Hotline for abused, neglected children received 90,000 calls in its first year

Over 90,000 calls were made to the emergency hotline for abused and neglected children in Romania in the program’s first year of functioning, leading to the rescue of tens of thousands of children.

The government’s emergency ordinance no. 105 from 2021 launched the national “Care for Children” program aimed at protecting the young. A phone number (119) that is specifically meant to be called in cases regarding abused, exploited or neglected children was created as part of the program. The initiative also included the setting up of 23 rooms in several counties where specialists can interview the children about their trauma.

A website (dingrijapentrucopii.gov.ro) and training courses for roughly a thousand policemen, not to mention 70,000 hours of therapy made available free of charge to children in schools across Romania, were also part of the program. The governmental initiative aimed at providing support for the victims, but also new tools for the authorities.

“For the first time, the Romanian police possesses an advanced and complete digital forensics system for identifying pedophiles and online sexual abusers. 111 police officers have been trained in the use of the system and the analysis of digital evidence,” said program coordinator Maria Mădălina Turza, cited by G4Media. She also mentioned the usefulness of the national emergency alerts, RoAlert, in finding missing children.

The program is set to last two years and has a working budget of EUR 6 million.

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