Placement of disabled children service available in Moldova with a 5-year delay

The Republic of Moldova lags behind in ensuring the placement of children with disabilities on a temporary basis. Program director at the public association “Partnerships for every child” Daniela Mamaliga said that the given initiative should have been implemented five years ago, after the approval of the regulations concerning the provision of this type of social assistance in 2007, Info-Prim Neo reports. The placement of children with disabilities on a temporary basis allows the parents who have disabled children to leave them in the care of a professional parent assistant for a period so as to be able to go to rest or to solve certain personal problems. This type of placement turned out to be easier than considered initially, said Daniela Mamaliga. The social assistants who look after such children do not need medical or psychological training, as supposed originally. They need only to take into account the special needs of the child. The practice is not new. In the U.S. for example, this type of service has existed for over 200 years. In Moldova, the professional parental assistants who take care of a disabled child receive by 27 lei a day. Until now, the money was offered by the European Union within a pilot-project. Other financial sources will be looked for so as to continue this practice. The specialist also said that before taken into the families of parental assistants, the children with disabilities go through a period of accommodation so that they adapt themselves to the new conditions in these families. There are about 15,000 disabled children in Moldova, who live with their families.