“Every child needs a family” campaign: 25 requests for non-kin foster care submitted, six children placed with non-kin families
“Every child needs a family” campaign: 25 requests for non-kin foster care submitted, six children placed with non-kin families
“Every child needs a family” campaign: 25 requests for non-kin foster care submitted, six children placed with non-kin families
Published date 31.03.2014 15:59 | Author PR Bureau
Ispis Print
Podgorica, Montenegro (31 March 2014) – Montenegro’s Prime Minister Milo ?ukanovi?, UNICEF Representative Benjamin Perks and EU Delegation’s Chief of Operations Andre Lys presented the results of the “Every child needs a family” campaign in Podgorica earlier today.
The campaign is part of the project “Reform of social and child protection system: Promotion of social inclusion”, aimed at afforming every child’s rights to live in a loving family environment. The project is being implemented by the Government of Montenegro, in cooperation with the UNICEF, the UNDP and the EU.
Prime Minister ?ukanovi? pledged the Government of Montenegro’s commitment to achieving the goal of moving children out of institutions and abandoning the practice of placing children under the age of three without parental care into institutions.
The results achieved over the past six months are encouraging, the Prime Minister emphasised.
“Since the beginning of the campaign, in September 2013, 25 requests for non-kinship foster care were submitted, and nine of them were positively resolved. Six children have already been placed with non-kinship families. By comparison, before the beginning of the campaign, 9 children in total were placed with non-kinship families,” he explained.
Furthermore, as a survey conducted in February 2014 demonstrates, there has been an increasing awareness of the citizens of Montenegro regarding the non-kin care of children, PM ?ukanovi? said.
“People increasingly believe that the placement of those children into institutions is not the best way to protect them, and that foster families can help a child develop properly, which corresponds to the Montenegrin Government’s efforts, determination and policy,” the Prime Minister of Montenegro concludes.
The UNICEF Representative in Montenegro Benjamin Perks commended the results of the joint campaign in promoting the child’s rights to live and grow in a family environment.
“It is deeply traumatic and heartbreaking for a child to be abandoned or removed from his or her parents in the first days of childhood. There is no a global consensus from child psychology, paediatrics and neuroscientists about the importance of adult care in the early childhood as a nonnegotiable and basic requirement for normal childhood development,” Mr Perks stressed.
The campaign is made towards informing population about foster care and having open dialogue in raising awareness of its significance for a child, family, but also for the wider community, he added.
“We are very happy to say that four of five Montenegrin citizens now realise that foster care is the best solution for a child who is placed in public care, who cannot be with his or her biological family”, Mr Perks pointed out.
The UNICEF Representative in Montenegro commended the contribution of the Government, as well as other Montenegro’s institutions in conducting the campaign.
“We have acknowledged the amazing local leadership and support of centres for social work, as well as massive contribution of different organisations, including the Montenegrin Post Office, religious leaders, Montenegrin television stations, newspapers and other forms of media, and particularly the EU in Podgorica, which has made a tremendous commitment to child welfare reform with the heart of the EU accession agenda”, Mr Perks highlighted.
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