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Choosing Children’s Rights:Romania’s Reform of Child Welfare for Children in Care

The fall of Ceauçescu in 1989 opened the door to the world regarding the conditions of

children in care in Romania. There has been a great struggle within Romania regarding

the change in the Child Welfare system and the cultural challenges that were created

around the Ceauçescu welfare system. According to the Romanian government, the

greatest change has been the focus on the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which

Romania ratified in 1990 shortly after the fall of Communism.

In 1989, according to the government figures, there were over 100,000 children in the

Romanian institutional care system. In 2006 there were just over 27,000 in institutional

care and nearly 50,000 in substitute family care. The infant mortality rate was nearly 27

in 1,000 in 1989; by 2005 it had fallen to 16. The types of services offered to children

have also changed; in 2000 there were no shelters provided by the government for street

children, but by 2005 there were 15. Family type placement units increased nearly seven

times; from 98 to 639. Considerable changes have occurred for children in the Child

Welfare system regarding their rights, the services they are provided, and their overall

health. (NAPCR, 2006)

Romania attempted to completely overhaul the Child Welfare system up to 2002, in order

to correct the system set up by Ceauçescu, but failed to meet the demands that the

European Union had set forth, thus requiring Romania to initiate a different approach to

modernize the system. (European Parliament, 2006) While restructuring the Child

Welfare Department and creating new laws, the government focused on the rights of the

child and parents, which were adapted from the UN Convention on the Rights of the

Child. There are five main goals that were looked at: 1) the right to be raised by a parent,

2) the right to maintain contact with family, 3) the right to be heard, 4) the right of free

expression and to be informed, and 5) the right of respect of person and individuality.

(NAPCR, 2006)

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First, the right to be raised by a parent was integrated into the system by taking measures

and making laws that encourage keeping a child with his/her family as often as possible.

In order to do this Social Services have now been trained to provide services to families

and parents that will improve their life standards or parenting skills. However, when

keeping a child with his/her family is not in the best interest of the child’s development

and rights, a substitute family is arranged either within the extended family or a family

approved by the Social Services. The second right that was integrated into the Child

Welfare policies is the right to maintain contact with family. Previous to 2000, children

were discouraged from keeping contact with their family once they were placed into

institutionalized care. Now, children in institutionalized and substitute family care are

encouraged to visit their family, and social workers work with children and families in

order to ensure that there is appropriate and timely interaction. Prior to 2000, children’s

voices were not heard at all in the process of adoption or separation from their families.

Now, in accordance with the right to be heard, it is a law that children 10 and above are

involved and heard by a judge. Related to the new concept of children being looked after

by substitute families instead of the State, there is a new policy of informing children and

allowing them to express their opinions on changing families, adoption, and surgery.

(NAPCR, 2006)

Prior to 2000, children in care were not looked upon as humans neither by the State nor

those who lived outside of the institutions. As a result, children were not given personal

clothing or space, but had to share all clothes and areas. In an effort to meet the right to

respect for persons and individuals, Romania has made it into law that children in

institutional care are provided their own locker with a lock, and that they are provided

their own sufficient living space. (NAPCR, 2006) This also includes the ban of corporal

punishment in schools, institutional care, and families (including substitute families).

There are also many other “lesser” rights that the Child Welfare program included in the

new laws of 1 January 2005. Of these laws, one is of particular interest to children in

care as it deals with the right to have a cultural/ethnic identity. Many children in care are

from minority groups in Romania, and as a result, they have not been treated with respect

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regarding their ethnic or cultural background. Thus, implementing this right could

improve the quality of life of minority children.

As part of the rights-based approach to changing the child welfare of Romania, the

government has begun providing better services and more centers that meet the needs of

the children in care. This process has also included the closing of protection institutions

that had become ineffective, the restructuring of old institutional care centers into

apartment style care centers, and the creation of new services that directly meet the rights

and needs of the children. These services include shelters for street children, prenatal

care, mother and baby centers, counseling and family planning, daycare centers, maternal

assistants, re-integration centers (to biological families), family type placements,

treatment centers for abused children, disabled children centers, support centers for

children leaving care after 18, and emergency services for children who have behavior

disorders. Most of these services were either nonexistent before 2000 or have increased 3

to 10 fold. (NAPCR, 2006; USAID, 2006)

Despite the advances that Romania has made in addressing children’s issues by using the

Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) as their guide, the government still has

many measures to take in order to ensure that children in the care of the state are being

adequately protected. UNICEF has addressed the increased vulnerability of the

protection and rights of children in residential institutions in recent press releases on the

state of Romania’s Child Welfare system. (UNICEF, May 2005) Additionally, the

children who are in care of the state are not adequately tracked, allowing them to

disappear or not exist at the convenience of the government. Roma and disabled children

are especially vulnerable while in state care as well as when living outside state care due

to strong cultural prejudices within Romanian culture; therefore, the government needs to

make better efforts to address the prejudices and protocols for minority children in state

care (UNICEF, 2007; Jurnalul, 2006). Many children are still disappearing in Romania

due to illegal adoption practices, human trafficking and other illegal activities. Although

Romania has implemented the Child Monitoring and Tracking Information System, it has

not been given adequate funding nor have those implementing it been given adequate

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training, especially in remote places where minorities such as Roma and ethnic Germans

are especially vulnerable. (UNICEF, May 2007). Finally, children with HIV/AIDS are

not given regular access to an education and are frequently discouraged from attending

public school. (Human Rights Watch, 2006)

Due to the support that Romania has from the EU and many NGOs, they should be able

to continue on the path to reform and appropriately improve their child welfare services.

The challenges are demanding, yet feasible as shown in the considerable strides made

over the past years. However, the government must not lose focus due to the current

economic crisis and remember that it must continue to improve its safeguards and

services, as the crisis increases the potential dangers for the children as well as the

number of children that may come under their care.

References:

A Refined Auschwitz: Children with Disabilities in Special Institutions in Romania,Adriana Oprea Popescu, Jurnalul, June 7, 2006. (http://www.jurnalul.ro/cautare/a-refined-auschwitz.html)

Child Welfare in Romania: The Story of a Reform Process, National Authority for theProtection of Child’s Rights (NAPCR), Bucharest, September 2006.

Children in Residential Institutions Desperately Vulnerable to Abuse, News Notes,UNICEF, New York, May 31, 2005. Uploaded: October 29, 2009(http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/media_27185.html)

Children’s Rights for Roma Children, News Notes, UNICEF, New York, May 16, 2007.Uploaded: October 29, 2009 (http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/media_39677.html)

Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child on Romania'sPeriodic Report, UNICEF, New York, June 2009 (http://www.unicef.org/romania/CRC-C-ROM-CO-4.pdf)

Country Profile, Library of Congress, Federal Research Division, Washington, DC,December 2006. Uploaded: October 27, 2009(http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/profiles/Romania.pdf)

Human Rights Watch Volume 18 No. 6(D), Human Rights Watch, New York, 2006.

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USAID and Child Welfare Reform in Romania, USAID, Washington, DC, July 2006.(http://www.usaid.gov/locations/europe_eurasia/dem_gov/docs/final_romania_legacy_report_090506.pdf)

UNICEF Country Statistics, UNICEF, New York, 2008(http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/romania_statistics.html)

Written Declaration Pursuant to Rule 116 of the Rules of Procedure on InternationalAdoption in Romania, European Parliament, Brussels, 2006.