Overview | Out of home care | Juvenile justice | Violence, exploitation and abuse| Programme response | Resources | Communication

The situation

• The ratio between foster or guardianship care and residential care has changed over time. In recent years, the number of children placed in residential institutions has been gradually decreasing, from more than 85% of all placements in 1989 to 58% of placements in 2002—a result of support for the reintegration of children into their biological or extended family, as well as the introduction and promotion of new family-type alternatives such as foster parents and small group homes.
  
  
• The flow of children out of institutions is accelerating. By the end of 1999, a significant decrease in institutional numbers could be seen as a result of the promotion of family-type alternatives and the integration/reintegration of children into their families. The years 2001 and 2002 saw dramatic progress with the number of children in residential care falling by more than 25%. The number of institutions housing more than 100 children also dropped from 205 at the beginning of 2001 to 132 at the end of 2002.
  
  
• Residential institutional care was once seen as the only option for children with disabilities. Since 2000, the Government and the National Authority for Child Protection have developed community-based services for children with disabilities and promoted their integration into mainstream schools. At least 20 institutions for children with disabilities have been closed down in recent years and more children with disabilities are now living with families and going to ordinary schools.
  
  
• The greatest challenge has been the closure of old-style institutions–93 by the end of 2002 alone. This required financial resources from local authorities, NGOs and the State. International agencies also provided substantial financial support and technical support in the design of strategies and projects, seminars for the dissemination of best practices and training activities for managers and staff. By the end of 2002, 487 family-type alternative services had been created: 367 family-type homes and 119 apartments.
  
  
• The total number of children who have been placed in any type of care has increased over time, rising from 50,500 in 1992 to 74,100 in 2002. The number of children in the care of foster parents or guardians has also increased (from 7,500 in 1989 to 30,900 in 2002). This indicates that reforms of the child care system have favoured alternative care, but without giving sufficient attention to preventing children from being separated from their biological parents in the first place.
  
  
• There is no information available on the number of children in infant homes after 1997.
  
  
• In 2002, 1,753 Romanian children were adopted nationally and internationally. There has been a decrease over the years.

• In 2004, 407 children were internationally adopted from Romania. Since 1989, there was an increase in the number of international adoptions, peaking at 3,035 in 2000. There has been a decrease during the recent years.

• The Situation of Child Abandonment in Romania, March 2006 (PDF)
  
  
• Flow model institutionalised children in Romania and the determining variables (PDF)
  
• Young people in changing societies, UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre (2000): Leaving Institutional Care (PDF)
  
• Child Care Reform sSystem in Romania, 2004 (PDF)
  
• Survey on child abuse in residential care institutions in Romania, 2000:
  Acknoledgements, Summary, Introduction and Methodology (Word)
  Chapter 1, Overall Features of Children in Residential Care Institutions (Word)
  Chapter 2, Respecting the Rights of Children in Residential Care Institutions (Word)
  Chapter 3, Abuse in Institutions (Word)
  
  
• Practicies and Standards in the System of Juvenile Justice in Romania (PDF)