Theory-Driven Evaluation: Finding the ‘Invisible’ Children in Romania

This paper presents a case of theory-driven evaluation of a development programme for vulnerable children in Romania. The project targets those children who are in fact ‘invisible’ for governments and society. Finding them has been based on a community-census conducted by the social workers employed especially for the project’s activities. The paper evaluates the project effectiveness and sustainability, making explicit all the theoretical assumptions. The sustainability of human resources and that of preventive practices are shown to be highly problematic.