Expected Results
OPERATIONAL PLAN for the
Implementation of the Government Strategy Concerning
the Protection
of the Child in Difficulty (2001 - 2004)
1. GENERAL FRAMEWORK
1.1.Guaranteeing and observing
the rights of the children, and placing them into an
area of special interest are matters of national
priority. This priority may also be formulated as
follows: the life, development and welfare that all
children have to benefit from at the beginning of
this new century and millennium are the foundation on
which the future of a country is built. In addition
to that, in the case of Romania, the complex process
of EU accession is inexorably linked to the
observance of the political criteria laid down in
Copenhagen concerning the observance of human rights,
with a special emphasis on the rights of the
child.
1.2. The observance, promotion,
and exercise of the rights of the child - as they are
defined in the international instruments ratified by
Romania - will contribute to the full and harmonious
development of every child's personality. Thus, the
spirit of the Romanian people's traditions and
cultural values will be complemented by a new,
modern, and dynamic component - integration into
universal spirituality. In the light of that
integration, child protection in Romania means
striking a balance of three essential components:
child, family, and society. The manner in which that
balance is achieved has to be continuously regulated,
implemented, and monitored by the state, as one of
the fundamental responsibilities the state has
towards the fate of all citizens.
1.3. Article 3 of the UN
Convention on the Rights of the Child, that Romania
ratified by means of Law no. 18/1990, says: "in all
decisions concerning children, whether they are made
by public or private social care institutions, by
courts, administrative authorities or legislative
bodies, the best interests of the child have to be
the priority consideration". The state "must provide
children with the protection and care necessary for
their welfare, while also considering the rights and
duties of their parents, guardians, other legal
representatives, and for the purpose it will have to
take all the adequate legislative and administrative
measures". Moreover, the state "will make sure that
all the institutions, services, and other
organizations that have responsibilities towards
children and provide protection for them do observe
the norms established by the competent authorities,
particularly concerning security and health, as well
as concerning the numbers and competence of their
staff, and the existence of adequate control and
supervision".
1.4. The UN Convention on the
Rights of the Child unequivocally formulates the
fundamental, indissoluble link that exists between
children and their
families. It is important to emphasize
that the accountability of
families for their children acquires
new dimensions in the attempt to provide children
with an environment where they can develop in an
atmosphere of happiness, love, and understanding. The
parents' improved education level, along with the
decent living standard they can benefit from, may
lead to a better awareness of the fundamental role of
the family, as well as to the full exercise of that
role. A direct consequence of that can be a decrease
in the number of children in difficulty. In that
context, considering the major role of the
family, the responsibility of the Romanian
state lies in creating a favorable framework that
allows the identification of a permanent solution for
the protection of children in difficulty. It is a
unanimously accepted fact that the solution of
adoption, whether national or international, serves
the best interests of the child and is the only
special protection measure with a permanent
character. This measure may offer children the family
environment that is so necessary for a harmonious
growth and development of their
personality.
1.5. In order to provide a
coherent and unitary framework for the promotion and
observance of the rights of all children, a major
measure to be taken is the drafting of a unique law,
that can approach the problems related to children in
an integrated manner. The first consequences of the
passing of such a law will be a simplified, more
effective and operational legal framework that
provides a definition for the life and development of
children. The major asset to be derived from the
construction of a "Code of the Child" - as a result
of a wide process of consultation and involvement of
all factors concerned - will be, however, the
realization that children do represent an absolute
priority. The life, development, and welfare of the
children in this country are a fundamental
responsibility of the entire Romanian society. The
unification of all efforts in order to improve the
situation of children may represent a model of
national understanding and cooperation.
1.6. Among the approximately 6
million children of Romania, there are also
disadvantaged children. Special actions have to be
undertaken and promoted to their benefit, meant to
secure the observance and guaranteeing of
all their rights, in order to support their growth
and plenary development. Effective
protection of children in difficulty will never be
possible without a systematic approach, since it is
an integral part of the overall framework of social,
family, educational, and health policies, whose final
purpose is to promote the welfare of the whole
population and - implicitly - of children.
1.7. The framework for defining
the actions and measures that are required in order
to make the key items of the policy in the field of
child protection come to life is materialized in the
present Strategy of the Romanian Government. While it
is drafted in the spirit of the provisions contained
in the relevant international conventions and
treaties ratified by this country, the present
strategy also takes into account the particularities
of intervention in the Romanian social, economic, and
cultural context.
