Tribune in Herceg Novi: Parents are the most important for a child's development

255 children are placed in 371 foster families in Montenegro, it was heard at today's (Monday) forum Every child needs a family, which was organized by the Committee for Human Rights and Freedoms of the Parliament of Montenegro and the UNICEF Representative Office in our country. Last year alone, 38 children were placed in 62 foster families, of which 47 were placed in 29 related families, and fifteen children were placed in nine non-related families. The Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare indicates that this increase is partly the result of the "Every Child Needs a Family" campaign.

The Asović family from Nikšić is one of the foster families, and Mira Asović shared her experience with the people of Novlja at the forum.

When Hana Asović, then three years old, returned home from kindergarten one October day the year before last with the question of why she didn't have brothers or sisters like the rest of her friends, her parents had no idea that from that moment their lives would take a completely different course. In the media, they heard about the foster care campaign "Every Child Needs a Family", which takes place with the support of UNICEF, and they started, as foster parents, to take care of one baby, in order to quickly adopt her and become parents of another girl.

The president of the municipality Nikša Gojković reminded that Herceg Novi is particularly sensitive when it comes to children without parental care and reminded that in that municipality there is a Children's Home Mladost in Bijela.

"Our municipality started promoting foster care a long time ago, more precisely ten years ago, when the new Law on Child and Social Protection in Montenegro was prepared with the aim of providing a legal basis for the development of kinship and professional foster care, adoption and other services, which would created conditions for every child to grow up in a safe and family environment, an environment to which he belongs full of love and care for his proper upbringing. Because really every child should have his own family where he will realize his first identities and develop in a completely natural environment", said Gojković.

Research conducted in EU countries showed that institutional care costs THREE times more than foster care. On the other hand, it is much more important for the proper development, especially of children up to the age of three, to be cared for in the family and not in an institution, pointed out Dr. Halil Durković, President of the Parliamentary Committee for Human Rights and Freedoms. This committee focused its work in 2014 on children's rights.

"The ultimate goal is the promotion of foster care and the gradual abolition of the placement of children without parental care in institutions"

The head of the UNICEF representative office for Montenegro, Benjamin Perks, reminded the international standards of children's rights and protection that every child has the right to live, grow and develop in a family environment. Along with strengthening foster care as the best model of care for children without parental care, Perks pointed out that Montenegro could be the first country in the region that will not have children under the age of 3 in institutions.

According to the latest research, four out of five citizens in Montenegro believe that it is better for a child without parental care to be placed in a foster family instead of in an institution.