Analysis of the Romanian National Data System on Child Abuse and Neglect

This article proposes to perform a mainly qualitative analysis of the national data collection system on child abuse and neglect from the perspective of the right of the child to protection, participation and development.The study performed with the initiative of ChildONEurope network identifies a few characteristics of good practice regarding the development of complex databases on child abuse and neglect. These characteristics are organized around three elements that will constitute analyzing criteria for the present study, applied to the Romanian data systems. The three elements are: objectives, criteria and resources.The main scopes of the study are: 1. Presenting the Romanian data system regarding child abuse and neglect; 2. Identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the Romanian data system based on the above mentioned criteria; 3. Identifying new directions for development of the data collection and monitoring the Romanian child protection system.In order to achieve the above mentioned scopes, a qualitative analysis has been made of the Romanian institutional-legislative framework, through document analysis, completed with an interview with the representative of the National Authority for Protection of Family and Child’s Rights. Here the study aims to identify the possible gaps and ambiguousness of the legal framework that could be one of the sources of unreliable data.The analysis of the national database has been made through document analysis, while one of county level databases has been made through implementation of a questionnaire in 47 county directorates for social assistance and child protection, completed with 3 interviews with representatives of two local institutions from Cluj County.