The families of 21 children with disabilities benefited from professional parental assistance within a pilot project implemented in Orhei and Chisinau over a year and a half. Parental assistants from all over the country came together to exchange experience in Chisinau on November 19. The meeting brought together more than 100 parental assistants, including the 11 assistants involved in the pilot project, and 60 specialists in child protection, Info-Prim Neo reports. Daniela Mamaliga, program director at the public association “Partnerships for Every Child”, said that the goal of the pilot project was to support the families with disabled children. Within the project, professional parental assistants took children with disabilities in their care for certain periods of time, while their parents were in the hospital or on leave. Every family received professional parental assistance for up to 45 days a year. “The families that include children with disabilities face many social and economic problems. This type of service is stipulated in the social service regulations, but unfortunately wasn’t developed in Moldova. It is a type of support for these families so that they ‘recharge their batteries’. The children go to the parental assistant’s home where they receive the necessary care. It is a pause for the parents who look after these children without a break,” said Daniela Mamaliga. Elena Craciun, parental assistant who works in Step-Soci village of Orhei district, said that she had looked after 13 children during a year and a half. They included children with disabilities. Another two children must come soon. Since 2005, the woman cared for about 100 children, besides her five biological children. “We were trained how to look after children with special needs. We had meetings with specialists who taught us how to provide the necessary medical care,” she stated. At the initial stage, the project was implemented in Orhei and Chisinau. In the near future, it will be extended to cover all the country. The project is financed by the European Union that provided a grant of about €198,000. In Moldova, there are approximately 17,000 disabled children, 15,000 of whom live with their families.