Transcript Roles and accountabilities at local level: Planning services for prevention of separation of children from families Denisa Oana Pătraşcu, Secretary of State Ministry of.

Roles and accountabilities at local level:
Planning services for prevention of
separation of children from families
Denisa Oana Pătraşcu, Secretary of State
Ministry of Labour, Family and Social Protection
Government of Romania
Child care system reform in Romania
1997 – 2004, main objectives: deinstitutionalization through
 development of alternative services within public care system
 reintegration of children with their biological families
2005, Law on the Promotion and Protection of Children’s Rights:
 shift from protection of children ‘in difficulty’, to promotion
and protection of all rights of all children
 prohibition of institutionalization of children under 2, with the
exception of children with severe disability and dependent on
specialized residential care services.
2008 – 2013, National Strategy and Operational Plan for the
Promotion and Protection of Children’s Rights
Achievements by 2012
Number of children in public and private residential care
Number of children in family type services (maternal assistance, placement with relative of 4th degree or other families,
guardianship
Source: www.copii.ro, www.mmuncii.ro
Lessons learned
 Decrease of number of children in institutional care:
 political commitment, adequate funding, scale up alternative
services, capacity building of county decentralized authorities
Slow decline of number of children in public care:
 low capacity of local authorities to ensure prevention of separation of
children from their families
 persistent bottlenecks related to social norms (e.g. traditional
practices such as overreliance on state care protection)
Child protection indicators
2000
Rate of children in residential
1,165.6
care
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
671.7
625.4
619.2
615.1
600.4
590.4
1,099.7 1,142.4
1,131.6
(per 100,000 population aged 0-17)
Rate of children in care of
foster parents or guardians
(per 100,000 population aged 0-17)
Source: TransMonee database 2010
537.4
1,125.0 1,096.2 1,064.2
Lessons learned
Children in residential care by age groups
50000
40000
30000
20000
10000
0
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
0-3 years
Source: www.copii.ro, www.mmuncii.ro
4-17 years
18 and older
Emerging challenges
2011, impact of the economic crises:
 on vulnerable families
 difficulties to adjust services to unpredictable and increased needs
 for the first time after almost 15 years, the number of children in
institutions increased with 137
2012, assessment of the child care system:
 capacity of Public Services of Social Assistance at local level are weak,
especially in disadvantaged, rural area
 restraints in HR policies public administration (determined by
budgetary constraints), maintains low level capacity of local authorities
Current situation
Children relinquished in medical units
6000
5000
4000
3000
2000
1000
0
2003
2004
Source: www.copii.ro, www.mmuncii.ro
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
Prevention services
 of separation of children from their families;
 of new entries into public care system;
 strengthen the support provided to vulnerable families through
basic social services =
–
–
–
–
provided within the community,
being close to and within the reach of its members,
promote community participation and engagement,
provide fast, straightforward and low cost solutions using
community resources,
– ensure multi-disciplinary intervention and cooperation
• horizontally and vertically.
Demonstration project 2011
 aiming at increased capacity of local authorities to ensure
effective and efficient prevention services
 focus on:
– Public Services of Social Assistance (SPAS),
– most deprived areas,
– outreach for identifying most vulnerable children and families,
 independent evaluation, showed that 2.7% of children living
in vulnerable families, at risk o various forms of violence, are
not identified nor registered by SPAS
 the risk of non-intervention is associated with new entries in
the public care system and/or with beneficiaries of other
specialized services
In partnership with UNICEF, 8 County Councils, General Directions for Social Assistance and Child Protection, Prefectures, 98 Public Local
Authorities
Demonstration project 2012
 focuses on:
– provision of timely, low cost solutions
using community resources,
– ensure multi-disciplinary intervention and
cooperation, involving the community
(thru Community Consultative Structures),
 demonstration of cost-effectiveness of
interventions at local level
 advocacy for earmarked budget
allocations for SPAS ensuring the
minimum package of services at
community level
 synergic and convergent with cash
transfers (to be adjusted accordingly)
In partnership with UNICEF, 8 County Councils, General Directions for Social Assistance and Child Protection, Prefectures, 64 Public Local
Authorities
Other initiatives at local level
 20 mobile team were set up in 20 counties to reach out
children with disabilities living mainly in rural communities
 aiming also at increased capacity of public local
authorities to ensure specialized services for children with
disabilities living with their families and:
– increase number of families benefiting of support services
– increase number of children with disabilities benefiting of
recuperation services
– decrease of number of children with disabilities separated by their
families because of disability
In partnership with Government of Iceland, Lichtenstein, and Norway through the EEA Financial Mechanism
Future steps: long term
 earmarked budget is necessary but not sufficient;
 enabling environment for effective and efficient prevention
services includes:
– addressing social norms (i.e. tolerant attitude towards various
forms of violence and poverty, low level of awareness of social
problems) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUmMccE7B6w
– low community participation on involvement;
– weak inter and cross-sectoral collaboration;
– adequate human resources policies (training and allocation,
motivation and retrainment, etc.);
– use of appropriate monitoring instruments and mechanisms;
– showcasing results and measuring impact.
Future steps: short term
 evidence-based adjustment of the normative framework
(including but not exclusive, Law on the Promotion and
Protection of Children’s Rights)
 and review of the National Strategy and Operational Plan for
the Promotion and Protection of Children’s Rights 2014-2020
 including:
– increase age for prohibition of institutionalization from 2 to 3
– specialization of prevention and protection services with special
focus on children below 3 and for children with disabilities
– correlation and adequate balance of state social assistance
measures of basic social services and cash transfers
– improved effectiveness and real time response of monitoring
instruments
Thank you
More information:
 www.copii.ro
 www.mmuncii.ro
 www.unicef.org/romania