Four ministries are initiating a partnership to identify children in situations of risk. The project will be piloted in the districts of Calarasi, Ungheni and Falesti, where joint intervention teams consisting of professionals from education, health, public order, social assistance and emergency services will intervene to provide assistance in identifying children in situations of risk, IPN reports.

The National Practice Model in child welfare was discussed in a press club meeting that involved Minister of Labor, Social Protection and Family Stela Grigoras and representatives of other relevant ministries. About 5,000 teachers, doctors, police officers and social workers were trained how to implement the Model and to intervene and offer support to children in situations of risk or to direct these to specialists.

According to Stela Grigoras, these categories of people were chosen to be trained because these are those with whom the family and child interact most often. With the help of this model of practices, the communication and exchange of information between decision makers will be improved, the final goal being to make the child feel happy.

Head of the Ungheni Public Health Center Lilia Scurtu said the initiative is welcome as thousands of children are educated by one parent or by grandparents and this makes them more vulnerable.

“From the very beginning, we pay attention to the economic state, hygiene, alimentation, the parent’s responsibility level, the child’s harmonious development and then give advice how to act or, if the situation is more serious, we communicate with other competent bodies,” stated Lilia Scurtu.

Head of the Calarasi Education Division Elena Gonta said the teachers always observed the child’s behavior, but with the implementation of the National Practice Model, their observation area expanded. “The areas in which we monitor the child show what intellectual growth the child will have in time. Being the second parent, the teacher can establish how well the child is looked after, if this is dressed and fed appropriately, what his attitude to things is or what relations he has with his parents,” she stated.

The National Practice Model was worked out within the Strong Family for Every Child Project that is implemented by the public association Partnerships for Every Child in concert with the Ministry of Labor, Social Protection and Family, Ministry of Education, Ministry of the Interior and 11 districts, with financial support from USAID.