Dialogue between ex-institutionalized children and authorities is in fact a monolog, say child protection associations

The ex-institutionalized children face bureaucracy immediately after finishing secondary school, say associations for the protection of children’s rights. An association’s attempt to build a dialogue between those that suffer and those that have instruments for solving children’s problems ended in failure as no representatives of two ministries concerned came to a related event, Info-Prim Neo reports. Though invited to the event, the Minister of Social Protection, Family and Child Galina Balmos and the Minister of Education and Youth Larisa Savga did not come to meet 20 ex-institutionalized orphans from different parts of the country, who participated in a number of activities organized by “Amici dei bambini” Association during the past year and came together in Chisinau to put questions to the authorities and get answers. According to Aliona Stepan, representative of the Child Rights Information and Documentation Center, it is very hard to determine what the representatives of the two ministries do in districts. At the meeting, Stepan said that in summer, when the children need information to find out where they can study after graduating the secondary school, the authorities are on leave. Another problem is the legalization of children’s documents, which are obtained with great difficulty most of the times. “Some of the children living in southern Moldova are institutionalized in the north and vice versa and a lot of problems derive from this. It is said that the children can get away from institutions and the Ministry of Education and Youth sends them as far as possible so that they could not create problems,” Aliona Stepan said. The quoted source also said that the Government presents erroneous reports on the situation of orphans in Moldova to the European Committee on the Rights of the Child. “In Europe, they know that the institutionalized minors in Moldova benefit from state support and are under the protection of the state until they turn 18, but in reality they receive support up to the age of 14-15,” Aliona Stepan said. Attending the event, Doctor of Psychology Grigore Tapu said that the Law on Social Assistance is good on paper, but cannot be put into practice because there is no money. “A mayor’s office will provide financial assistance to a child if it has money, but if it does not the children will have to manage on their own,” Tapu added. Asked by Info-Prim Neo to say why the Minister of Education and Youth Larisa Savga did not come to the meeting, Chisinau councilor Agnesa Iftodi told she did not see such an invitation in the minister’s schedule. The adviser to Minister Galina Balmos could not answer this question as “she was on a trip”.