When the family dissolves

At the beginning of October, the project “Street Pastoral” will be launched. It was created by the Regina Pacis Foundation, a Catholic organization commited to various social work programs on Moldavian territory. Three foster-family homes will be created in Moldavia and Transnistria, whose goals are to help “abandoned children”, “contribute to their growth” and “develop their own self confidence”. Ingrid Aioanei for SIR Europe and Msgr. Cesare Lodeserto, President of the Regina Pacis Foundation, presented the project. The novelty lies in the concept of group foster homes, conceived as “an open educational structure, breaking away from the traditional concept of a closet and guarded institution.” To this day Moldavia has hosted only institutionalized forms of homes for street children such as boarding schools where, aside from the dearth of basic necessities, the educational levels are extremely poor. A wider glance at the Moldavian situation. In Moldavia today there is a “grave economic situation which placet the population in an evident condition of poverty”, in which 50% of the population lacks the bare necessities for survival and 38% lives in a very precarious manner.” These facts can be found on the site of the Regina Pacis Foundation. In addition to this data, the same source states that “25% of the population is in a migratory exodus” and according to estimates, “about 10,000 Moldavians leave each month.” This situation of general anxiety “produces crises, in particular of the institution of the family” with serious consequences on the weakest members, the children. “Ever more frequently one finds abandoned children on the streets of Moldavia”.“Street” children and children “of the street”. Even if these two terms are often considered as synonyms, there is a difference between them. The Foundation explains that while a street child has no ties with a family, is completely alone and lives in an evident situation of autonomy”, a child of the street “has a family, but far away perhaps in a village. They are very poor, the child has had fights with them, and cannot stand his parents because they are alcoholics. This is the basic reason for the child’s choice of living in the street and far away from a family which for him “does not represent an environment where he enjoys living, and is not a source of values. Up to now, for these children the alternative to life in the streets has been the 63 state boarding schools where 11.000 children live, about 1,14% del of the total population of Moldavian children, according to a survey conducted by the Foundation. An alternative to the boarding schools – the group foster-family homes. The report of the Foundation documents the sad realities of the so-called “boarding schools.” 30% of these schools have holes in their roofs and has mouldy walls. Two thirds of these schools have no warm water and 10 have no water at all. In the winter, the temperature in these rooms is between 8 and 14 degrees. Children spend 17 hours a day in the dormitory. In this frightening context, the Moldavian Catholic Church is responding with the project of group foster-homes with the end goal of educating and bringing up the children with the hopes of a possible return to the family. By welcoming him, transmitting educational messages from the school as well, we aim”, says the priest of the “Regina Pacis” Foundation, “to help the child to reintegrate in his family of origin, and if this is not possible, at least to help him understand the concept of the family as a fundamental value for his life.” State and Church shake hands. The state institutions have cooperated with this initiative “and this is our great success”, states Msgr. Lodeserto – because they have finally recognized the value of the concept of group foster-family homes as a new educational project for countries of Eastern Europe.” One of these homes in the capital of Chi?in?u, where 16 young people live, has been operative in an experimental form for several years because – as Msgr. Lodeserto states – “our method is always to test and monitor a project before making it operational.” “The most difficult aspect was that of convincing the authorities of the importance of the foster-family home in the education and development of minors”, concluded the monsignor.