National Practice Model on ensuring child welfare to be set up in Moldova

Chisinau, 7 February /MOLDPRES/- The Labour, Social Protection and Family Ministry in partnership with the Ministries of Education, Health and Interior Affairs today signed a cooperation agreement on implementing a National Practice Model meant to ensure the welfare of children.

The document sees the unification and coordination of efforts of all decision makers and specialists in the sectors of education, health, public order and social assistance in order to ensure well-being for every child in the country and prevent situations of risk to which they may be subject.

Labour, Social Protection and Family Minister Stela Grigoras said that initiating a National Practice Model for Moldova “represents an innovation meant to create a system based on intersectoral collaboration, responsible for child welfare. The new system will provide major opportunities to protect children from socially vulnerable families and their integration into society, and young people will be safer from the risks and defects occurring in society”.

For her part, Education Minister Corina Fusu said that the agreement signed between the key-factors in elaborating child development policies would bring benefits both to children and state, as “young people are country’s future, and the way of their education represents results, which the governance is streamlined to”.

In the context, Health Minister Ruxanda Glavan noted that ensuring child welfare “should not just be the responsibility of the family, but also a priority for the entire society, especially, decision makers, policy makers in this regard. Intersectoral collaboration between these decision makers will lead to a radical change of vision on the protection of children by the whole society”.

At the same time, Interior Minister Alexandru Jizdan pointed out that “prompt intervention of the police in solving the problems of vagrancy, begging and combating family violence can prevent development of risk situation for children”.

The National Practice Model will be implemented initially in three districts: Calarasi, Falesti and Ungheni and expanding throughout the country. The programme was implemented according to the principles of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and financial support of USAID.

(Reporter P. Beregoi, editor A. Răileanu)