1.8. In the definition and
implementation of its strategy concerning the
protection of the child, the Government
of Romania starts out from the major political
premise that the reform in this field needs to be
continued and deepened. This can be
achieved by turning to good account the experience
and positive results obtained so far, as well as by
granting more attention to aspects that still pose
major problems in the system. In this context, the
present strategy is a revised and improved version of
the previous strategy.
1.9. While proposing a
coherent framework for action, the Government
Strategy concerning the protection of the child in
difficulty (2001-2004)
highlights the central role
played by the National Authority for the Protection
of the Child and Adoption (NAPCA) in
approaching the problems related to children in
difficulty or at risk;
establishes the institutional framework
whereby NAPCA actions are integrated / correlated /
coordinated with the actions of
ministries as well as of other
governmental structures with competences in the field
of social, family, and educational
policies;
highlights the essential
role of local administrations in
solving cases involving children in difficulty or at
risk, as well as the intention to continue the
decentralization of action from county to local
level;
presents the framework for intervention
and the cooperation in the field with the
civil society, particularly with
(Romanian and foreign) non-governmental
organizations, without which the dynamics of the
child protection system, or the observance and
protection of the rights of the child, can hardly be
imagined.
1.10. In order to implement the provisions of
the present strategy, the Government encourages
cooperation with the legally recognized denominations
in Romania, that also approach the social dimension,
and have proved to be effective in such action. In
that context, the cooperation with the
Romanian Orthodox Church is
an important consideration, since it has expressed
its full availability for working towards the
improvement of the situation of children and families
in difficulty.
1.11. It is important to underline that, in
the complex actions undertaken to provide protection
for children, to observe and promote their rights,
Romania benefits from a consistent
support granted by the international
community. In that context:
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the European Union has been
involved in the field by means of the PHARE
assistance programs ever since the early
'90s, both by providing a significant
cumulated volume of grants, as well as by
means of multiple and sustained technical
expertise;
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the United Nations Children's
Fund (UNICEF) has also been an active
presence in this country since 1990,
developing multiple projects whose purpose is
to improve the situation of children, from a
social, medical or educational point of
view;
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the World Bank and the Bank for
Development of the Council of Europe are
partners of the Romanian Government in an
important reform program of the system for
the protection of the child;
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the Governments of countries
such as the US, the UK, France, Spain,
Sweden, and Switzerland support the Romanian
system of child protection, either on a
bilateral basis, or in the framework of more
ample international programs.
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1.12. The Government Strategy starts out from
the premise that there is a need for adequate
coordination of all these programs, in order to avoid
duplication and parallelism, as well as to make sure
that both the resources allocated for these projects,
and the expertise and results accumulated from them,
are used effectively.
1.13. The present strategy
concerning the protection of the child starts out
from the basic principles underlying the government's
policy in the field, It lays out the general
directions and the specific objectives that need to
be considered, the road that has to be taken in order
to reach the expected results, as well as the
resources necessary for the system, having in view
the target-groups of final beneficiaries considered
as a priority.
2. THE NAPCA MISSION
2.1. Established by virtue of
the Government's Emergency Ordinance no.12/2001, the
National Authority for the Protection of the Child
and Adoption (NAPCA) is the Government's specialised
body providing methodological coordination for child
protection activities, whose main responsibility is
to draft, coordinate, and monitor the policies in the
field. In order to achieve the purpose it was
established for, NAPCA has adopted and promoted the
provisions contained in the international treaties
and conventions defining its own domain, starting out
from:
the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights
the UN Convention on the
Rights of the Child
the Convention on the
Protection of Children and on Cooperation in the
Field of International Adoption, concluded in the
Hague
2.2. NAPCA fulfils the
following functions:
2.3. The main purpose of NAPCA
intervention in the implementation of policies and
strategies concerning child protection is the
promotion, observance, and securing of all the rights
of the child, as they are mentioned in the UN
Convention, in the context of the full range of human
rights and fundamental freedoms. Another goal is to
grant children the status of partners in the
decision-making process in order to improve their
overall life.
2.4. A category of concrete
instruments whereby the implementation of the reform
is oriented, performed and supervised are
national programs. They
represent modalities in which state budget resources
can be used to co-finance activities for the
protection of the child at a local level. The
Government, by means of the NAPCA, supervises the way
in which the funds allocated to these programs are
spent.
