The number of foster carers in Montenegro does not speak for the quality of the child and social protection service, and an analysis of this type has not been done for any of the first carers who received their licenses. The authorities do not even talk about possible abuses and problems, but qualify such occurrences with "a little", "not a lot" and the like...
This, among other things, was told to "Vijesta" from the Association "Parents", in a comment on the text in which the interlocutors testify about reported violence against children who are placed in foster families.
Action for Human Rights (HRA) also said that the police were obliged, by law, to immediately forward the received criminal complaint to the state prosecutor's office, where it must be recorded in the register and a case is formed based on it.
"As the head of the ODT Podgorica said that the cases for both reports have not been established, it is necessary to urgently investigate how this is possible, that is, why the Podgorica police did not submit the reports to the prosecutor's office for so long," she told "Vijesta" yesterday. Tea Gorjanc Prelevic from that organization.
As she said, "someone must be responsible for that, especially since the interests of the children are at stake."
"Vijesti" announced on Monday that due to reported violence in foster families, two children each from that environment were moved to the Center for Children and Youth "Ljubović" in Podgorica, that is, to the Home "Mladost" in Bijela. Applications were submitted in January and April. The person against whom the report was filed at the beginning of the year, "Vijesti" announced, still has a foster care license and, according to the editorial office, in the meantime, at least one other child was in foster care.
From the Police Administration, as before, they did not respond yesterday either in connection with the reports. The Basic State Prosecutor's Office (ODT) previously said that they did not open cases regarding those events. Yesterday, they did not respond to a new question from the newsroom regarding the same cases. Yesterday, "Vijesti" sent questions to the Directorate for Inspection Affairs, that is, to the Inspection of Children and Social Protection.
From the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare, which he heads Admir Adrović, previously clarified that the procedure for reviewing the foster carer's license is within the competence of the centers for social work. The Podgorica CSW said that if they learn that any form of violence, abuse or neglect is being done to a child, they are obliged to report any suspicion to the competent institutions.
"Which will determine whether the suspicions are founded, while the Center for Social Work will take all actions to protect the rights and interests of the person. In the event that suspicions are founded and proceedings are initiated against the foster parent, the license review procedure is also initiated," they said earlier.
Gorjanc Prelevic said that it is not clear why the CSW itself has not taken an interest in the police or the prosecutor's office in the fate of its application.
"Because the competent state prosecutor is obliged to make a decision on a criminal report filed for child abuse within 30 days (such crimes are punishable by up to five years in prison, i.e. they are prosecuted according to the summary procedure, for which the aforementioned deadline applies), and lawyers CSR employees certainly know that," she said.
She also reminded that, according to the Criminal Procedure Act, "everyone has an obligation to report a criminal offense against a child".
"While only civil servants have the obligation to report all criminal acts they learn about. "Apparently, the legislator wanted to especially emphasize that everyone must be interested in the welfare of children, regardless of whose they are," she said.
Beautiful Žunjić from the Association "Parents" told "Vijesti" that the mentioned cases of violence in foster families are only confirmation of earlier allegations of that organization.
"Unfortunately, they point to what we as an association have been talking about and warning for a long time, which is that there is no quality monitoring of foster families in Montenegro and work with them. Foster care, as a form of alternative family care for children without parental care or whose development is hindered by family circumstances, is the best form of protection, because it provides family conditions for children's development, which cannot be achieved in institutions. Therefore, the existence of foster care as family accommodation is a condition for good care of children without parental care. However, I am afraid that this form of child protection works like most services in our country - no one controls the quality, and then does not even apply the protective measures provided by the law, the rulebook..." said Žunjić.
As she added, there is no continuous monitoring and quality support from the moment children are placed in a foster family until the moment the child leaves the foster family.
"For all the years since foster care has existed, there has been no qualitative analysis that shows the degree of quality of stay in foster families, but figures are shown on how many children are placed in them and how many fewer there are in institutions. However, when we need to hear figures that show abuses and problems, then the institutions tell us 'little', 'not much' or similar", she told "Vijesta".
The license that is obtained, as she said, however complex the procedures may be, must be only the first step in this process.
"Regular visits to families, monitoring them, providing continuous support, monitoring the child's development are the basic conditions to ensure the quality of foster care and conditions for the well-being of the child. From direct work with families and children, we know that support after having a child is very little and that center workers rarely visit them, unless there is some reason, such as a report or to check if they can accept more children", said Žunjić.
According to the data of the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare, last year, 323 people had a license for family accommodation-fostering, of which only a fifth are non-relatives. The basic fee for service providers is 350 euros.
The defender of human rights and freedoms spoke about the quality of this service in the past years, through annual work reports, and last year he noted that foster care has not yet been developed, "not even close to the extent that the regulations foresee and enable". The protector recommended that "the regulations and practice related to the procedure, assessment and licensing of foster carers should be analyzed, in order to move these responsibilities from the centers for social work".
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