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Childfocus at the center of a scandal in Romania

Jacqueline de Croÿ - 12 mars 2006

FICTIVE HELP FOR MISSING CHILDREN headlines the Rumanian newspaper "National Jurnalul" on February 7, 2007. None of the five Romanian NGOs referred as centers for the search for missing and sexually exploited children worked in the field. Four of them were inscribed without their knowledge and falsification of their objectives.

In 2001, with the caring support of Paola, Queen of the Belgians and Romano Prodi, President of the European Commission, Child Focus launched the Childoscope directory, gathering the NGO that assist the population in most serious of the problems that currently devastates Europe: the children victims of kidnapping and sexual exploitation.

The European Union aimed in creating this Director to give access to foreign funds. Presenting the data requested, each country could get investments in order to build centers which are able to deliver information about missing children, or to train the staff to participe in these missions, according to Mr. Prodi. The program Daphne, of its department "Justice and home affairs" subsidized the European partners of Child Focus to gather the local ONG active in this field, to specify their structure, their procedures, their collaboration with local authorities and the media.

In Romania, the mission was entrusted to Salvati Copiii (Save the Children - Romania) which in November 2001, was referred on Childoscope with four other Rumanian organizations: International Foundation for Child and Family, Help and Relief for the Young, Feed the Children - Romania, Saint Dumitru, center of care to the young people.

In Bucharest, the journalists of the Jurnalul National, knew those organizations mainly aimed at providing help and care to street children, at integrating orphans in Romanian foster homes, at providing medicine, food and clothes to those who need it, among which to the gypsy community. Heavy and essential missions that never had the means, until then, to integrate the research of missing and sexually exploited children. The newspaper decided to inquire to discover if, with the years and the help of the EEC, they had been able to extend their activities.

Feed the Children would have taken care of missing children, but only of those aged from 3 to 14 years, according to Childoscope! Carmen Preotesoiu, telephoned them, asking assistance for the search for a missing child, in the allowed age bracket: - "We do not treat cases of missing children. We never did", answered an obviously irritated secretary.

She then met Marilena Buttu, director Feed the Children, who told her with enthusiasm the achievements of her teams. She was amazed to discover that according to the EEC, her main activity would have been the search for missing children: "It is a too complex task, therefore we do not concentrate on that. We have no idea of why our name appeared on this list. We must investigate how we got on that list!"

The journalist then met read Mihail Carp, the executive director of International Foundation for Child and Family. He read dumbfounded the description of his organization and answered: - "We never treated these cases in any way! It is true that we sent Salvati Copiii data on our activities in order to collaborate with them, but we never sent data on research of missing children. Maybe it is a mistake".

The center Help and Relief for the Young, taking care of street children and Saint Dumitru, care center for the young people, had the same reaction. When well these organizations deserve help of the EEC to create a European force aiming at protecting these children from poverty and discrimination, nothing authorized to falsify their objectives, or to leave them in the ignorance of their possibility to request a budget for prevention campaigns to the centers of the communities they assist.

Carmen Preotesoiu then met Gabriela Alexandrescu, president of Salvati Copiii, who answered about her activities as regards of searching missing children: - No one ever came to ask us assistance for these cases and we only take action when we are invited to do so and we do not receive state funding for these cases.

However, Salvati Copiii’s 2005 financial rapport reveals that eight percent of its funds, mainly allocated in the search of missing children, since such would be its principal activity, are provided by the Rumanian state, according to the investigating journalists. Its other resources are subsidies from the European Union, as well as from the Canadian and Dutch embassies!

At the question of why in 2001, five organizations, including hers, were included in this directory in spite the fact that none had any common activity with the basic objectives aimed by the European Union, the President of Salvati Copiii answered: - Didn’t you ever make a mistake?

Remain to discover Child Focus’ justification for a partnership with an organization not having any common objective, besides the Daphne program subsidies, but also the EEC justification for the defect of control of the destination of the European funds aiming to the essential civil actions for the search of missing and sexually exploited children.

Editeur responsable: Fondation Princesses de Croÿ et Massimo Lancellotti - 10 Rue Faider - 1060 Bruxelles - Belgique - Droit de réponse: postmaster@droitfondamental.eu