Yesterday I visited the Child Protection Agency and had the chance to watch a multi-disciplinary team address the needs of foster care children as well as young offenders. Here in Romania, if you're under 14 your criminal charges are not prosecuted but are dealt with through a visit to the Child Protection Commission. It's made up of representatives from social servicecs, public health, the schools, etc. etc. For the delinquents, the head of the commission seems to serve the same purpose as a juvenile judge, admonishing the children for their behavior and placing them on strict supervision by police and social workers for six months. In fact, I heard exactly the same language coming from him (well, through a translator) as I use sometimes: "Why are you shaming your family this way? Don't you know that people in your town are talking about your mother as the parent of that boy who steals? " "You know, if you were 14 when this happened, you'd be in jail right now." The Commission also handles licensing of foster homes, and I heard numerous cases in which children were being released from institutions to programs designed to ease them into adulthood. Pretty interesting day.