Latvia

Studies parallel to the studies from 2005 were conducted this year in the frame of the Childhood without Abuse Project. The aim of the studies was to assess changes in the level of public's and professionals' awareness on the topic of child abuse that took place during the time of the project implementation. Studies were conducted in all seven countries participating in the project: Bulgaria, Lithuania, Latvia, Macedonia, Moldova, Poland, and Ukraine.

Year 2009 of the implementation of Childhood without Abuse Project in Poland, Latvia, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldavia and Ukraine was devoted to the issue of abuse of children in different types of institutions. As a base for planning this year's activities and analyzing possible solutions to the problem, partner organizations prepared short documents on the situation of children in institution in their country.

Sexual abuse suffered by children in residential institutions is still largely unrecognised problem in East European countries. With an aim to plan research and prevention initiatives organisations participating in the Childhood without Abuse Project prepared situational analyses concerning this issue. The reviews focus mainly on statistical data and research observations available, legal regulations and good practices identified in each country.

One of the aims of the Childhood without Abuse Project was to strengthen child protection systems in the countries participating in the project - Bulgaria, Lithuania, Latvia, Macedonia, Moldova, Poland and Ukraine. As a step toward diagnosing the systems and changes that has been introduced so far, flow charts of child protection system in each country have been created by the organizations participating in the project.