Prevention of Child Abandonment Analysis of a Development Project in Braşov, Romania

The aim of this work is to analyze the determinants of child abandonment in the city of Braşov, Romania. In order to perform this research I collected on the field a new series of data on mothers and pregnant women at risk of abandoning their child. The phenomena appeared complex and involving a various series of aspects. Poverty is a significant factor and receiving economic subsidies have a positive effect on the prevention of child abandonment. Nevertheless it is not exhaustive: family breakdown and single parenthood has a strong negative impact on the probability of preventing abandonment. Gender and sickness of the newborn influence the separation decision in terms of preference for males and healthy child. Furthermore, antecedents of institutionalization matters. In fact, having a sibling that has been abandoned influence negatively the probability of child abandonment prevention for the newborn.