The Lumos projects in Moldova are implemented under an agreement for 2010-2015 signed by Lumos Foundation and Moldovan ministries. In Moldova, Lumos started work in 2007.