The child protection system's response to abuse and neglect in Romania

The child protection system’s response to abuse and neglect in Romania shows an evident development in the last 15 years, in terms of legislation, policy provisions, institutional buildup and even methodologies and... [ view full abstract ]

The child protection system’s response to abuse and neglect in Romania shows an evident development in the last 15 years, in terms of legislation, policy provisions, institutional buildup and even methodologies and guidelines for professionals. However, as the last recommendations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child highlighted in 2009, there is still no comprehensive system of recording and analyzing data on child abuse and neglect and that mechanisms of physical and psychological recovery and social reintegration for victims are not sufficiently provided for in all parts of the country. On the other hand there is no harmonized set of standards to guide the decision on placing a child in out-of-family care, as well as its follow up and review, to guide the planning and monitoring of the intervention, including the assessment of the child’s individual needs; the over-representation of Roma children in the care system is not seemed to be accompanied with special culturally sensitive preventive programs for children and family support.
There is a lack of research in Romania to analyze the interventions taken by the public social services in cases of child abuse and neglect in terms of referral, registration, decision making, service provision and monitoring of outcomes. The paper presents some of the results of the Romanian Case Based Surveillance Study on Child Abuse and Neglect (CBSS CAN) and of the qualitative study on system’s response to the needs of the Roma children and their families living in deep poverty in ghettoized settlements.
Both studies explored questions like: who are the children who are registered by the child protection services as being victims of abuse and/or neglect (demographic data, family background, economic situation), what are the needs they face in terms of education, health, recovery from consequences of maltreatment, and what measures are taken by the public services to prevent re occurrence of maltreatment and ensure protection and recovery.
The CBSS CAN was conducted in the frame of BECAN Project . The results of this study are based on the document analysis of 288 case-files collected from the 16 counties, of children aged 11, 13 and 16, who were registered in a year being a victim of maltreatment. The paper focuses on data regarding elements of case management in terms of involved agencies and services provided for children victims of abuse and neglect and for their families. The study shows the absence of standard tools for risk and needs assessment, as well as the absence of clear thresholds or reference points in decision making and intervention planning. Case management often relies on uncompleted assessment, lacking essential information to orient intervention planning. The results of the study show a great need for evidence based instruments to be used in all phases of case management.
The qualitative study presents the challenges and limits of the public child protection services face in order to adequately respond to the extremely complex needs of children and their families from a ghettoized Roma settlements in Romania. Both the service providers and the families are affected by ‘structural violence’ in terms of Gil (Gil, 1999).
References
Gil, David G. “Understanding and Overcoming Social-Structural Violence.” Contemporary Justice Review (1999): 23-35