{"id":623879,"date":"2024-01-03T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-01-03T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/devrri.freshlemon.ro\/news-and-current-affairs\/newsflash\/romania-of-the-barefoot-children-id623879.html"},"modified":"2024-01-03T14:00:00","modified_gmt":"2024-01-03T12:00:00","slug":"romania-of-the-barefoot-children","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/features-and-reports\/society-today\/romania-of-the-barefoot-children-id623879.html","title":{"rendered":"Romania of the barefoot children"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

Recent data provided by
\nEurostat for 2023 have revealed that of the entire European Union, Romania is
\nthe country were the poverty or social exclusion rate for children saw a 0.4% growth,
\nover 2020 and 2021. Actually, the aforementioned rate stands at 41.4%. Romania
\nis followed by Spain, a country that has a 33.4% poverty or social exclusion
\nrate. Finland and Denmark stand at the upper end of the scale, with a poverty or
\nsocial exclusion rate of 13% and a 14%, respectively, among their children.<\/p>\n


\n <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

If
\nwe have a closer look at Romania, the rural regions fare a great deal worse
\nthan the urban areas. In 2021, in the major cities we had a poverty or social exclusion
\nrate of 16.1%. Poverty or social exclusion rate in the smaller cities and the
\nsuburbs stood at 30.7%, while the aforementioned rate in the rural region
\naccounted for 50.1%. The economic crisis of the last two years took its
\ntoll on the little ones, so much so that their families were unable to buy their
\nchildren clothing or footwear, since the household incomes plummeted. <\/p>\n


\n <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Of
\nthe entire Europe, our children have been hardest-hit by the daily inflation
\nrate. Against this backdrop, the non-governmental organizations play a critical
\nrole. To that end, we sat down and spoke to Gabriela Alexandrescu, the
\nexecutive president of Save the Children, the organization that for almost 30 years
\nnot has been totally working for our most underprivileged children. We asked
\nher what the weakest point was, of our underprivileged children. <\/p>\n


\n <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

First of all, we need to say that, unfortunately, Romanian children are
\nexposed to poverty and social exclusion risks. Of all European Union countries,
\nwe have a 2 to 5 ratio of children in such a condition (that is 41.5%) as
\ncompared to the EU level, where 1 in 4 children experiences the poverty limit (almost
\n25%). The survey we have carried among the vulnerable families we have been working
\nwith has revealed that this cost-of-living crisis hit them the hardest. The
\nover whelming majority (that is almost 95% of the families) face problems in
\ntheir attempt to cover their basic needs, such a medical treatment, food,
\nclothes for children. To be more specific, I should say that, in the course of last
\nyear, 71% of the vulnerable families gave up on their clothes and footwear
\nexpenses, while 24 % of them have cut down on their food expenses, which is extremely
\nserious because, unfortunately, the poverty we have been speaking about, the
\npoverty affecting children also leads up to their inability to continue to be
\nregistered in the educational system. A child living below the poverty threshold
\nis a malnourished child, with a frail health and standing meagre chances to
\novercome the vulnerabilities of his environment. Poverty kills education. This
\nis the very label of a campaign Save the Children has been carrying, Poverty
\nKills Education. And it is our responsibility to mitigate the effect poverty
\nhas on children, as much as we can. <\/p>\n


\n <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

There is yet another
\nweak point we need to take into account, that of the children whose parents
\nwork abroad. Whether we speak about both parents or about only one, or the
\nsingle parent who, being desperate, leave their children in the care of the grandparents
\nand go to work abroad, the situation does not look good at all. Save the Children <\/a>has
\nbeen working with tens of thousands of children in this condition. We’re speaking
\nabout a quiet social catastrophe, with long-term repercussions. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Save
\nthe Children’s Gabriela Alexandrescu:<\/p>\n


\n <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

As we all know, over 5 million Romanians went to work
\nabroad, longer term or for a limited period of time. I must say that over
\nhalf a million children had, in the last year, at least one parent who went to
\nwork abroad, and almost a million children in Romania are, or were, affected by
\nthe departure of one or both parents. It is quite a serious situation for the
\nchildren left at home, because for them, the departure of a parent is felt as
\ntrauma, most of the time, the biggest one so far. Based on the background of
\nemotional vulnerability incurred, they are more prone to the risk of dropping
\nout of school and the emergence of emotional and behavioral disorders. We see
\nthis in our daily work from 2009 until now, and it is important to address all
\nthese aspects, because the psychological balance of the child is significantly
\naffected. We see many children with anxiety, depression, feelings of
\nloneliness, abandonment, which are reflected in sleep disorders, eating
\ndisorders, excessive weight gain, significant behavioral imbalances. It is
\nimportant to be careful, to work with these children in particular. I am
\nreferring especially to those children who have both parents gone, or the
\nsingle parent gone, because there is also a significantly higher risk of
\nfalling behind in school, of being involved in school violence, truancy,
\ndropping out of school. It is, as I said, a trauma that children express and
\nfeel in different ways, and we must be there, next to them, and support them
\nmaterially, educationally, but especially emotionally, to get through a
\ndifficult period from their lives.<\/p>\n


\n <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Moreover, Save the Children
\nhas intensified programs for the recovery of children from vulnerable
\nenvironments.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Gabriela Alexandrescu:<\/p>\n


\n <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

In the
\nyear 2023, it was important for Save the Children to intensify the
\nschool dropout prevention, school reintegration and socio-pedagogical support
\nprograms for children who are victims of poverty. We have worked with more than
\n42,000 children, we have provided direct services for 12,000 children
\n(kindergarten and summer school programs, school after school, second chance)
\nand educational and social support to continue their studies. We have worked
\nwith another 10,000 children, who benefited from improved educational services
\nas a result of teacher training, we intensified training programs for
\nspecialists (almost 250 teachers were co-opted in such programs). We also
\nensured decent, much better learning conditions in 40 units schools through
\nrenovations, equipment, provision of supplies, books for school libraries, as a
\nresult of which almost 20,000 children have benefited from this. And
\npreviously, ‘Save the Children’ had an extremely extensive involvement in
\nensuring the prevention of school dropout and the improvement of school results
\nfor many children. Before 2023, we worked with almost 150,000 children to help
\nthem go to school, to provide them with additional education, material support,
\nsupport for their families, to improve their home conditions, to provide
\nchildren with an environment conducive to learning. We invested a lot in the
\neducational recovery of children who did not go to school, or dropped out of
\nschool, and then helped them start the educational process again. We had a lot
\nof school after school groups, in over 20 counties and Bucharest. We are very
\nmuch involved in this direction, because it is clear that, without education,
\nthe present and the future of a child are uncertain.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An uncompromising look at the poverty rate in Romania, in 2023<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":137,"featured_media":123226,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42997],"tags":[90997,40371,29952,116809,35403,34791],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-623879","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-society-today","tag-exclusion","tag-learning","tag-poverty","tag-programs","tag-rate","tag-social"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nRomania of the barefoot children - Radio Romania International<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/features-and-reports\/society-today\/romania-of-the-barefoot-children-id623879.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Romania of the barefoot children - 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