More than 170 children begging on streets in Chisinau were accommodated at the Interior Ministry’s Temporary Placement Centre for Minors during the first nine months of this year. According to the Centre’s deputy director Neli Lelenco, only 79 of the minors brought to the Centre are natives of Chisinau. Most of the times, the children are found at intersections, near hotels, in recreational and commercial zones where there are many people, Neli Lelenco says. The Centre provides medical and psychological assistance for rehabilitating the children and social assistance for re-socializing them. The largest part of these children had begged for a long time and it is very hard to reintegrate them into the society, Neli Lelenco said. They spent the money earned from begging on alcohol and different toxic substances. Therefore, when they come to the Centre they are in a deplorable condition. Yet, there are cases when the children beg with the aim of maintaining their family, the deputy director stressed. The Centre houses the minors for at most six months. Usually, the children are sent back to the families and institutions from where they ran away. As an alternative solution, they can be integrated into the extended family. The placement in residential institutions is an ultimate solution, Neli Lelenco said. Now, the Temporary Placement Centre for Minors accommodates 12 children.