The head of the Chisinau Child Rights Protection Division Svetlana Chifa denies that abuses are committed in the sphere of national and international adoption. “They say that adoption costs a lot and there is something fraudulent in this sphere, but this is not true,” Svetlana Chifa told a news conference, quoted by IPN.

According to her, the Division’s role in the adoption process consists in identifying the children who need this form of protection. The adoption procedure was accepted by Parliament by a law that took effect at the end of January 2009. “For the first time in Moldova’s history, we have a law that regulates the juridical procedure of adoption. Under the national legislation, the international adoption is within the remit of the central authorities, namely the Ministry of Labor, Social Protection and Family,” said Svetlana Chifa.

This year, the municipal Child Rights Protection Division took 236 children under supervision. “Our role is to determine the status of the children and to put them in the care of the central authorities. The decision on the status of the child is taken and then the adoption procedure is launched,” explained Svetlana Chifa.

Liliana Rotaru, director of the NGO “CCF” (Child, Community, Family) Moldova, told the same news conference that adoption is not a solution for all the children. There are cases when 3-4 siblings remain without parental care. In these cases, separate adoption is not encouraged. But there are not many families that are ready to adopt more than one child simultaneously. The family placement service comes as an alternative.

The municipal Child Rights Protection Division is responsible for 142 children with the status of adoptable. Sixteen of them were placed with adoptive families.