Oana Dan
Thousands of Romanian minors in Italy are caught in a web of bureaucracy and cannot be repatriated to the country, while an accord in this respect hasn't been signed with Italy yet, according to the state secretary of the National Agency for Child Protection, Bogdan Panait.
Panait said Italy is a country where there are about 1,500 minors living by themselves who have moved there with their parents that got jobs.
Panait said that from the figures they have, most of these kids are living by themselves, which is against the child protection regulations in Romania, but also in the countries where the number of Romanian migrants has been large.
He complained that since 2004 the agency he works for has been trying to repatriate some of the children and even if the Italian authorities said they would cooperate, no accord has been signed yet. Panait explained that they are continuously negotiating with the Italian side, adding that he cannot really say why it takes so long to agree in this respect. He also added that he does not have any information regarding the recent rumors that many of these children had been actually adopted by Italian families, since the Romanian government has put a ban on international adoptions following European pressures.
"I have heard of a couple of such cases in Italy last year," Panait said, pointing out that those referred to infants.
The state secretary stressed that other countries, such as Spain and France, have signed accords to repatriate Romanian children and have also agreed to pay the costs of the repatriation.
Panait added that his hunch is that Italian authorities are not really comfortable with the idea to pay the repatriation costs, but said he was unsure whether this is the real motive that is delaying the accord.
According to the Italian Embassy in Bucharest, Italian authorities doubt that the minors would get the proper protection and care provided in Romania. Panait argued that the Romanian authorities are more than ready to take care of these children and 12 special centers have been created for this purpose.
Copyright © 2004-2006 Bucharest Daily News
An aristocratic title is not enough to ensure a noble behaviour. A person's greatness comes from acknowledging the mistakes and agreeing to correct them.
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*** sustineti [romania_eu_list] prin 2% din impozitul pe 2005 - detalii la http://www.doilasuta.ro ***
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