Violinist Alexandru Tomescu becomes ambassador of HHC Romania

Romanian violinist Alexandru Tomescu was appointed ambassador of Home and Hopes for Children HHC foundation. The first commitment of the new ambassador Alexandru Tomescu is to participate in March 2013 in the Twin Art Gala, organized at the Romanian Athenaeum. There he will give a recital together with pianist Andrei Licaret.

According to the HHC foundation, in 10 years of activity in Romania’s Maramures county, it has managed to close down, together with the County Child Protection Division, a number of 12 old-style institutions, and the children are now living in a family environment.

“For 14 years now, we put locks on the iron doors of those mammoth type institutions in the child protection field in Romania and give each child a chance to have a family life. We managed in fact to shut down 37 old type institutions, 12,687 children and teenagers were taken out the institutionalized system, and 6,955 children remained with their families due to our prevention programs. And their number is increasing”,said Stefan Darabus, president of the HHC foundation said.

The Home and Hopes for Children foundation is an organization active in Central and Eastern Europe and in Africa since 1994. It is developing in 12 counties a program of replacement of the institutional system of child protection with a system based on the family concept. In Romania, the foundation’s activity was focused on closing institutions of the old type by moving children into families, or into family type houses, reform child protection by changing legislation in Romania and infrastructure services; preventing separation of children from their families; reintegration of children in their families; audit of the child protection social system; insertion of youth leaving the child protection system and providing support for an independent life, increasing of the level of professionalism of the staff working in the child protection system.

Oana Vasiliu