Children and Begging

We see them on the crowded streets of Bucharest city center, around railway stations or at supermarket entrances.They are the child beggars, who unfortunately are in large numbers in Romania.

Christine Leșcu, 18.09.2013, 13:22

We see them on the crowded streets of Bucharest city center, around railway stations or at supermarket entrances Judging by their age, they are children, but in terms of life experience they by far outsmart the grown ups. They are the child beggars, who unfortunately are in large numbers in Romania. But why do these children end up begging, be it on frosty weather or on sweltering heat, dressed in rags, at an age when they should enjoy the protection of a loving and caring home? An attempt to answer the question was made by the “child Help Line” , the National Association against Human Trafficking and the Institute for Crime Research and Prevention.” Their project, which ran under the heading “Where begging starts and Childhood Ends”, was financed by the French Embassy. Its eventual aim was to identify the causes of juvenile begging and methods of preventing the phenomenon from growing. The research is not a statistical survey; it includes opinions of local authorities. However, it speaks volumes of how the phenomenon is perceived, according to Police Chief Superintendent Constantin Stroescu.

“The main cause of child begging, according to the local authorities, is poverty. It was rated as the triggering factor of begging in a proportion of eighty five point four per cent. The other causes are the negative influence of the family, or the lack of supervision, or the fact that parents force their child to go begging, as well as the lack of involvement on the part of the school and local authorities. If we think of the beneficiaries of the gains minors get from begging, the local authorities believe that the family is the main beneficiary. There are just a few cases in which children are seen as beneficiaries. Answering the question where child beggars come from, most of the respondents mentioned the fact that 75 per cent of them come from families with financial problems. Then come families with drinking problems, families plagued by domestic violence or families that neglect their children.”

It is difficult to establish the number of children who beg, as the French ambassador to Bucharest, Philippe Gustin, has said, referring to the 200 Romanian child beggars roaming the streets of Paris.

“Figures as such are not really interesting, but the phenomenon catches our attention. Only one child begging in the streets is already too much. Consequently 200 is a huge number.”

Set up with the declared aim of giving children the chance to make their voices heard, the “Child Help Line” Association listens to them, at the phone number 116.111. The very idea of the project “Where begging starts, childhood ends” was given by the children who called 116.111. Catalina Florea, the Executive Director of the “Child Help Line” Association has further details:

“There are many such cases signalled on the child phone line. That is why we have chosen to start this activity, because it is frustrating for us, at the other end of the line to only register such cases and to discover that the law does not allow us to do more than we already do, because mobile teams take those children from the street.”

Identified by Child Protection Directorates, child-beggars are taken over and brought to emergency centres. However, they do not stay there a very long period of time. Catalina Florea:

“ The very next day they are again in the street. The Social Welfare Directorates say they do not have the right to limit a child’s freedom. Children are free to leave that emergency foster centre whenever they want. Undoubtedly, there is a problem when a child is repeatedly found in the street. The problem doesn’t lie with children, as they don’t end up in the street because of their own will. That is why we should consider sanctioning parents, too. From this point of view, there are some legislative gaps. “

What should be done, in this context, to curb this phenomenon? One possible solution is to educate children in school, to make them aware of the causes of the phenomenon. They should also be taught to defend their rights, to say “no”, when they are forced by others to beg. Catalina Florea again:

“We have been thing of some educational activities, which we will carry out more intensely as of September. Teachers should also get involved in and promote these educational activities. It is also very important to establish very clear sanctions for the parents who force their children to beg, and I’m not referring only to fines, I’m thinking of harsher penalties. Parents who force their children to beg, should be sent to prison, in my opinion. As long as that family lives on the money obtained by a child begging in the street, and the family resources are obtained by using children this way, those parents deserve to go behind bars.”

According to the Romanian Interior Ministry, the new Criminal Code which will take effect as of February 2014 provides for tough sanctions for the parents or legal guardians who have a begging child in their care. Thus, the authorities hope to contain juvenile begging.