Take Away the Maternal Assistants?!?!?!?!?

It goes from bad to worse. The maternal assistants have a huge impact on the chidlren in the orphanages. They are only contact these kids have for normal development. They are the ones that hold the children. The situation with the children in the orphanages is beyond belief. A true unreported humanitarian crisis. If you read this, let your elected federal officials know and email them the link to this blog.

From Vali (the translation is mine - A)

I don't see how the pontifications of the "Baroness of Munchausen" jive with the crushing reality presented in the following article. Oh, and one more interesting detail: the county council for
Constanta (obviously with CPS) wants to move the children back to the orphanages because there isn't any more money to pay the "maternal assistants". I'm not even going to comment on the absolute stupidity of such measures, nor on the grave effects that such measures have on children. I only want to add that according to the data published by the National Authority for Child Protection (http://www.iz.ro/copii_/Prezentare_sistem_Ianuarie_2005.xls) the cost per child per month in the first quarter of 2004 was approximately 7,400,000 lei per maternal
assistant compared to 9,400,000 lei per child per month in the public "placement centers". In other words, it cost 2,000,000 lei more per month to care for a child in the orphanage than with the maternal assistant. If the county council (or DPC or whoever) complains about not having enough money to pay the maternal assistants, where then is the logic of moving the children back to the orphanages??!!??

Vali
Here's the article from http://www.jurnalul.ro/index.php

The Constanta County Council maintains that there is no more money for the children and that
county income has registered a decline of about 25% allegedly due to the introduction of the
flat-rate tax. Alexandrina Chicheanu understands that only maternal assistants are in danger of
losing their jobs (and the children they have in their care) Because there are "no resources from
which to pay the salaries of the maternal assistants", the Constanta County Council is threatening to return the 400 children currently in placement with foster families or maternal assistants back to the orphanages. Alexandrina Chicheanu trembles with indignation at the situation as she and more than 30 colleagues protest at the Child Protection headquarters. The thing which has terrified these maternal assistants is not primarily the fact that they haven't
received money for several months nor the threat that they won't receive any. The thing which has grieved them most is that the children under their care will be taken from them and returned to orphanages. A little girl implored her maternal assistant, "Don't give me over to them, Valentina!" In most cases, these children consider their maternal assistants "mother". Even some psychologists from the Child Protection Bureau have observed panic among the children when the children heard about the possibility of going back to the orphanage. One maternal assistant said, "It will be traumatizing for them to be incarcerated again in an orphanage. No matter how nice the physical conditions might be, it's not a family and it's not a home. The thing that really hurts is that we have invested so much in these little souls.

One family who has had numerous children in their care said, "Many of the children that we've
cared for have been adopted by foreigners. Those parents write to us often and also ask how we we are doing. I'm ashamed to tell them how it is here. But I'm going to tell them so that those abroad can see how the authorities 'care' for the children here in Constanta." The wife in this family has cared for a child for over 4 months and the child still doesn't have a birth certificate. And yet without this document, the baby can't benefit from health insurance provided for children by the government nor for free milk. Thus, if this baby becomes ill, these foster parents must pay for it themselves.

The problems would fill a huge sack. Instead of doubling the salary for taking a second child (as
it was in the days when foundations were allowed to operate), these foster parents receive an
increase of only 15%. Carmen Cristian is a "substitute" mama who accepted a little girl into her
home at the age of two months. She's now two years old. "Can't these people understand what it will mean if they take this child and put her in an orphanage!? What kind of attention do these people think the children get in an orphanage? These children will die there", she said.

Everybody is blaming the local governmental authorities and more particularly the Romanian
Government for doing things which resulted in the collapse of child welfare system which was
already fraught with problems. Those authorities only end up pointing the finger at one another.

