Transcript Foster families in Republic Macedonia Elka Todorova Ministry of Labor and Social Policy.

Foster families in Republic Macedonia
Elka Todorova
Ministry of Labor and Social Policy
I.The right to being accommodated in a foster family
in Republic of Macedonia is regulated by:
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The social security law (1997)
The Book of Regulations for criteria regarding the
election of a foster family, the type and number of
beneficiaries who can be accommodated in a foster
family, the type and scope of services provided to
the accommodated person and the amount of
accommodation and foster benefit. (2006)
II. The social security law anticipates foster for
the following categories:
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Children without parents and parental care until
ready to lead an independent life and work;
maximum until finishing secondary education;
Children with socio-educational problems (
neglected, abused and children who are not
socially provided for)
Children with behavioral problems
People with special needs
The old population
III.Foster family selection criteria:
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Age of people providing shelter ( from 18 to 65
years)
Education ( minimum primary education)
Health condition of people providing shelter
Moral reputation
Financial situation
Housing conditions
- The family offering shelter must have successfully
completed a training course for providing shelter
conducted by an expert team of the Social Care
Centre
- The goal of these training courses is to prepare
and introduce the people providing shelter with the
tasks and obligations arising from their future
status as shelter providers
IV. Foster benefit
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The foster family receives a monthly pay for
covering the expenses for accommodation and a
pay for providing shelter and care to the
accommodated person
In reference to the accommodation expenses
there is no significant difference between the
different categories of children accommodated in
a foster family
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There is a difference in the monthly pay
for care paid to the foster families
depending on the category of children
entitled to shelter. The pay for providing
care for children without parents and
parental care at pre-school age is the
lowest (10% of the average monthly
salary in Republic of Macedonia) whereas
it is the highest for special needs children:
14.5% for those with medium and serious
intellectual impairment, 16% for those
with significant intellectual impairment
and permanent bodily disability
V.Current situation of foster families in R. Macedonia
1.This type of child care in Republic of Macedonia is present
since 1960 when the first foster families were recorded in
the Social Care Centers. However, in the following period of
10 years there was a significant stagnation in the
development of this type of shelter because the stress was
placed on the institutional shelter of children
2.In recent years, especially since 2000, with the
commencement of the deinstitutionalization process in
Republic of Macedonia this type of child shelter has been
implemented more frequently and the same has been
developing
3.In the Republic of Macedonia there are currently 104 foster
families with 169 sheltered children. Most of the shelter
families are in Skopje: 45, Prilep: 25, Makedonski Brod: 15
and Kocani 13. However, this type of child shelter is not
developed in all cities of Republic of Macedonia
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VI. Competent Institutions
In Republic of Macedonia the Social Care Centers
are competent for the accommodation of children
in foster families and the identification and
monitoring of foster families. The experts in the
Social Care Centers evaluate whether a certain
family meets the conditions of being regarded as
a foster family and they make decisions about
which child shall be accommodated in which
foster family. After the child has been
accommodated in the foster family it is necessary
that the experts from the Social Care Centre
follow the development of the child and assist the
family in providing shelter
VII.Problems
1. From the practice so far, it is obvious that there
is a lack of sufficient and regular monitoring of
the foster families by the Social Service Centers
due to various reasons; first of all due to the
non-existence of standards for monitoring the
foster families.
2. In order to provide the best possible care for
children in accordance with the principle “what
is the best for the child”, the Social Care Centers
have recorded cases where the foster family is a
close relative family which has been given the
status of a foster family simply due to the
financial support for providing shelter for the
child. This is due to the fact that the children
without parents and parental care are placed
under custody of close relatives but, the custody
of a child is a free of charge function according
to the statutory provisions of Republic of
3. In Republic of Macedonia the accommodation in
a foster family is very rarely used as a form of
protecting children with socio-educational and
behavioral problems since it requires special
training of foster families due to the fact that
they shall manage a special category of children
usually with serious problems (drugs and
alcohol addiction, anti-social behavior,
aggression, mental impairment). However,
there is no specialized sheltering (with parents
–shelter providers as experienced experts)
4. Since the current laws do not regulate the
conditions related to the health status of
children, in practice there are cases when
children with special needs and healthy children
are placed in one family
VIII.What shall be done in future?
1. Prepare standards for monitoring of shelter
families
A special program shall be prepared for every
accommodated child anticipating the child
protection measures to be taken and their
accomplishment. In the program, the expert
team shall define the monitoring dynamics for
each case with regular visits of the child in the
shelter family. The Centre is responsible to
contact the school in order to follow the course of
the educational process, the general practitioner
regarding the health condition of the child and to
take other necessary measures in order to follow
the development and education of the child
2. In Republic of Macedonia the accommodation in
a foster family is very rarely used as a form of
protecting children with socio-educational and
behavioral problems since it requires special
training of foster families due to the fact that
they shall manage a special category of children
usually with serious problems (drugs and
alcohol addiction, anti-social behavior,
aggression, mental impairment). However,
there is no specialized sheltering (with parents
–shelter providers as experienced experts)
3. Since the current laws do not regulate the
conditions related to the health status of
children, in practice there are cases when
children with special needs and healthy children
are placed in one family
4. Take measures for increasing the level of
citizen’s informing, their awareness and
education about this form of child shelter so as
to increase the motivation for providing shelter
for children and more quality shelter families
5. It is necessary to anticipate sheltering of
children by relatives or receiving a benefit for
custody by close relatives in order to avoid the
existence of shelter families of relatives as
shelter families
6. Develop cooperation and inclusion of all entities
on local level for assistance and support for
shelter families