Romania : Children's High Level Group

Romania’s current child welfare situation is better understood in the context of its recent political history.

Following World War II Romania was under communist jurisdiction. During this time child welfare was considered the responsibility of the state not the family and a large network of institutions was developed. Families in difficulty were encouraged to give their children up to the care of the state and by the end of the eighties there was a marked increase in the number of children in institutions and those dying of treatable illnesses and other causes (Sanitary Statistic Yearbook, Ministry of Health and Family, Bucharest).

When the Communist regime fell in December 1989 the tragic conditions within the institutions was discovered and there was a global call for action, and strong international support. By 2005 the mortality rate had fallen considerably. Many Westerners adopted abandoned children. However this practice was unregulated and subject to corruption, until a moratorium banning international adoptions was put in place in 2001 (Child Welfare in Romania- a story of reform, European Commission's PHARE programme).

Since then, Romania has made a lot of progress and reforms in line with the UN Convention for the Rights of the Child, which it ratified in 1990. Child welfare is now one of the government’s main focuses and a report commissioned by the CHLG, Assessment of Institutions for Children with Disabilities, concluded that overall institutional services in Romania are good but that there is still work to be done. The CHLG runs several programmes in Romania to help improve this situation.

In the last four years a total of 22,000 children have been put back into family based care, with half of these children having been returned to their parents or relatives.

CHLG work in Romania

Community Action: Community Action is a voluntary, certificated education programme, developed by the CHLG, which has successfully been introduced into the curriculum of Romanian high schools. The programme aims to break down existing social prejudices and help children in public care to feel part of their community rather than excluded from it.

The programme is now in its third year with children taking part in every county in Romania. 48,000 school children now work face-to-face with 42,000 children with special needs. This is the largest group of young people working this way in Europe. Read more here.

Edelweiss competition: Edelweiss is a national project to identify the talents of marginalised children from placement centres in Romania. It is run by the National Authority for the Protection of the Child's Rights in partnership with the Children's High Level Group and the Ministry of Education and Research.

For more information and to read some of the inspirational winners' stories please click here.

Green Line: The Green Line supports hundreds of thousands of calls each year from children in need, as well as offering an internet service.

Community Nurses: CHLG is funding the training and employment of community nurses, in partnership with the Romanian government. Community nurses carry out valuable preventative health care work at the village level, advising vulnerable young mothers about the risks involved in childbirth, and ensuring better access to health and social services. The result is a reduction in child mortality and abandonment.