Seventy-six children from socially deprived families or who are raised by parent assistants benefitted from a recreational program with games and tennis masterclasses given by professional trainers before the new school year. The event was staged by the Child-Community-Family (CCF/HHC) Association Moldova and the Tennis Federation of Moldova and was aimed at promoting the parent assistance service in the country.

CCF/HHC Moldova communication coordinator Lina Botnaru has told IPN that the 76 children are from over 40 families living in Soldanesti district and in Chisinau municipality. At the end, the children received sets of school supplies and schoolbags and were served with warm lunches provided by the partners of the second event of the kind that will be continued the next years.

“Our goal is to make a holiday for the children so that they amuse themselves before the new school year. But we also aim to promote the professional parent assistance service because it ensures a healthy environment for raising children. These must not stay in boarding schools. They must benefit from a warm, family-like environment. By such events, we urge the people to choose to become professional parent assistants,” stated Lina Botnaru.

CCF/HHC Moldova and the Chisinau Child Rights Protection Division are carrying out a campaign to recruit professional parent assistants. Posters encouraging the residents of Chisinau to become parent assistants were placed in trolleybuses, public places, district child protection divisions, mayor’s offices, churches, medical units, shops, schools and nurseries.

The professional parent assistant looks after the child until this is reintegrated into the biological family or is adopted. There are now 39 such professional parent assistants in Chisinau. Some of these have a rich experience in this regard as they raise the ninth child already.