Families and guardians caring for persons with severe disabilities 24 hours a day, 7 days a week will be able to benefit from a new government service, called Social Respiro, which will take the disabled persons into care for a period of up to 30 days to allow families some respite. Social Protection Minister Valentina Buliga said that the Service would also help to increase the disabled persons' level of independence and inclusion into society. “In Moldova, there is an insufficiency of community-level social services that would meet the demands for care of the persons with severe disabilities. These persons are at risk of being institutionalized because, as a rule, caring for them falls on the shoulders of a family member. The aim of this Social Respiro Service is to provide specialized care to persons with disabilities for up to 30 days so that their families can have a period of respite”, said Valentina Buliga. The Respiro Service will be provided in specialized centers or within already existing community social service centers. It was estimated that placing persons with severe disabilities into such care for a period of 30 days would cost 5,134 lei for an adult and 5,283 lei for a child. The Service will be available to 6 beneficiaries a month, and to 72 a year.