Children's ombudswoman Tamara Plamadeala considers the residential childcare institutions should be gradually replaced with community services such as day centers, children's homes, parent services and family-type children's homes, Info-Prim Neo reports. Tamara Plamadeala said the residential childcare system is inefficient because the institutions do not serve the interests of children, but work for the sake of maintaining the jobs of the employees. The boarding schools should accommodate only the 1,186 orphans, not children whose parents are alive, the ombudswoman said. “The residential childcare institutions have no impact on the development of the children. I know no child who went to study at the university after leaving these institutions. The quality of education is poor and many children remain illiterate. The children are inclined to run away from boarding schools,” Plamadeala said. She added that under the plan of action for reforming the residential childcare system, six such institutions were to be closed, but only one of them has been shut down so far. Tamara Plamadeala also said that the number of employees in these institutions is excessively high given that one employee looks after two children on average, not 20 children as in other countries. She stressed that the Ministry of Finance allocated 152 million lei to the residential childcare institutions for this year. 64% of the budget is used to pay salaries and only 21% to satisfy the needs of the children. Another serious problem is that the children in these institutions are forced to work and earn money so that they can visit their parents during vacations, the ombudswoman said. “If there is political will, the problem of residential childcare institutions will be solved quickly,” she added. In Moldova. there are 70 family-type children's homes and 64 residential childcare institutions that accommodate 7,087 children. According to Tamara Plamadeala, the state provides 500 lei for a child from a family-type children's home and 2,800 lei for a child from a residential institution.