By Jelena Perovic PODGORICA, 19 September 2013 - “In front of the Centre for Social Welfare, which is in my neighbourhood, I used to see sad children and I could not ignore their pain. However, the culmination was the moment when I saw one day a TV show on children without parental care. The journalist asked the children what they wanted for Santa Clause to give them. One child responded “Mom and Dad”. I was deeply moved by this child’s desire. With tears in my eyes I continued watching these children eating a cake with a sad look and no joy in their eyes. I immediately decided to foster a child.”With these words by the foster parent Nada Stojkanović the campaign “Every child needs a family” was launched today. It is implemented by the Government of Montenegro with support from UNICEF and EU. The aim is to increase the number of foster parents, decrease the number of children in institutions and raise awareness about the basic human need and fundamental right of every child to grow up in a loving family environment. According to a recent UNICEF’s knowledge, attitudes and practices survey, 58 per cent of Montenegro’s citizens think that placement in institutions is a good solution for children without parental care. However, as emphasized by the UNICEF Representative to Montenegro Benjamin Perks, “more than 50 years of research show that children placed in institutions in early childhood are at risk of psychological, emotional and physical developmental delays – this can only be recuperated by the care of a loving family environment.”According to UNICEF data from 2010, 59 per cent of all children under three placed in Children’s home “Mladost” in Bijela came there directly after birth. Scientific research suggests that children under 3 should never be placed in institutions. For this reason, the child welfare reform currently underway in Montenegro aims at ensuring provision of support to parents starting from the primary health care centres and maternity wards in order to prevent child abandonment. “We believe that through these activities and a more adequate support to the family that can be provided by experts in the centres for social welfare, health care centres and maternity wards, as well as in schools, we will diminish the need for placing children in institutions”, Montenegro’s Prime Minister Milo Đukanović said at the campaign launching. According to the head of the EU Delegation to Montenegro Mitja Drobnič, the ongoing child welfare reform, supported by the EU, leads Montenegro towards fully achieving the international standards in child protection and thus, providing every child with a family. “It is necessary to overcome the fallacies about fostering, as well as to raise public awareness about the importance of fostering families. It is necessary to continue developing a system of support to children without parental care and to accelerate the process of de-institutionalization”, Drobnič emphasized. The campaign launching organized in the capital, Podgorica, ended with an appeal to Montenegro’s citizens. Deepika Narayan Bhardwaj, Chitra Kamath, Do you think such plans if implemented properly in India will reduce RAPES?
Posted on: Sat, 05 Oct 2013 06:01:22 +0000
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