Adopted by Parliament: the minimum age at which children in the protection system are sent to residential services increases from 3 to 7 years

Today, the Chamber of Deputies voted the law that ensures raising the minimum age from 3 to 7 years for sending children from the protection system in residential services. It was voted unanimously, with 289 votes in favor. The initiative was proposed by parliamentarians from all political parties, who joined forces at the initiative of MP Oana Bîzgan.

By today’s vote, para. (1) and (2) of art. 64 of Law no. 272/2004 regarding the protection and promotion of the rights of the child will be modified. Thus, the placement of the child who has not reached the age of 7 years old can only be with the extended family, a substitute family or with the maternal assistant. Their placement in a residential type service will be forbidden.

Romania still has one of the highest rates of children in placement centers in Europe, and “the recommendations of a study conducted by the World Bank and UNICEF, together with DGASPCs were of gradual deinstitutionalization, with 19,000 children from residential centers being moved in small family type centers, with social workers or in family placement. Old residential type centers were recommended to be closed by 2020” says Oana Bîzgan.

The move from residential centers to family care, substitute families or maternal assistants is also a financial advantage. The costs associated with the placement of children in residential centers are six times higher than if the minor is placed with the extended or substitute family and three times higher than if child is place with maternal assistants.

“It is a first step of a trans-party women’s collaboration through which we want to promote necessary and beneficial laws regarding the protection of children, equal opportunities, the education and health system. I thank my fellow MPs for having decided to work on this project together, for having supported it at every step. Today we can say that we have the first law made by the majority of women in the Romanian Parliament” says Oana Bîzgan.

The signatory MPs stated that the institutionalization of children, proven harmful by multiple specialized scientific studies since the 1950s, has irreversible effects on both the behavior and the subsequent development of minors. Children raised in placement centers have significantly lower psycho-social and cognitive abilities, as well as their IQ being significantly impacted: the average for children placed in families from under the age of 6 months is 101 and only 86 for those placed between 6 months and 24 months, 83 for those integrated between 24 and 42 months and so on.

“I welcome the initiative of Mrs. Bîzgan and all my fellow signatories. It is a step forward and a chance for a harmonious development for all institutionalized children up to 7 years old. In 2014, by modifying a single article (art. 64 of law 272/2004), we succeeded, together with our colleagues in the Parliament from that time, to offer to more than 700 institutionalized children between the ages of 2 and 3 years the chance to be raised in a family environment. Going further, the short-term objective is a clear one – no children in placement centers!” says deputy Gabriela Podașcă, the initiator of the 2014 legislative change.

“It is an important moment for us, the women in the Romanian Parliament. Our message, regardless of political color, refers to the power we have together in finding solutions to social problems such as the one addressed by this initiative. There is a need for a lot more women in politics who get involved in the life of their local communities and who work at national level” says USR deputy Lavinia Cosma, an activist for children’s rights to equal and non-discriminatory education.

“A dear project, a step towards understanding the problems faced by those born without chances, those who need opportunities in a society that is less than attentive to them. We have the obligation to repair, as much as possible, the injustice to which they have been subjected, that of being alone” says PSD deputy, Daniela Oteșanu, ambassador of the rights of the child in the Parliament.

“Each extra year spent in a family is an extraordinary gain for a child and for us as a society. Children’s place is in families! ” PNL deputy, Florica Cherecheș declares, a dedicated fighter for children’s rights.

“It is an encouraging message when women parliamentarians join forces in promoting legislative initiatives, especially when they concern equal rights and opportunities for children” says PSD deputy and vice-president Roxana Mînzatu.

“I am the mother of three children and I am convinced that from the point of view of a healthy individual development it is crucial for all children to be raised in a family environment. If a child cannot be raised by their parents, we must do everything we can for them to be placed with relatives, with a surrogate family or with a maternal assistant and not in collective institutions, which cannot provide the necessary conditions for a harmonious and adequate growth from an emotional point of view. Children are the future of our society and it is our duty to take care of them” UDMR deputy, Éva Andrea Csép emphasized, an equal opportunity activist in the Chamber of Deputies.

“This legislative change is needed in the interest of abandoned children. Under current regulations, children under 3 years of age cannot be placed in the residential system, but only in maternal care or placement families. It is important to increase the age, given the great delays and blockages in the Romanian system of adoption. This period, the one in which a child lives in a family environment,  is important as it prepares them for reintegration into their biological family, or for adoption. The legislative proposal will have beneficial effects for children, but it must also be accompanied by a reassessment of the entire system of adoptions within the mandate of this legislature” says PNL senator, Iulia Scântei, promoter of equal opportunities in the Romanian Senate.

Oana Bîzgan is an MP and Young Global Leader, a member of the Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men and the Committee on Economic Policy, Reform and Privatization of the Chamber of Deputies. She has started a great number of ambitious legislative initiatives, such as the law regardingstreet harassment, the punishment of moral harassment in the workplace, civil partnership and equal access to education and health of children without IDs.