Grandparents taught how to educate children without parental care with a minimum of risks

A group of grandparents from Balti town and Lapusna village in Hancesti district are taught how to educate the children lacking parental care with a minimum of risks. This is the second seminar for guardians of the three planned to take place as part of the Elderly Taking Care of Vulnerable Children Project. The trainees are volunteers that will later instruct the network from the community. They will visit the families where the grandparents or other old relatives take care of the children whose parents work abroad or of abandoned children. During the two-day seminar (October 9 and 10), the volunteers will learn ways of protecting the child’s rights and methods of overcoming risky situations; will gain knowledge of the child’s development stages until adolescence, of the deficient psychical development of children etc. The organisers aim to strengthen grandparents’ capacities of looking after and educating the children, to consolidate the relationship between generations and to promote the extended family – of relatives, grandparents and other close persons – as a favourable environment for the development of a child and as an alternative to institutionalisation. The seminar is organised by HelpAge International in partnership with the UNICEF-EU Development of Integrated Social Care Services for Vulnerable Families and Children at Risk Project. HelpAge International is a global network that protects the rights of the elderly and offers support in strengthening their role of guardians throughout generations. According to the demography and health study carried out in 2005, each third child younger than 14 years lives with one parent, while 7% live with none of the parents because they went to work aboard. The UNICEF studies reveal that the children that do not live with the biological parents are the most disadvantaged and the ones educated in boarding schools and children’s homes are less confident in their own forces. Not adequately prepared for social life, the graduates of childcare residential institutions find a job with difficulty, are potential victims of human trafficking and can come into conflict with the law.