Addressing a serious gap in quality care for children from zero to three in Romania, ISSA's national Council member in Romania has developed a unique project which aims to broaden professional and family understanding of early childhood development, ultimately raising the level of care for the youngest children.
With Romania's ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the passage of several favourable early childhood and family rights laws, the Step by Step Centre for Education and Professional Development (CEPD), ISSA Council member from Romania, has taken the opportunity to create a project addressing the country's need for quality early care for children from zero to three.
The existing conditions of care for the youngest members of Romanian society are far from ideal. Expecting mothers are provided with little information on child development. The amazing growth and potential of infants' intellects from the first days of life is neglected due to lack of knowledge. Crèches are often housed in sites inappropriate for child needs, and the country lacks competent childcare personnel to provide high quality education and care for the youngest children.
Building on the successes and lessons learned from an earlier methodological project with crèches, CEPD saw a need for a more flexible early care center which would provide for the needs of infants and toddlers and their parents. With funding from UNICEF and with the cooperation of the local authorities of Piatra Neamt and Tulcea, CEPD is in the process of creating two "multi-functional" centers, which will provide quality services for children through age 3-4, regardless of their social status, ethnicity, or income, through a comprehensive approach involving both the child and the parents.
"With this project, we hope to nurture the idea of the child as a person," says Carmen Anghelescu, CEPD Program Coordinator. "A child should be protected and respected, but we want to emphasize that an infant or toddler has other needs than just food, hygiene, and warmth. A child should be loved, should be able to explore the world around him, should have the chance to develop confidence and self-esteem."
Since the project began in 2007, CEDP has renovated two existing kindergarten facilities to make them more child-appropriate. They have also held trainings for and meetings with parents in infant and toddler development, trainings which have greatly raised parent interest in establishing high quality early care services.
CEDP is currently working with local authorities to create multi-disciplinary teams to work in each center. Each team will include a pediatrician, a midwife, a nurse, an educator, a psychologist, and a resource person. Through the project, CEDP will train these staff in a rich curriculum of child development. The trainings will cover a wide range of topics, the rights and needs of the child, brain development, psychological and motor development, attachment and separation, activities, games, organization of learning spaces, health issues, the need for investment in early education, and other topics.
CEDP hopes that the successful creation of two vibrant multi-functional centers in two separate regions will open the door to dialogue at the national level about the need and realistic options for quality early care.