Moldova

Supporting Children and Families from Emergency Response to Long-Term Resilience

Early Starters International has been working in Moldova since March 2022, when the country became one of the primary destinations for families fleeing the war in neighboring Ukraine. What began as an emergency response to the immediate needs of refugee children and their families has gradually developed into a broader commitment to strengthening children, families, caregivers, and the professionals who support them.

Between March 2022 and September 2025, Early Starters International operated eight Safe Spaces for children across Moldova, responding to the changing needs of Ukrainian refugee families in different parts of the country.

Our Safe Spaces provided children with stable, nurturing environments where they could play, learn, build relationships, and regain a sense of routine and safety. While emotional well-being and the effects of displacement were central to our response, education quickly became another important area of our work.

Many refugee children experienced prolonged interruptions to schooling after arriving in Moldova. This challenge was particularly significant among Ukrainian Roma families, including children who had had little or no previous access to formal education. Our teams worked with children and parents to strengthen basic learning and literacy, encourage participation in education, and help families see education as an important part of rebuilding stability and opportunity for their children.

Throughout the response, our approach remained centered on the whole child: creating safety, supporting emotional and social development, maintaining opportunities for learning, and working alongside parents as the most important source of continuity in children's lives.

Green Gate: A Safe Space That Became a Community

One of our longest-running programs in Moldova is our work at Green Gate, a youth center in Chisinau. What began as part of the emergency response to the Ukrainian refugee crisis developed into a stable daycare program for Ukrainian children and families.

For more than four years, with the support of Early Starters International, Green Gate has provided children with a consistent place to learn, play, socialize, and feel that they belong. The program combines early childhood care, educational activities, social-emotional support, and opportunities for children to maintain meaningful relationships with peers and trusted adults.

Its evolution from an emergency Safe Space into a long-term daycare reflects a central principle of our work in Moldova: children affected by crisis need more than temporary protection. They need continuity, relationships, opportunities to learn, and communities that remain present as their needs change.

Resilient Parenting Program

In 2025, Early Starters International expanded its work in Moldova beyond the refugee response and launched the Resilient Parenting Program, focusing particularly on vulnerable families in rural communities. Three projects have since been implemented in collaboration with local social-service structures.

The program addresses an important but often underserved area of family well-being: the quality of communication and emotional connection between parents and children.

Families living with poverty, social isolation, violence, separation, displacement, or other forms of adversity are frequently expected to cope with extraordinary levels of stress with very limited support. Our approach begins by recognizing these realities rather than judging them.

Through structured parent-child programming, we help caregivers develop practical tools for communication, emotional regulation, connection, and positive parenting. Parents learn to better recognize the needs behind children's behavior, respond with greater empathy and consistency, manage difficult moments, and strengthen their children's capacity to adapt to stress and change.

The program works with vulnerable families, including foster and adoptive families, families affected by domestic violence, children whose parents are working abroad, and families receiving support through Moldova's social protection system.

We cannot remove every difficulty a family will encounter. Our goal is to strengthen the relationships and skills that help parents and children face those difficulties together.

Strengthening the Professionals Who Support Families

Alongside our direct work with parents and children, Early Starters International is investing in the professionals and community structures that families rely on.

Currently focused in northern Moldova, our professional development program brings together social workers, community social assistants, educators, and staff from services supporting children, young people, and children with disabilities.

Training combines practical approaches to working with children and families with a strong focus on the well-being of professionals themselves. Participants explore resilience, trauma and toxic stress, effective communication with children and caregivers, and strategies for preventing and responding to professional burnout, particularly in professions that require sustained emotional and empathic engagement.

By working both directly with families and with the professionals who accompany them, Early Starters International aims to strengthen the environments surrounding children rather than addressing individual challenges in isolation.

Our work in Moldova has evolved from emergency Safe Spaces for children fleeing war into a longer-term investment in resilient families, stronger parent-child relationships, and better-equipped professionals. Across each stage, the principle remains the same: children are better able to grow, adapt, and thrive when the adults and communities around them have the knowledge, support, and tools to help them do so.