#8 Children Shelter

#8 Children Shelter

Today we went to a children shelter which housed children that were from the streets or in the process of being placed within the system.  The shelter could hold a max of 12-14 children there ages include 3-18 years old.  Some of these children have never attended school before so they try to add some education into their life there.  These children are helped to be enrolled in school and can only live there for a limited time.  Most of these children are eventually placed with extended family or in a group home.  The decision of whether a child is placed in the shelter is determined by the child protection agency.  Children are usually placed there because of delinquency, poverty, begging and starvation.  This is unlike the U.S. when most children are placed because of abuse.  The services they provide include care, housing, education, counseling and support towards independence.  As of now they have a total of 10 caregivers, 1 social worker and 3 educators.  

As for the atmosphere of the shelter it was very bright and cheery.  We were not allowed to take any pictures.  Unfortunately, we were only allowed to say hi to the children.  The house was not very big but it was clean.  There was a boys and girls room with about 5 beds in each.  The house was a lot nicer and more homey than I had expected.  I realized that I did not know much about the Romania child welfare system after Communism.