Some of the children start to live on the street if they are not listened to and understood at home, are beaten or neglected by parents or relatives who grow them. These are primarily children from poor families and families with an average income and also from families where the parents abuse alcohol, said Silvia Lașcu, communication and PR specialist of the General Children’s Rights Protection Division of the Chisinau Municipal Council. 

Contacted by IPN for a comment in connection with International Day for Street Children that is celebrated on March 21, Silvia Lașcu said these children find refuge on the street because they do not have psychological comfort at home. There is no communication based on friendship between the child and parent. “When the child is not understood and is not accepted as a personality, his/her opinions are not respected and are ignored, this will find other methods for asserting oneself,” said Silvia Lașcu.

She noted that there are children who run away from home for adventure or because they want to be free in actions. “They try to avoid obligations and responsibilities as they know that they have to obey particular rules at home. On the street, they do what they want, feel important and independent without being forced to listen to someone. These children are from poor families and from families with an average income,” stated Silvia Lașcu.

Mariana Frunză, manager of the Complex of Social Services for Children in Situation of Street, said a large part of the children who are brought to this institution are from outside Chisinau, including from families whose parents abuse alcohol or where a partner behaves badly towards them. The children can also leave home during online lessons as the mother or father not always supervise their children, being at work. Those who flee home are primarily boys aged between 14 and 17.

The children who come to the Complex discuss with a psychologist, pedagogue and social assistant, while the tutelage authority works in parallel with patents or legal representatives of children. If the parents assume parental obligations, the child returns to the family. If not, this is placed in social services and the parents can be deprived of parental rights.

According to the police, over 800 children and teens annually abandon home or another alternative placement form and more than 600 of these leave the own family, while 200 run away from institutions in which they were placed.