A Street Aid Service, subordinated to the Municipal Child Protection Directorate, will be created in Chisinau to consolidate the child protection system. Operating daily from 8AM till midnight, it will provide care in particular to children engaged in vagrancy or beggary, or those who use drugs and other toxic substances.
The City Hall announced that the Service will be staffed with pedagogues, psychologists, and social assistants and will engage volunteers as well. The Service will operate with municipal funding as well as donations and grants.
The Service will provide emergency or planned placement to beneficiaries, will direct them to schools and will report identified cases to the relevant child care authorities.
The new agency will be in partnership with medical institutions to provide primary care and other medical consultation. Children found in very bad health will be admitted to the Municipal Hospital for Children “Valentin Ignatenco”.
In 2017, 94 children were found to be on the street in at-risk situations, and 95 percent of them have been admitted to placement centers more than once.
The Service’s operational regulations were adopted by the City Council at its latest meeting.