The Resource and Support Center for Children and Young People and Assisted Social House, meant for young people leaving the alternative care system - are two services launched today, September 25, by the Municipal Directorate for the Protection of the Rights of the Child and "Lumos Foundation" Public Association. According to Lucia Caciuc, acting head of the Directorate, services are extremely necessary in guiding young people towards an independent life.
Lucia Caciuc has also said that when young people leave the residential system, they are often confused, being face to face with their own life. "These services come to support these children, in guiding them, so that the road to an unknown life may seem easier to them, and together with social workers, psychologists, lawyers, those who can to some extent replace parents", mentioned Lucia Caciuc.
The resource and support center for children and young people can provide assistance for 40 direct beneficiaries. The services offered claim to facilitate the socio-professional inclusion of young people leaving the alternative care system. These are information, assistance and training programs for the training of independent living skills, professional guidance or prevention of high risk behaviours. Individual assistance will also be provided, depending on the identified needs.
Assisted social housing is a temporary accommodation space. The service contributes to the professional and social integration of young people and the formation of skills for managing independent living. The beneficiaries of this service will be housed in the respective home for a period that may not exceed 18 months. 2-6 people can live here. Some of expenses for the utilities will be paid from the municipal budget, the other part from the beneficiaries.
Artiom Sîci, State Secretary at the Ministry of Health, Labour and Social Protection, has said that the Ministry is in the process of developing the normative framework for the social service Assisted social housing and the Resource Center for children and young people. It aims at preventing social inclusion and marginalization, facilitating the educational and professional integration of beneficiaries and developing the skills for independent living.
Irina Malanciuc, director of programs at "Lumos Foundation", has mentioned that reforms in the field of child protection have been taking place in Moldova for several years. These involve replacing the residential childcare system with a new range of services. For more than ten years, Moldova has succeeded in reforming the child care system. Of 12 thousand children who were in residential institutions in 2007, currently remain less than one thousand. "Children who leave the care system need support. These services must exist not only in Chisinau, but throughout the country.” said Irina Malanciuc.
In January 2019, in Chisinau municipality, there were 461 children in the alternative care system. Annually, about 100 teenagers and young people from Chisinau leave the alternative care.