2.5. In order to achieve that
purpose, an important step will be to formulate the
operational objectives that need to be fulfilled in
terms of the rights and liberties stipulated in the
international norms ratified by Romania, in a
complete and complex national legal norm, that should
include the following:
a) the measures whereby the
effective exercise and the full realization of the
children's rights and freedoms, as well as the
promotion of those rights and freedoms will be
guaranteed to a larger extent;
b) the public and private actors
with responsibilities in the drafting of the
above-mentioned measures, as well as in their
implementation;
c) the system for the
monitoring/assessment of the way in which the
measures mentioned under item (a), and respectively
the activities of the actors under item (b) are
implemented, in a manner that should allow their
continuous improvement.
3. RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE AUTHORITIES OF
THE LOCAL PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION IN THE FIELD OF THE
PROTECTION OF THE CHILD
The Mayor
According to art. 68 par. (1)
letter a) of Law no. 215/2001 on local public
administration, the Mayor "ensures the observance of
the citizens" fundamental rights and freedoms."
According to art. 69 of the
same Law no. 215/2001 on local public administration,
in exerting its function of a guardianship authority,
the Mayor also acts as a representative of the State.
In this context, the Mayor will order the carrying
out of social inquiries concerning the observance of
the rights of the child, and will conduct primary
inquiries for establishing guardianship.
Based on the provisions of the
Family Code, with subsequent amendments, the Mayor
has the obligation to ensure the integrity of the
fundamental rights of the children in the community
where he has been elected to office.
The President of the County
Council
According to art. 116 par. (1) letter o)
of Law no. 215/2001 on local public administration,
the President of the County Council "coordinates from
a methodological point of view, monitors and
supervises activities related to the keeping of
public records and those of the guardianship
authority conducted in the towns and
villages."
According to art. 116 par. (1)
letter q) of Law no. 215/2001 on local public
administration, the President of the County Council
"coordinates, supervises and is responsible for the
activities concerning the protection of the child."
These tasks delegated by the state to the local
authority of the public administration are
accomplished through the specialty apparatus of the
County Council, coordinated by the County Secretary
General.
The County Secretary General
According to art. 120 par. (1)
letter o) of Law no. 215/2001 on local public
administration, the County Secretary General
"coordinates the department for public records and
the guardianship authority within the County
Council's own specialized body."
The authorities of the local
public administration are held to fulfil any other
tasks in the field assigned by the Government or by
means of special laws, on the condition that the
necessary funding is also provided, according to art.
7 par. (3) of Law no. 215/2001 on local public
administration.
4. THE INVOLVEMENT OF OTHER MINISTRIES AND
INSTITUTIONS IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE
STRATEGY
The Ministry of Justice
is involved in:
- the cooperation between the courts and
the authorities of the local public administration
concerning the social inquiries conducted for
establishing guardianship, the entrustment of minors,
adoption, and abandonment;
- the drafting of the complete
set of laws in the field (Civil Code, Penal Code,
Family Code, and other normative acts) in order to
ensure the observance of the rights of children and
their protection from any form of abuse.
The Ministry of the
Interior
is involved in:
- the cooperation between the
authorities of the local public administration and of
public order on the one hand, and specific services
within the Ministry of the Interior;
- the supervision of the families that
include children at risk (abused, neglected), and
intervention in the homes of families that abuse and
neglect their children, as well as the notification
of the authorities of local public administration on
the need to initiate the required legal
procedures.
The Ministry of Health and the
Family
Is involved in:
- the cooperation between the
authorities of the local public administration and
the specialized emergency services in the health care
system;
- the establishment, together with the
authorities of the local public administration, of
community services dedicated to the treatment, care,
rehabilitation, and protection of children with
disabilities according to local needs and
resources.
The Ministry of Labor and Social
Solidarity
is involved in:
- the drafting and development, together
with the authorities of the local public
administration, of programs for social and vocational
orientation for the children (and young people) in
the protection system;
- supporting initiatives concerning the
establishment of protected companies and workshops
that may facilitate the vocational integration of
young people.
The Ministry of Education and
Research
is involved in:
- cooperation between the authorities of
the local public administration and the Romanian
education system through financing local programs
aiming at the social integration in the education
system of the children in difficulty
5. PRINCIPLES
The principles that lie at the
foundation of the strategy in the field of child
protection are the following:
1. THE PRINCIPLE OF THE BEST
INTERESTS OF THE CHILD
In all the actions carried out in the
context of this Government Strategy, the best
interests of the child shall prevail. The Strategy
promotes actions that mainly converge on the
protection of the child in difficulty or at risk,
whatever the nature of the causes that may determine
that situation.
