“Too many children are placed in childcare residential institutions. The governments should invest money in new social support services by allocating resources from the budget for child protection,” said UNICEF Regional Consultant for Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States Jean-Claude Legrand. The statement was made during an international conference themed “Reform of the Childcare System – Commitment, Partnership, Acton” that was held in Chisinau between November 24 and 26. The conference brought together representatives of the governments of five countries - Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine – who decided to take long-term actions to develop the community services and reduce the number of children in residential institutions, Info-Prim Neo reports. “The prevention of the separation of children from their parents must be a priority for any state. Therefore, there should be developed a wide variety of social services that will allow identifying the problems faced by the families at an early stage so as to find solutions and prevent the dismemberment of the families,” said Minister of Labor, Social Protection and Family of Moldova Valentina Buliga. According to the data provided by the Ministry of Labor, more than 800,000 of the 2 million children living in residential institutions worldwide are from Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent Stat. In 2008, about 210,000 children in Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine lived in different alternative care institutions, over 110,000 of whom in childcare residential institutions. Poverty, migration and disabilities are the major factors that make the parents abandon their children.