Number of families willing to take a child in foster care is growing

The number of children integrated in alternative families and that of professional parental assistants is growing, although the latter’s wages is very low, according to the workers of Children Rights Department, Info-Prim Neo reports. Valentina Buliga, minister of labor, family and social protection, participated in national conference “Professional Parental Assistance: present and development perspectives” on Tuesday. She said more practice and better legal framework were needed to improve this kind of services. It offers children and alternative family environment and helps parents which cannot take care of their children because of various difficulties. Natalia Terteac, main specialist of Chisinau Department for Children’s Rights, said each year there were more and more families willing to take care of a child. There are 11 parental assistants in Chisinau, but some other requests are still being evaluated. “The criteria are family’s desire to help a child in need, as well as its financial situation and housing conditions”, Terteac said. The most usual problems are financial, as an assistant’s salary and the aid for a child are quite low, of 800-1000 lei. While a child is in foster care, the Department works with the biologic family. “Once, the kid was taken from a drug addicted couple. He returned only after the parents had cured, had got a job and a passport”, Natalia Terteac said. According to Marina Croitoru, children’s right expert within Ungheni District Council, the main problem is assistant’s limited rights to help the children. “The parental assistant must have the same rights as a custodian and must be able to represent the child in court”, she said. In Ungheni, an assistant’s wage is 1000 lei and the aid for a child is 630 lei. Besides, there is an initial allowance of 1000 lei and an annual one of 3000 lei. The conference was organized within the “Supporting local public authorities from Moldova to provide foster care for children in difficulty” Project, implemented by EveryChild in cooperation with the Ministry of Labor, with funding from the World Childhood Foundation. In Moldova, the foster care service was launched in 2000. There are 80 parental assistants who have taken care of about 300 children. Many of them have been reintegrated in their biologic or extended families. Currently, there are 100 kids placed in foster care.