2. THE PRINCIPLE OF NON-DISCRIMINATION AND
EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES
The policy in the field of child
protection is formulated and implemented in such a
way as to guarantee in Romania the observance and
promotion of the rights of children as stipulated in
the UN Convention, irrespective of race, color,
gender, language, religion, political or other
opinions, nationality, the ethnic or social group
they belong to, disability, birth, the situation of
the children, of their parents or legal
guardians.
3.THE PRINCIPLE OF SECURING A FAMILY
ENVIRONMENT
All the actions laid down in
the Government Strategy are based on the principle of
securing a family environment for every child,
including children in difficulty. If a child in
difficulty is protected in substitute families or in
residential type units for a determinate period, the
priority will be to provide that child with a family
type living environment for the whole duration of the
protection measure - until the child can be
reintegrated into the natural family, the extended
family or (in cases where reintegration is not
possible or it is not in the best interests of the
child) until its integration into an adoptive
family.
4. THE PRINCIPLE OF DECENTRALIZATIONAND OF MAKING THE COMMUNITY ACCOUNTABLE
FOR THEIR CHILDREN
At present, the system for the
protection of children in difficulty operates in a
decentralized manner in the counties and in the
districts of the Municipality of Bucharest,
respectively. The present Government Strategy is
based on the consolidation of public services
specializing in the protection of the child that are
subordinated to county councils or to district
councils, respectively, as well as on the involvement
of local communities, by continuing the
decentralization of services at the level of local
municipalities. Special attention will be granted to
making the community accountable for solving the
problems related to their own children.
5. THE PRINCIPLE OF
SOLIDARITY
The rearing, development, and education
of all children will be done in a spirit of dignity,
freedom, and respect for one's fellow men, priority
being given to consolidating social cohesion in
approaching child-related problems, with
special reference to the most vulnerable groups -
children in difficulty.
6. THE PRINCIPLE OF INTERSECTORIAL AND INTERDISCIPLINARY
INTERVENTION
The problems concerning the protection
of the child are approached in the context of social,
family, and education policies. Approaching and
solving problems in the field presupposes cooperation
and coordination of the interventions of all
responsible factors, as well as an intersectorial and
interdisciplinary approach.
7. THE PRINCIPLE OF
PARTNERSHIP
In all the types of activities specified
in the Government Strategy for the protection of the
child in difficulty, NAPCA promotes cooperation
with:
ministries and other institutions of the
central administration, as well as with their
territorial structures;
specialized public services of the local
public administration in the counties and the
districts of the Municipality of
Bucharest;
the local communities;
Romanian and foreign non-governmental
organizations acting in the field of the protection
of the child by means of humanitarian and
professional programs;
European and international institutions,
bodies, and organizations.
The principle of partnership operates at
all the levels of intervention, from national to
local. All types of activities, from the drafting and
coordination of the strategy to the interdisciplinary
intervention in the benefit of children and families
are carried out by cooperation and
partnership.
6. TARGET-GROUPS
The target groups considered as
a priority in the drafting of the Government strategy
for action in the field of child protection are the
following:
institutionalized
children;
children protected in
families, both in their own families (in order to
reduce the risk of abandonment), as well as in their
substitute families / alternative family-type
services;
children who are maltreated,
neglected or abused in their own families;
children with special needs
and children with HIV/AIDS hosted in institutions or
in alternative family-type forms of protection;
delinquent children;
street children;
children/young people coming
of age during their long-term institutionalization.
According to the recently
adopted Strategy on the improvement of the situation
of Roma (GD no. 430/2001) particular attention shall
be granted to children belonging to the Roma
minority.
