On International Street Children’s Day, the vice mayor of the capital, Angela Cutasevici, paid a working visit to the service center for street children in the municipality of Chisinau. The profile institution is the only one in the republic, which offers social services for children in difficulty and operates non-stop.
The center subordinated to the Chisinau City Hall aims to provide informational and psycho-pedagogical assistance to children at risk, including those subject to violence, those neglected by their parents, who wander and beg – regardless of whether they come from the capital or from the districts of the country.
Annually, the institution is attended by about 90 children, of which 80 percent come from the districts of the republic and only 20% are from the Capital, mostly from the suburbs. Until March 2023, inclusive, the Service provided support to more than 30 children from the whole country.
The municipality offers a complex of social services for children in street situations, which vary according to the needs of the children:
- Food
- Personal hygiene
- Washing and changing clothes
- Formation of life skills (self-service, washing dishes, cleaning the table, washing clothes, housekeeping, personal hygiene, etc.)
- Development of cognitive, communication, and behavioral skills
- Support in studying and assimilating study programs
- Professional orientation
- Counseling and psychosocial rehabilitation of children (individual and group)
- Facilitating access and accompanying them to services in the community (education, health, culture)
- Cooperation with the guardianship authorities at the child’s place of residence, in order to return the child to the biological/extended family or social services
- Restoring and/or improving relationships with family
Regarding the development of services for street children, the municipality collaborates with UNICEF Moldova, within the Memorandum of Understanding concluded between Chisinau City Hall and UNICEF Moldova, which provides for the provision of technical assistance for the realization of the rights of children and adolescents in the municipality of Chisinau.
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For the current year, a series of actions are expected to support children in street situations, including the purchase of essential goods: winter/summer shoes, thick clothes, underwear, and hygiene goods.
At the same time, social workers, specialists, managers, psychologists, and pedagogues of the Street Assistance Social Service are trained with the help of UNICEF. Moreover, support is offered in the development of the mobile team that performs repeated raids on the territory of the Chisinau municipality, in order to detect children in street situations.
For the year 2023, from the approved budget for the maintenance of the Complex of social services for children and young people in street situations, 4 million lei were allocated.
Additionally, with the support of UNICEF, 1 million lei were granted to support the Center for the period 2022-2023.