The large number of children placed in residential schools and juvenile delinquency were among Moldova’s most worrisome issues in 2007, study reveals

The large number of children in care of residential schools and the high rate of juvenile delinquency are still worrisome in Moldova, a recently published study titled “100 most pressing issues of Moldova in 2007” reveals. More than 10,000 Moldovan children live in residential schools, in isolation from relatives and the community, the survey says. 85 percent of them have at least one of the parents alive. Usually, they find it hard to integrate into the society after graduation and face a series of problems that they cannot cope with by themselves. Among the factors that have lead to such a situation, the study’s authors mention the lack of social security measures intended for impoverished families, which, driven by poverty, choose to place their children in the care of state institutions; the attitude of the government offices, which consider child institutionalisation as the best solution for the families in straitened circumstances; the perpetuation of stereotypes directed against young unmarried mothers, especially in rural areas; insufficient government support to services that serve as an alternative to institutionalisation; and others. The best way to reduce the rate of child institutionalisation, in the experts’ view, is to develop community-based services as an alternative to residential schools. The study emphasises a series of factors that may improve the situation: the growing interest of the national authorities, the civil society and the donor community for this problem; extensive information and awareness raising campaigns with the aim to inform the general public and the decision-makers of the problems faced by abandoned and institutionalised children; etc. However, the authors say the reform will yield solid results only if institutional changes are coupled with a change in the mentality and attitude of those parents who believe that the government is obliged to educate and raise their children. As concerns juvenile delinquency, it is in fact the consequence of insufficient moral support from adults, inadequate parental care and protection, the failure of the school system to provide children with ethical background. A juvenile delinquent is, after all, a victim and not a consciously guilty person. The study’s authors point out that the superannuated legislative and institutional framework leads to violations of teenagers’ rights when they are prosecuted and imprisoned. While in European countries non-prison sentences for minors who committed less serious offences are a common practice, this measure is still at an incipient stage in Moldova. The study was conducted by experts of the Institute for Development and Social Initiatives (IDIS) Viitorul with the support of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation.