Seven types of services designed to ensure the rights of children and adolescents in the municipality of Chisinau, including refugees, were extended in the framework of the technical assistance project “Strengthening the Child Protection System, including Social Services, in the municipality of Chisinau”, which came to an end. The project was implemented under a Memorandum of Understanding between the Chisinau City Hall and UNICEF and placed special emphasis on the development of services to prevent the separation of children from the family, IPN reports.
It goes to the development of the professional parent assistance service, including for refugee children. As part of the project, a number of information and awareness-raising campaigns on the recruitment of professional parent assistants were conducted. As a result of these activities, seven professional parent assistants were recruited and 13 children were placed in their families. There were also developed the family type children’s home service, including for refugee children, and the social service Social Housing, including for refugee teens. Twenty-two young people in situations of risk, three of whom are refugees, benefit from this service at present. Fifty-four children were enrolled in the day social service for children aged four months to three years.
The social service Maternal Center for seven mother-child couples was developed within the same project. During three months, the service was used by five mother-child couples that received assistance, guidance and protection. The social service Day Center for children at risk involves 110 children, while the social service for children in street situations in the course of the year helped 100 children.
Child protection specialist at UNICEF Moldova, Flore Rossi, said that the child protection system was overburdened in 2022 owing to the impact and consequences of the refugee crisis and the war in Ukraine. But before this, there were also the COVID period and other crises that led to difficulties in the field of child protection. UNICEF cooperated with the City Hall to assess the situation of children and to design measures to remedy the difficult situations of the most vulnerable groups of children. Investments need yet to be made to strengthen the child protection system at local and national levels.
