Moldovan government approves new key document of policies in protection of child field

Chisinau, 1 June /MOLDPRES/ - The cabinet, at a today’s meeting, approved the National Programme for the Protection of the Child for 2022-2026 and the action plan on its implementation. The document sets the priority goals and actions for the next five years, the objective of which is to strengthen the system of social protection of the child, in order to promptly and efficiently meet his/her needs, the government’s communication and protocol department has reported.       

The Programme’s priority sectors of intervention regard the good governance in the field of protection of the child, prevention and combating of violence in all environments and in all forms, de-institutionalization, alternative care and backing the families for preventing the separation. These sectors were established following a comprehensive process of consultations, in which the civil society, international organizations, authorities and public institutions with competences in the protection of the child participated. At the same time, over 8,000 children were involved in the participatory process of the programme’s elaboration.     

The complex interventions envisaged in the Programme approach the issue at the level of normative framework, mechanism of establishing the services which should be provided to each category of beneficiaries; complex investments in the human resources, who should also be motivated to act efficiently for the protection of each child at risk; social norms, which are not to tolerate any form of violence or exploitation of the child; new and efficient approaches in the monitoring and assessing of interventions in the field of protection of the child.

The goals of the new document of policies come from the government’s action programme, Moldova of Good Times, and is in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), with emphasis on connecting the system and the public policies in the field of protection of the child to the needs and challenges through which children go, in order to carry out their rights and higher interest.   

The three major goals of the Programme are: consolidation of the system of protection of the child to promptly and efficiently meet the needs of each child, backed by an increase in the share of expenses allocated for the protection of the family and child; ensuring the zero tolerance on behalf of adults and children to any form of violence against children, ensuring the bringing up of children in a safe and protecting family environment, which will guarantee their well-being.   

The specific objectives regard the establishing of the mechanism of quick and efficient intervention of the protection system to the needs of each child, through:   

- creating an automated information system and a string of institutionalized national indicators, which are to optimize the collection of data in the field of protection of the child;  

- ensuring the training of qualified human resources, through training programmes approved by the Labour and Social Protection Ministry;     

- enhancing the degree of residents’ knowledge and reaction to any form of violence against children;

- ensuring the accessibility of services and programmes on the spending of free time for children aged between 3 and 17 years;   

- creation of specialized services of assistance and psycho-social rehabilitation for children involved in violence acts, in conflict with the law or children with deviating behavior;  

- strengthening the capacities of parents and families for the education and taking care of the child,  through access to services and programmes on parental education;  

- providing needed support to families with children at risk for the prevention of separation; 

- consolidation of services of family-type alternative care;  

- reintegration of children from residential institutions in family or in the family-type social services;  

- support of communities and children to benefit from partnerships between public authorities and the civil society for the well-being of the child.

The National Programme for the Protection of the Child is accompanied by a plan which contains 72 actions; the monitoring indicators, costs for implementation, the term of fulfillment and the competent institutions are set for each action.   

The new document of policies is meant to ensure the continuity of the earlier implemented measures and to meet the present challenges from the system of protection of the child.  

Photo: Government