Du droit de protection a la protection des droits des enfants: acteurs et processus reformateur en Roumanie (1995-2004)

In 2004, Romania enacted a law transposing the UN Convention on the Rights of the child into national legislation. However, in the early 1990s, when the appalling situation of Romania’s institutionalized children was discovered, this improvement seemed difficult to imagine. Therefore, this study addresses the ten-year reform process and the role of those involved, with an emphasis on domestic reformers, individuals as well as institutions. This paper shows that the National Authority for the Protection of Child Right and Adoption played a key role in reforming the Romanian child protection system. Indeed, none of this would have been possible without the support of domestic reformers (civil society, institutions, etc.). But this paper also emphasises that the interdependence of domestic and foreign actors who made these vital reforms possible.