The most threatening solution is the restriction of the network of maternal assistants. But this
is now hidden under pressure. The president of the Constanta CPS, Peter Dinica, says, "They sought a proposal for a solution to the problem. This solution [to send the children back to the
orphanages] was posted by someone on our website. But those with whom I spoke at CPS Constanta condemned this solution." "It would be traumatic for the children. They are not toys. In addition this solution, under these conditions, would be equal to zero [nothing]", said Mirela Gene, assistant director of the CPS. Nicusor Constantinescu, head of Constanta County Council, who is a little less concerned about this soulution, is in fact the initiator of this proposed
project/solution. He even admits that the return of the children to orphanages isn't excluded,
despite the protests from every direction. "It's about making it, getting through this year. We're thinking of giving an unpaid vacation to a third of the maternal assistants and 60% of the CPS
employees." The children who have been placed with the approximately 100 maternal assistants would be sent back to the orphanages. According to the law, babies under two years of age may not be "institutionalized", but Nicusor Constantinescu will do it in a way so that it won't break the law, that is, the youngest ones would be kept maternal assistants. Another
solution proposed by Constantinescu would be the dismantling all the food banks and cafeterias at the orphanages. In exchange, they would make a single one for all and the food would
brought with refrigerated trucks.

Along with the proposals of the president of Constanta County Council (Constantinescu), the
government came up with a solution. But a part of those proposals was eliminated by the County Council. For example, a National Child Protection Authority official proposed transferring third and fourth quarter funds to the current quarter. But according to Cristian
Moldovanu, the funds for the third and fourth quarters don't exist. "Have you ever seen a proposal from the national CPS that implicates the government in it's application?!? We've always got to do it ourselves."

The head of the County Commissioners believes that this crisis has been generated by a political conflict. Says one commissioner, "Constanta is a major constituency of the Social Democratic Party (the party in opposition to the current governmental leadership). We are accusing the current Government of being unable to resolve this crisis." But Dan Culetu says, "Did anybody ever stop to think that the Social Democratic Party spent all of 2005's funds on expenses from 2004? Now we have to pay those bills." In response, Nicusor Constantinescu says that when
the Social Democrats were in power, "we didn't have this problem." Of course the current law,
questioned by many and instituted by that same Social Democratic Party, wasn't in force then either.

Even though the County Council shops and tries to save money, it puts the health of the children in danger. According to Magdalena Dumitrana, specialist in the child psychology of institutionalized children, there are many negative effects on the development of a child caused by his placement in an orphanage. Among these are the slowed motor and physical development, as well as a greater sensitivity to illness. Furthermore, there can also be a slowing of the development of the mind and speech. Loss of adaptability, loss of self-control, apathy,
indifference, mental pressure, and a greater tendency toward neurological problems can also be the consequences of institutionalizing a child. The major behavioral problems are, she says, hyperactivity, inability to concentrate, sleep disturbances, excessive need of affection accomplished by attempts to attract attention, selfishness in play, lack of knowing how to play, insubmission, and rages. Along with a reduced social adaptation, rigid social relationships, and absence of social feelings, there can also appear more frequent anti-social behaviors and delinquency. Because of institutionalization there are also specific problems in adolescence: difficulty in finding friends, holding lasting relationships, difficulty in handling money, and in organizing and leading their lives.

Maternal assistants accuse the CPS of Constanta that the food they receive for the children is
spoiled. According to one of the regulations, children placed with maternal assistants don't
receive money for food, but receive the food directly. An assistant spoke anonymously of receiving spoiled meat spread, cheese that stank, and chemically altered chicken breasts. It is true that there were groceries that were fine, but there were also foods that, if not already expired, were very near their expiration dates. In other words they received two wash tubs full of cabbage rolls that had a guaranteed term of only two more days. "But can a child eat two wash tubs of cabbage rolls in two days?" Wholesalers in Constanta County receive about
$10,000 per month. But not one representative ever checked on things until now such that, "no one ever made a written complaint about this matter", said Nicusor Constantinescu. Another thing the maternal assistants are not happy with concerning the food is that the food is not distributed with attention paid to the age of the child. Babies four months old receive the same groceries that a child of four years receives. "You can't give a four month old baby cabbage rolls. Why don't they give us coupons or money to buy appropriate food for our children?" asks a mother. "Because that's how we save money," says Nicusor Constantinescu.