disabilities; • 4770 children who benefitted from residential services that are not dedicated to children with disabilities; ● children who lived with their parents deprived from freedom in the criminal justice system as of June 26, 2016: 8 children less than 12 months old; three specially dedicated sections operate in Romania, in the following units: the Women Penitentiary of Ploiesti - Targsorul no, the Detention Centre of Craiova and the Educational Centre of Buzias, providing the required conditions so that a mother deprived from freedom may take care of a child until s/he is 1 year old, upon request. ● alternatives to depriving children from freedom: • during criminal prosecution - home arrest, judicial control and bail; after conviction - educational measures that do not deprive from freedom (civic traineeship; supervision; weekend prohibitions; daily assistance). Based on the information provided by authorities, as the New Criminal Code came into force on February 1, 2014, the number of minors deprived from freedom under custody of the National Administration of Penitentiaries decreased (292 children deprived from freedom pursuant to a conviction sentence in 2014 compared to 391 children in 2013) and under custody of the preventive detention and arrest centres (325 children in preventive arrest in 2014 compared to 496 in 2013). • alternatives to the deprivation from freedom of children in institutions: based on Law no. 272/2004 on the protection and promotion of children’s rights, republished: custody, placement with the extended family, with a foster parent or another person or family; With a view to aligning national legislation to international standards on children’s rights protection, especially those regarding the institutionalisation/deinstitutionalisation of minor children, legislative changes were performed as follows: - the placement of children who are not 3 years old yet can only take place with the extended family, the substitute one or a foster parent; their placement in a residential service is forbidden; by way of exception, placement with a residential service may be decided for children who are less than 3 years old, if they have severe 30