Everychild

Moldova: One Step Closer to Shutting down Soviet era children’s homes

The Moldovan Government has approved groundbreaking National Foster Care Standards. Launched last December the standards that EveryChild Moldova pioneered will ensure the country’s fledgling foster care system is run properly.

EveryChild Moldova has been campaigning for the nationwide introduction of foster care for the last seven years and other family based alternatives to institutional care since 1998. By piloting foster care standards in four regions EveryChild was able to make a strong case for their implementation across the whole country. The Standards build on learning from foster care systems in a number of Western European countries, including the UK.

The best interests of the child are at the heart of the Foster Care Standards, with a huge emphasis placed on the child’s right to grow up and be educated in a family. Children in care will have their privacy respected and decisions on where they are sent to live will take into account their opinions and concerns.

There are still 11,000 children living in Moldova’s children’s institutions and the challenge for the government is to train up enough foster carers.

Stela Grigoras, Director of EveryChild Moldova, said:

“It is a great victory. We have worked tirelessly for foster care to become completely legalized in Moldova. The country can now make far greater progress in shutting down large-scale children’s institutions.”

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Moldova: One Step Closer to Shutting down Soviet era children’s homes