Evaluation of Institutions for Children with Disabilities in Romania

In the last years Romania has been criticized about the situation of children with disabilities living in institutions. In this context, in 2006 a national evaluation, conducted by independent experts, of all 666 institutions where children with disabilities receive specialized services has been carried out. In the evaluation have been included child protection/welfare institutions, health institutions and educational ones. Results show that ¾ of institutions are child protection ones, 15.6% health units and 9% educational /boarding schools ones. The great majority of institutions display good and very good facilities, being recently renovated, but there are also exceptions for 3 to 15% of all institutions. The highest number of children is 3 to 9 years, the number of those under 2 being very small. Slightly over 50% of institutions have social workers and psychologists, the figures being very small for physiotherapists. In order to improve the living conditions and the quality of services provided for the children with disabilities there are specific recommendations.


Keywords: children with disabilities, child protection/welfare institutions, health institutions