7. GENERAL DIRECTIONS
The general directions of the reform
process in the system of the protection of the child
in difficulty or at risk are the
following:
1) Preventing and reducing the abandonment
of children by their own families, by supporting
families in difficult situations
2) Restructuring existing services and
residential care institution, including services for children with
deficiencies or disabilities; reorienting their use of the
financial, material, human, and technical resources available towards the
organization and diversification of alternative
services to residential protection; and reducing the number of
institutionalized children (particularly in
the case of institutionalization for long or
indefinite terms)
3) Improving, completing, and
harmonizing the legislative
framework required for the organization and
operation of the system for the protection of the
child, both in order to improve and clarify that
framework, and to bring it in line with the standards
stipulated in the international norms and treaties in
the field to which Romania is a party
In this context, priority will be
granted to the following:
-
reconsidering the legislation
regarding adoption, the main purpose being to
encourage national adoption, with the state
granting incentives to adopting families for a
definite period;
-
clarifying the legal provisions
concerning the neglect, maltreatment or abuse
that children are exposed to in their own
families;
-
improving the legislation
referring to juvenile delinquency and
justice;
-
analyzing the possibility to set
up a Court for minors
-
improving the legislation
referring to the exploitation of child
labor;
-
reconsidering the legislation
referring to the sexual exploitation of
children.
At the same time, by means of a wide
process of consultation and involvement of the entire
society, a draft "Code of the Child" will be drafted
and forwarded for adoption, as a framework or unique
law encompassing the whole range of issues and
problems related to the life, development and welfare
of all children.
4) Promoting adoption (according to the principle "a family
for a child" and not "a child for a family") as a
special measure for the protection of the child, with
a special emphasis on encouraging national adoption.
The purpose of national adoption will be to maintain
children adopted from institutions in the linguistic,
psychological and social environment that is familiar
to them. Similarly, inter-country adoption will be
resorted to as a last resort for the protection of
children in families, after all other domestic
options have been exhausted.
5) Continuing the
decentralization of the system from the county to
the local level, by developing and diversifying
services for the prevention of child abandonment as
well as protection services, and by making the
community responsible for the problems of their own
children.
6) Improving financial
mechanisms: providing financial resources,
coordinating cash flows, increasing efficiency in the
use of allotted budgets, increasing the effectiveness
of the results obtained by the final beneficiary of
the system - the protected child.
7) Improving the system of minimum
mandatory standards, as well as professional and
administrative-institutional
norms, by types of services and interventions
offered in the system of child protection.
8) Creating a national accreditation system
for non-governmental organi zations operating in the field of child
protection. The system is to also include a central
body with competences in the field of accreditation
and monitoring of the activities of non-governmental
organizations, according to the system of minimum
mandatory standards.
9) Developing and improving the
professional level of the human
resources involved in the system of child
protection, by defining and promoting professional
status, as well as by providing initial and
in-service training for the staff in the system, in
all categories and at all levels.
10) Creating and developing a national
system for the monitoring and
assessment of the situation of children in
difficulty or at risk, the activity of the services
and institutions for child care and protection,
including the financial resources available or
allotted at/from the central and local level, as well
as of the way in which these resources are used - in
such a monitoring/assessment system it is possible to
foresee any potential budget crises in the system of
child protection
The Government shall monitor the
harmonization of the reform process in fields such
as: social protection, local administration, justice,
health and education, with the reform in the field of
child protection.
8. EXPECTED RESULTS
The results expected following the
implementation of the present Government Strategy
Concerning the Protection of the Child in Difficulty
(2001-2004) are:
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developing the participation and
specialization in the actions of non-governmental
organizations in the domain of child
protection;
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clarifying, simplifying / making
more efficient and formulating the operational
objectives of the legal framework that governs
the problems referring to children, particularly
in the domain of the protection of children in
difficulty or at risk.
OPERATIONAL PLAN for the
Implementation of the Government Strategy Concerning
the Protection of the Child in Difficulty (2001 -
2004)
OPERATIONAL
OBJECTIVES
I. Developing and
diversifying the modalities of intervention in order
to prevent abandonment and to reduce
institutionalization
II. Preventing child
abuse and neglect under any form, as well as
preventing all phenomena that may make a child get
into difficulty
III. Continuing decentralization from county
to local level, and consolidating local institutional
capacities, in order for them to assume
responsibility in approaching the problems related to
children in difficulty
IV. Creating and developing specialized
services and integrative practices for children with
special needs in order to improve their opportunities
for a full and harmonious development
V. Developing a set of measures and
mechanisms for young people who, before the age of
18, have benefited from one of legal forms of
protection, and that can facilitate the acquisition
of the skills necessary for their educational,
occupational, and social integration
VI. Disseminating information and raising
public awareness concerning the rights of the child
in order to improve the overall attitude and behavior
related to the problems specific to children and
families at risk or in difficulty
VII. Encouraging adoption as a special measure
for the protection of the rights of the
child
VIII. Effective management of the human and
financial resources involved in the child protection
system
