Sonja Radović, foster mother from Bijelo Polje: She loves Bratanić as her own child

Sonja Radović from the village of Jagoče, about 30 kilometers from Bijelo Polje, has recently been the guardian of her late brother's child.

She has been engaged in this humane profession for three years, and she has been using the right to foster care since June of this year.

She found out about the possibility of exercising her right to guardianship through the media, after which she turned to the Center for Social Work in Bjelopol.

"I am very happy that there is such an opportunity to help. I used to work in agriculture and my nephew was not lacking in anything, he had everything that the other children had. However, it is much easier for us now".

Radović has no children and says that she loves her nephew as her own child.

"Not everyone can be a biological parent, but in this way, either through relative or non-relative guardianship, a person can get a second chance at parenthood. Children who were neglected through no fault of their own, often grow up in collective housing, without the warmth and love of a family environment. Again, that love that you give is something that returns in such handfuls that a person is filled for the rest of his life with the knowledge that he is doing the right thing in life".

He points out that nothing warms the home like a child's soul and that he has more reason to live and create.

"I live for him, that's all for me. He goes to school and when he comes back the sun warms me, how much I love him".

She emphasizes that she is proud and happy that she can take care of the child and that she will follow his every step in growing up.

She emphasized the exceptional cooperation with the Center for Social Work in Bijelo Polje.

He considers the compensation he receives for her and the child to be sufficient.

Director of the Center for Social Work, Admir Mustajbašić, said that the provider of the family accommodation-foster care service has the right to professional support and compensation.

"The amount of compensation for family accommodation, i.e. compensation for the guardian with whom the ward is placed, is determined in relation to the price of suitable home accommodation. From the Report on the work of the Center for Social Work for the municipalities of Bijelo Polje, Mojkovac and Kolašin for the year 2015, EUR 131.267,95 was paid on this basis.

Foster relatives of 13 children, one is not cared for by the family

Mustajbašić says that in Bijelo Polje there are currently 13 children in relative foster care and one in non-relative foster care.

"The service of family accommodation-fostering and family accommodation is provided by a natural person who has been assessed as suitable by our center, who has successfully completed training and received a license to provide this service, all in accordance with the Law on Social and Child Protection and the law governing them family relations".