Experience of Criuleni children’s center – model for other European countries

The center for children with special education needs “Speranta” (“Hope”) from Criuleni town is a great accomplishment in the area of children’s protection in Moldova because it integrates children of different ages and with different disabilities and develops high-quality standards. Such an assessment was made by Baroness Emma Nicholson after visiting the “Speranta” center, Info-Prim Neo reports, quoting the Ministry of Social Protection, Family and Child. The European official stressed that other European countries could learn from the center’s experience. “It was a pleasure for me to be there, where the attitude for children and their situation is good. They enjoy love and care and benefit from the conditions they need to develop in,” Baroness Emma Nicholson said. According to the center’s head Alexandra Grajdian, the institution was opened in 2000 and is a model of community social services for the children at risk. The center aims to prevent the institutionalization of children with mental disabilities and to actively involve the parents and community in solving the problems faced by these children. The day center “Speranta” is an alternative in providing assistance to the children with special education needs. As many as 368 children aged between 4 and 18 have benefited from the services of the center since it was opened. Some 75% of the beneficiaries go to secondary schools, while the others are children with severe mental and physical disabilities. Each day, the children from seven villages of Criuleni and Dubasari districts are taken to the center by a minibus. In the evening, they return to their biological families. The center works under a program of educational therapy and inclusive and essential recuperation, including cognitive therapy, kinetotherapy, psycho-correction, logopedy, occupational therapy, individual and social autonomy, art therapy (drawing, collage, modeling), melotherapy (music therapy), ludotherapy (game therapy). The center has been under the subordination of the Ministry of Social Protection, Family and Child since 2006. Baroness Emma Nicholson of Winterbourne, who is the founder and co-chair of the Children’s High Level Group, has been in Moldova on a working visit between March 16 and 18. The Baroness has carried out activities aimed at promoting and defending the rights of the child in a number of states. She coordinated and supported the child protection reform in Romania. Before becoming MEP, she worked as part of different missions in Africa and India. She is the founder and chairwoman of the AMAR International Charitable Foundation and holds over 50 positions of honor in different charitable institutions.