"When you see a potentially dangerous situation for a child, don't walk past it"

"Behind their tall gate, I spot the little girl barefoot on the cold, wet cement. The girl's father was just waking up from sleep and a drunken stupor, while the mother, pregnant with her sixth child, I found in the last room of the house — with a bruise under her eye, covered up to her neck. And we encounter such situations quite often..." shares Marina from Pogănești.

We met Marina, a 34-year-old child protection specialist, in the center of the village where she works. She had just returned from one of the meetings with the multidisciplinary team in a neighboring village. Together with the police, a social worker, and the mayor, they had analyzed the case of a family where the rights of the child were being violated.

Marina lives close to the village center. In the building with a blue roof, across from the town hall, she shares a small, cool room — the so-called office — with the social worker. At lunchtime, she went home to have some tea, feed the cat, and bring with her a few quinces, which her husband, a farmer at heart, grows at the edge of their garden.

The Răchițanu couple recently celebrated one year since returning home from abroad. Paris had hosted them for nine years. There, they met, started a family, and became parents to a boy.

"I am originally from Soroca, and my husband is from here, Pogănești. I studied pedagogy in Bălți. I always knew for sure that I wanted to go to the Pedagogical College, then to university for a bachelor's and master's degree, to complete everything. I tried working for about half a year, but I couldn't keep up with the expenses. Then, a friend invited me to try my luck abroad, and so I 'tried' for nine years," says Marina, ironically commenting on how quickly the time passed.

Their return home was a new beginning. Marina's husband fulfilled his childhood dream — he built a greenhouse and started farming. Since many villages lack teaching staff, Marina was offered a job as a math teacher at the school.

"I declined because math isn't my field. My specialization is geography and biology. Winter came, and so did despair. There wasn't much to do around the house, but you need to support the family. I heard about this new position — child protection specialist — and decided to apply, without much hope," she recounts.

In April 2024, Marina was hired as a child protection specialist and attended training courses organized by the NGO "AVE Copiii Association for Child and Family Empowerment." The training program is part of UNICEF's "Protection of Children at Risk" project, implemented with financial support from the European Union through the European Commission for Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection (ECHO).

"At first, it was very hard for me. I didn't understand anything because I had no experience in this field. After the first training, I wanted to quit. But I pulled myself together, started studying the law, asking the trainers questions, and little by little, every day, it became easier. I called the ladies from STAS and AVE Copiii several times a day. They understood that I was just starting, that I was learning. Now I can say that I fully find myself in this profession and field," she clarifies.

During training sessions, specialists improve their knowledge of the legal framework and the responsibilities of child protection authorities, acquire skills in identifying and conducting initial and comprehensive assessments of cases of violence against children, managing protection interviews, and mobilizing stakeholders in the process of developing and implementing an individual assistance plan.

Marina monitors families in four neighboring villages — Pogănești, Călmățui, Cioara, and Dancu — where approximately 2,000 children live. She often walks up to 2.5 km to reach each family on her list.

"I remember the first time I took two children from a family. The little one cried so much, and the older one, trying to comfort him, kept saying that their mother would come to get them in the evening. My heart was breaking because I have a child at home too, but I knew that, even though it was hard for them at the moment, I was doing the right thing by separating them from the abusive family," she says.

"These children truly need protection. They need us to work with their parents. And we are working with such 'raw material'... We need to work with today's adults while they are still forming, in school, with one or two mandatory lessons per week, just like math and Romanian language. We shouldn't act only after tragedies have occurred, post-factum, but work to prevent these unfortunate events. Society needs to be made aware and held accountable," Marina adds.

In the village, she says, cases of child abuse multiply when alcohol provides additional reasons for conflict.

"At the moment, I am monitoring 15 active cases in four villages, all of them quite serious," says Marina. "A case of family rape — a 5-year-old child. Abandonment — a grandmother put the children outside the gate and left for abroad. There are many severe cases. But I don't know what is worse — when parents have passed away, leaving children alone, or when parents are alive, healthy, doing well, but they have abandoned their children and refuse to take responsibility," Marina shares while listing the abuse cases she manages in the four villages of the Hâncești district.

Usually, the most serious reports come from the police. Neighbors also report, but they are more hesitant when the report needs to be officially written down. Although reports remain anonymous, people are still afraid to talk about abuse to the competent authorities.

"I am not originally from the village, and people here don’t know me well. But the social workers are locals, and information reaches them faster," she adds.

"In a neighboring village, the social worker received information that a child hadn’t attended kindergarten for two months. Together, we went to the family to check the situation. Behind their tall gate, I saw a little girl barefoot on the cold, damp cement. The father was just waking up from sleep and drunkenness, and the girl’s mother, pregnant with her sixth child, we found in the last room of the house, with a bruise under her eye, covered up to her neck. And we encounter such situations quite often," Marina confesses.

In serious cases with imminent danger, children are taken from their biological family into emergency placement for 72 hours. During this time, extended family (aunts, grandparents) is sought to provide shelter and care, or they are hosted by professional foster parents (APP). If the children have no extended family and no available APP to provide them with a roof over their heads, the children are sent to the Temporary Placement Center for Children in Risk Situations "Brîndușa" in the city of Hâncești.

The initial training of Marina and other specialists is part of the national project "Protection of Children in Risk Situations," implemented by UNICEF and the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection, in partnership with the NGO "AVE Copiii Association for Child and Family Empowerment," funded by the European Union through the European Commission for Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection – ECHO. By the end of 2025, over 6,000 specialists across the country working in social, health, education, and legal protection sectors will benefit from training designed to improve the response to cases of violence against children.

In her work, Marina strives to encourage people to take action when they observe a child in a risky situation or adults violating children's rights.

"When you see a situation with potential danger for a child, stop, don’t just walk by. Ask yourself if that child is safe," concludes Marina.