The Association “Child. Community. Family” Moldova (CCF) aims to work out a mechanism for reducing the number of children in residential institutions and increasing the number of children reintegrated into the family in concert with the public authorities. The project “Children of an early age – realizing needs, developing services, reforming the system” was launched in a national conference on December 22.

CCF Moldova head Liliana Rotaru has told IPN that there are many families that face social, economic and emotional risks. All the social players should join efforts, especially when it is about children of an early age (0-3 years) and children with disabilities. Among those who interact the most with this category of children are the social workers who can identify the first signs in case of risk and later inform those who should intervene. These are to discuss the needs of the child depending on age and other aspects with the parents.

Within the project, visits will be made to families to help them overcome the crisis situations and to prevent the institutionalization of children. The authorities will be assisted in creating social crèches to allow the parents in difficulty to leave their small children there during the day so as to be able to work. There will be reviewed the regulations concerning professional parent assistance for newborns and children with disabilities. Twenty-five parent assistants for small children and children with disabilities will be recruited.

The project is a follow-up to the initiative to reduce the number of children in residential institutions and to increase the number of children reintegrated into the family. Since the reform of the residential system was launched in Moldova, the number of institutionalized children was decreased from 11,500 in 2007 to 3,800 in 2015.