Romani Children and the Hungarian Child Protection System

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (hereafter “CRC”), ratified in 1991 and incorporated in Hungarian legislation two years later, along with the Child Protection Act (Act No. XXXI on the Protection of Children and the Administration of Public Guardianship) that came into force in 1997, represent a real breakthrough with respect to the perception and practice related to the roles, tasks and scope of child protection in Hungary. The switch of perspectives, consisting of bringing the child and the family to the forefront of child welfare and protection and emphasising the importance of preventive, local care and social work, was not only reflected in legislation: Ensuing practical changes also suggested that, thanks to the new regulation and structure, the Hungarian child welfare and protection system was hopefully undergoing a substantive transformation process. The number of children taken away from their families decreased,3 children’s homes, previously accommodating a great number of children, were closed or converted into smaller group homes, and therefore – due to the establishment of more intimate types of homes that better meet the developmental and psychological needs of children, and the increasing number of children placed in foster families – it became possible for institutionalised children to receive more family-type forms of care.