European Union Launching Event of the REVENI project

Project : REVENI 1 Aug 2011 | return

July 27-28, 2011, Budapest, Hungary: The project REVENI – co-funded by the European Commission – and entitled „Transnational monitoring of return procedures for Romanian and Bulgarian children” was officially launched during a kick off meeting in Budapest. The five NGO partners – ARSIS in Greece, the Alliance for Children and Youth in Bulgaria, Hors la rue in France, Tdh Romania and Tdh’s Regional office – met in person for the first time in Budapest to discuss the operational challenges and implementation of this 18-month project.

The aim of the project as discussed between partners is to ensure that an appropriate channel of communication between authorities of countries of destination and origin are in place, in order to take informed decisions in the best interests of children. This will require that authorities in France and Greece liaise with their child protection colleagues in Romania and in Bulgaria, so that they have access to the results of the social enquiries that countries of origin’s authorities are supposed to undertake. On the latter point, partners will put their expertise at the service of Romanian and Bulgarian authorities to ensure that appropriate follow-up of the cases is in place once a child is returned, hence fostering (re)integration in the child environment of origin when that is in his/her best interests.

During this two-day meeting partners have defined the exact target of their monitoring of return procedures which will concern at-risk categories of Bulgarian and Romanian children. They could also clarify the research process that is to be undertaken based on the findings of the said monitoring processes. Therefore, while Greek and French partners will monitor the process for children from both countries, Bulgarian and Romanian partners will receive information on individual cases of children subject to return procedures, allowing them to support authorities in ensuring the required follow up of their cases.

Beyond these four countries, partners have agreed to disseminate the findings of the projects to other countries and promote bi-lateral and multidisciplinary cooperation between different Member States’ authorities during a final conference where replication will be at the core of the debates. [JA]