OneMinuteJr in Moldova

Tudor Culeanu

Tudor Culeanu looked on with pride while his short film The Moscow Train was presented to delegates attending a high-level conference on Child Care System Reform in the Moldovan capital.

The opening shot of his film shows a train about to depart and a message scrawled in large letters in chalk saying, "Mom, come back home!"

The train gathers speed as the camera pans to reveal three brothers left standing on the railway platform. It's an image that lingers in the mind of the 15 year old film maker and was inspired by a harsh reality. Tudor was one of nine siblings abandoned when their mother moved to Russia to find work.

Home is now a large institution housing more than 300 children in Straseni near Chisinau.

In September, Tudor took part in the One Minute Junior film making workshop supported by UNICEF. His film was featured on Moldovan television and all films produced by the teenagers in the workshop can be viewed on the video sharing website YouTube.

"This film was a great possibility for me to tell the world that I have a dream for my mother to come back home and I would like other children to have this possibility to make a film about their lives," said Tudor.

Reforming child care systems

The Child Care System Reform conference brought together delegates from Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. Government representatives agreed to start developing community-based services and phase out state-run children’s institutions.

Out of an estimated two-million children who are in institutionalised care around the world, more than 800,000 come from Central and Eastern Europe and Commonwealth of Independent States.

Many young and disabled children are abandoned in institutions or living at home without specialised care.

To help prevent separating children from their families, governments were urged to accelerate child care reforms by reallocating existing social and family support resources.

"I hope this meeting will achieve for the five countries that are here, a new energy and a commitment to reforming child care systems," said UNICEF Regional Director for Central and Eastern Europe and Commonwealth of Independent States, Steven Allen.

"It's important that children in institutions separated by their families either by economic crisis or migration can find a new way to be cared for, and indeed, be reunited with their natural families."

Impact of global financial crisis on child care

Poverty, migration and disabilities often pushes families to abandon their children.

Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine are among the most severely hit, globally, by the current economic crisis.

In  2008,  approximately  210,000  children were living in various types of alternative  care arrangements in all the five countries. More than 110,000 of them were growing up in nstitutions.

Tudor hopes the story of his film will not only reach parents facing similar problems to his family, but also leaders in governments that can make a real difference in the lives of children living in institutions.