As many as 835 children left home in 2020, as opposed to 870 children in 2019. The children primarily explain their gesture by the wish to assert themselves. In a press briefing held on the occasion of the International Missing Children’s Day, deputy head of the General Police Inspectorate Marin Maxian said that 629 of the children who went missing last year are from families, while the rest are from specialized childcare and child accommodation services, IPN reports.
Besides the wish to assert themselves, the children said they left because of family conflicts, the immoral behaviors of adults, consumption of alcoholic drinks or the exaggerated restrictions to which they are subjected. Teenage girls leave home most often.
Marin Maxian also said that there are cases when the police are informed about cases when children go missing even in three weeks of the disappearance of the child. The parents in this case do not realize the risk to which their children are exposed while they are away from home. Last year, three of the missing children were found dead.
The General Police Inspectorate launched a campaign titled “Beware, missing children. Show that you care. Call 112” that will be conducted throughout summer. Stickers with the campaign’s message will be placed in public transport to raise the population’s awareness.
Anastasia Gruzin, head of the Health Ministry’s Children’s Rights Protection Division, said that over 10,000 children were in situations of risk at the end of 2020. These were primarily children who are subject to violence, neglected and abandoned children and children who are not supervised by parents. These children need the care and protection of grownups. The people are urged to call on 116 111 if they see children in situations of risk.
Viorica Matas, executive director of the public association Concordia, said that within a partnership with the General Police Inspectorate, they will go to each school in Moldova to inform the students about the street risks and the consequences of leaving home. They will also carry out a sociological study of the leaving of homes by children and will stage a national conference to discuss the causes and consequences of this phenomenon.
