The groups that were forming were staying in fairly populated areas. The most famous place was, of course, the North Railway Station, but there were smaller or larger gangs all over the city, usually around a canal. They were more structured and less structured groups; there were self-helping groups, real communities, and others abusive, in which relationships of dependency and domination were created between the leader and the members of the group. In almost all of them, aurolac was consumed, and since 2010 — the so-called ethnobotanicals, legal and cheap drugs that quickly littered Romania's cities and wreaked havoc. Children died on their heads, not from overdose, but from associated diseases, especially when they did not have access to medical services. 

And the state did not assume any responsibility in relation to the fate of those children, although it had collected VAT on those products sold, and companies registered with the Trade Register paid taxes for this activity. In fact, the whole state had brought these children to the streets and left them on their own. It was not just an absent state, but one complicit in the drama of these children and young people, an aggressor state. "The child alone in the street is a failure of the system. You can't pretend you're a responsible state and have kids in the streets, right? They all passed, sooner or later, longer or shorter, through institutionalization. So, if they fled institutions, it's because they were being abused, beaten, starved, tied up, raped. And that's the direct responsibility of the state, an active responsibility."

The parade entered the world of these children as it could. There were tricks and smiles, but there were also social interventions at the mouth of the canal at night, when the rest of the world forgot about them. When they went to their "home", the social workers did not try to impose rules on them, but wanted to establish a relationship with them and find ways to help them. 

With time, the children managed to become more autonomous. Some managed to make a family, to have a job, sometimes also a house. And every step is complicated to take. For example, it's hard for them to get a job not because they don't work, but because they quickly end up in a situation of vulnerability to an employer. Many find it hard to trust that they can get their money only after working for a whole month, so they prefer black jobs, from which they can earn something at the end of each day; and these jobs are, most of the time, very precarious. 

With the house it's complicated again, because they lived without paying rent. "And even if they get to afford to pay a rent, it's very hard to convince them to do it, because they've always lived in places they've gone to, installed themselves and stayed as long as they could, in bad, poor conditions. But it's clear that the cat needs to be broken, because it's complicated to raise children in places where you don't have running water or toilet." 

What does a success mean in this world? It's hard to find a case that illustrates an ideal situation, says Jugureanu. For some, it's a success that they survived for a year. That can be a greater achievement than doing one college for another. It always depends on where you're going.

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In the 26 years since the Parade existed, Romania has gone through profound changes, and the organization has adapted to the new types of needs. In the last decade, the number of minors who end up on the street is much lower, and the canal-dwelling has been abandoned. There are no more orphanages like those of the 80s or 90s, and children usually reach the age of adolescence in social apartments, where — in theory — they acquire skills for an independent life. "But the staff that manages those apartments is not very well paid. Perhaps they do not have the proper means either, and children sometimes look at this transition to the social apartment as a new abandonment. I mean, they were in a family, and now they're being thrown with some other kids their age into a place that they didn't choose, they didn't want," and that's where the film can break for some —fewer, that's right —who drop out of school and end up in the street. In addition, today there are whole families living in abandoned houses without minimum conditions. Sometimes former street children have become parents and have a new battle to fight for their children.   

On average, the foundation has about 250-300 beneficiaries of all ages, people who access one or the other of the services over the course of a year. The parade has a day care center, the core of the social and cultural activities of the foundation, where the beneficiaries receive school, professional, social, medical or psychological support; it is also the place where cultural and artistic activities are carried out. "Some come quite often, either for the circus, or to take a shower or wash their clothes, for the soup. Others come when they need id documents, they have problems with justice, with the police, with the doctor, girls who become pregnant. Or for a disability certificate, to do their documents," says Jugureanu. 

Also very important is the Social Caravan, which involves direct contact with those on the streets, from dark until midnight. The Social Circus continues, which takes the form of lint shows, dance or theater, with which children and teenagers sometimes participate in tours. An important project of the foundation is now the construction of a day care center, for which there is an available land and an architectural plan, but for the construction of which a lot of funds are needed. 

Și relația cu instituțiile statului s-a schimbat cu timpul. Azi, acolo lucrează mulți oameni care s-au format în ONG-uri, iar asta a făcut foarte bine sistemului public de protecție socială și de protecție a copilului. Instituțiile sunt mult mai accesibile pentru colaborări, iar ușile se deschid mai ușor. Per ansamblu, însă, statul e rămas în urmă: „E un stat neoliberal violent, cu foarte puține transferuri sociale. E un stat care nu face decât să crească decalajul între cei bogați și cei săraci.” 

Sunt însă oamenii obișnuiți din societatea românească de azi mai solidari cu cei aflați în nevoie? „Din păcate, e o constatare evidentă: cu cât societatea are un grad de bunăstare de mai multă vreme și mai bine instaurat, cu atât ea va fi solidară. E foarte greu să soliciți solidaritate în societăți sărace, anomice, cu dificultăți în a-și rezolva propriile probleme.” Devii solidar când tu, familia ta și cei apropiați ție aveți un anumit grad de securitate a prezentului și a viitorului.