Social integration of youth leaving child protection centres, regulated by Gov’t

In the coming years 4,500-5,000 young people will leave such centres, which is why their access to housing and jobs must be facilitated, Labour Minister Gheorghe Barbu explained
published in issue 3686 page 5 at 2006-05-25

BUCHAREST – The Government endorsed the National Strategy for inclusion of youth leaving the child protection system, Minister of Labour, Social Solidarity and Family Gheorghe Barbu announced after the Cabinet meeting yesterday. He stated that centres in the child protection system currently host over 6,000 young people over 18. “According to our estimates, in the coming years 4,500-5,000 young people will leave these centres,” Barbu explained. He pointed out that the Strategy endorsed by the Government is intended to ensure access of these youngsters to social protection services, to reduce social marginalisation risks and to stimulate their community integration. The target group of the Strategy is represented by young people exiting the child protection system, youngsters hosted in juvenile detention centres upon turning 18 and homeless youngsters who turn 18. The Strategy will be implemented in 2006-2008 and ensures a global approach on the social problems of these categories.

The normative act lays down a set of measures aimed at the development of youth independent life and social integration skills, at their integration to the labour market as well as at the provision of decent living standards – housing, access to healthcare and education. The goal of such measures is to combat the social exclusion risks with young people who have already experienced the trauma of family disintegration, and to facilitate their integration and active participation in the community life. Facilitation of access to housing and jobs, improvement of the local and central institutional and administrative framework, creation of a financing system for the application of youth social assistance measures, human resources development in the field, preparing the youth, in the formal and non-formal education system, for active social life within the community, are some of the objectives of this Strategy. Resolution of the issue of youth leaving the child protection system is a priority in the 2005-2008 governance programme, the Labour Minister concluded.

US Ambassador wants Romania to acknowledge child protection problems

BUCHAREST – Romania has made remarkable progress in the child protection field, Ambassador of the United States to Bucharest Nicholas Taubman stated yesterday, upon presentation of the ChildNet programme outcomes. The programme, funded by the American Government with USD 15 M and implemented jointly with Romanian authorities for a five-year period, was intended to support the reform in the field of institutionalised child protection. According to Taubman, sixteen years ago, over 170,000 children were living in gloomy orphanages, but the number fell to 28,000 today. In 1990, there were no maternal assistants, whereas today 18,000 children are brought up in such families around the country. Residential care is better today, there are good maternal assistants and there are programmes to help them acquire daily life skills, Nicholas Taubman pointed out, presenting the concrete steps forward made in the field. However, the American official warned that “much is still to be done.” “We have all read in the media recently about the serious problems with some of the institutions where children are kept in deplorable conditions. What happened in Braila, for instance, was a tragedy. I’ve seen the rush into turning this situation into an incendiary material and the rush to look for culprits. Well, I’ve been successful in business and I know I didn’t manage to do this by looking for culprits. I was successful when I admitted I had a problem and when I found solutions to solve it. This is why I’d like to thank Secretary of State Bogdan Panait who stated before cameras that there was a problem and that measures must still be taken to solve it,” the American official emphasized. Taubman referred to the report made public by an American NGO warning two weeks ago that abandoned children with disabilities live in as poor conditions as during the communist rule. Braila was one of the places where the American NGO claimed to have seen children living in horrific conditions. In turn, Minister of Labour and Social Solidarity Gheorghe Barbu, also attending the event, stated that the child protection law in Romania “is recognised by experts in the field world-wide as very good.” The Labour Minister explained that, although “there is no doubt that Romania has made substantial progress, such a law could not have been fully enforced within a year.”

by Ana Maria Nitoi