400 children live in foster families

In Montenegro, it is necessary to reduce the institutional placement of children without parental care and increase the number of foster families, said Minister of Labor and Social Welfare Suad Numanović, stating that currently around 400 children are placed in these families.

At the presentation of the Strategy for the Development of Foster Care in Montenegro until 2016, which was adopted by the Government in March, he said that the concept of foster care in Montenegro has existed for decades, but that it was mostly of the kinship type.

The strategy envisages the intensification of the development of foster care, because institutional placement in developed countries is considered an outdated and ultimately necessary solution.

"We are not satisfied with that number, which is around 400 children per year, who are placed in relatives or other families. We will intensify foster care, and for that we need standards, which we will package in the legislation prepared by the Government," said Numanović.

Less than family, more than grandmother and aunt>>>

He stated that the state provides foster families with compensation of 260 euros, in addition to child allowance.

"We will agree that it may not be a sufficient amount in terms of incentives, for families to decide to take that step. In the coming period, we will think about higher participation for those families," Numanović assessed.

He said that the home in Bijela offers excellent conditions and that there are currently around 140 children in it, but that number is often around 200.

UNICEF consultant Dobrila Grujić said that it is not a problem to create a document, but that the education of social workers, foster families and the public is more important.

"I don't think that the development of foster care in Montenegro has been done in the right way so far. The public does not know enough about it and there is a negative connotation. A foster carer can only be someone who has certain knowledge, in order to have good foster carers, they must also be provided with good compensation," she said.

Grujić stated that, according to the Strategy, foster parents, in addition to financial compensation, will also have a contribution for disability pension and health insurance.

She said that according to her information, there are currently only 12 unrelated foster families in Montenegro.

The head of the UNICEF mission in Montenegro, Benjamin Perks, said that placing children in any type of institution should be the last possible measure that is applied for the shortest period.

"No child under the age of three should be placed in an institution".

He reminded that more than 130 children are growing up in institutions in Montenegro, because their biological parents cannot take care of them, and that more than 20 percent of them are children under the age of three.