Roles and accountabilities at local level: Planning services for prevention of separation of children from families Denisa Oana P ă traşcu, Secretary of State Ministry of Labour, Family and Social Protection Government of 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 Childrens 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 – 2013, National Strategy and Operational Plan for the Promotion and Protection of Childrens Rights Child care system reform in Romania

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 4 th degree or other families, guardianship Source:

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) Lessons learned Child protection indicators Rate of children in residential care (per 100,000 population aged 0-17) 1, Rate of children in care of foster parents or guardians (per 100,000 population aged 0-17) ,099.71,142.41,131.61,125.01,096.21,064.2 Source: TransMonee database 2010

Lessons learned Source: Children in residential care by age groups

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 , 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 Emerging challenges

Current situation Source:

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. Prevention services

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 Demonstration project 2011 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

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 Other initiatives at local level In partnership with Government of Iceland, Lichtenstein, and Norway through the EEA Financial Mechanism

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) - –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: long term

evidence-based adjustment of the normative framework (including but not exclusive, Law on the Promotion and Protection of Childrens Rights) and review of the National Strategy and Operational Plan for the Promotion and Protection of Childrens Rights 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 Future steps: short term

Thank you More information: