Concern over directive issued to centers for social work

Belgrade, July 25, 2019 – The Network of Organizations for Children of Serbia MODS and the Center for Youth Integration – CYI have expressed their concern over the directive that the Ministry of Labor, Employment, Social and Veteran Affairs of the Republic of Serbia issued to all centers for social work across the Republic of Serbia, which pertains to “the children that live or work on the streets“. 

According to the directive, centers for social work are obliged to organize meetings with police administrators or police stations and, per urgent procedure. remove the child from their parents’ care if it is assessed that the child ‘lives and works on the streets’.
“We recall that our country actively participated in the preparation of a document adopted by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (General Comment No. 21 on Children in a Street Situation) which provides guidance to the country to support children in a street situation, rather than taking them away from parents and initiating court proceeding.”

This directive is in conflict with the proclaimed policy of the Government of the Republic of Serbia and the Ministry of Labor, Employment, Social and Veteran Affairs, to prioritize protection of the primary family, support the family, reduce the poverty of children, and social and economic inequalities in society.

Corresponding Ministry for Social Policy has noted that in the draft of the amendments and addenda of the Law on Social Protection one of the priorities will be creating conditions for improved intensive support to a family at risk of being separated from their children. Moreover, the Draft Law on the Rights of the Child and child ombudsman prescribe special protection and rights of “the children who live and work on the streets“, and is in conflict with the aforementioned directive.

We call on the Government of the Republic of Serbia and the competent ministry to launch an affirmative action to support poor families, families living in extreme poverty, families that develop survival strategies, children living in uninhabitable homes, and children who want to live with access to showers and toilets in the 21st century.

We believe that it is in the interests of children, and even the country itself, to provide support to parents to ensure a dignified life for their children, rather than separating them from their families.

If the country wants to help children in a street situation, we believe that there are other, more effective ways that will prove more successful in the long run than drastic calls for separating children from their parents. This does not solve the child’s problem, but rather creates a number of new issues for the child and their parents. The country’s policy is that families should primarily look after their children, rather than foster families or orphanages.

We appeal to the Government of the Republic of Serbia to make an effort to enhance the disadvantageous material and financial position of the poorest families who are at risk of being separated from their children as prescribed by this directive. One of the ways to help is to amend the Law on Social Protection that pertains to social welfare. The Government can annihilate the 9 month limitation in a calendar year for taking social welfare, increase its amount for the families with children, and eliminate the option where centers for social work calculate the earnings unemployed persons failed to receive and in that way deprive them of their right to social welfare, thereby exposing them to the risk of even deeper poverty.

The original text can be found via the following link: http://zadecu.org/reagovanje-povodom-naloga-centrima-za-socijalni-rad/

Directive of the Ministry can be found at: https://www.minrzs.gov.rs/sr/aktuelnosti/vesti/nalog-za-unapredjivanje-stepena-zastite-pomoci-i-podrske-deci-ulice-ponovo-upucen-svim-centrima-za-socijalni-rad