Fewer street children taken to placement centers

A lower number of street children are brought to the placement centers in Chisinau. As many as 1 799 children benefited from the services of such centers in 2010, as against 1 482 children in 2011. The head of the Family Reintegration Service of the Chisinau Child Rights Protection Division Angela Ganea explained that each case is now more thoroughly analyzed so as to make a difference between the vagrant children and those heading for relatives. “Many mistakes were made and the children going to grandparents were taken to placement centers. Now we have more commissions that examine every case separately. The children are reintegrated into the family when it is possible. Only those who really need should be brought to placement centers,” Angela Ganea has told Info-Prim Neo. The placement centers provide social and psychological assistance to the children. The head of the Child Rights Protection Division Svetlana Chifa said most of the children taken from the street come to Chisinau from other districts of the country. In most of the cases, they do not have identification papers and a place to stay. “A 17-year-old teen came from Transnistria. He did not have a birth certificate or other documents. Three such children were taken to a placement center last year. It is hard to work with such children as we do not have the necessary information,” she stated. According to a report presented by the Child Rights Protection Division on February 15, 549 children of the 1 482 brought to placement centers in 2011 are from the municipality of Chisinau, while the rest from other districts. Most of them are aged 16-17.