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The Ministry of Welfare has set a goal for Children and Family Right Policy to ensure an opportunity for every child to grow up in a family. If the latter is not possible, the child must be provided with out-of-family care at a guardian at first, then in a substitute family with foster parents or to be adopted and only then at the childcare institution as the third option. Such national policy complies with the principles enshrined in international law and international practice.
This goal cannot be achieved without the support and development of alternative forms of care and the lacking active public support for policy implementation. Therefore, the State Audit Office appreciates the activities initiated by the Ministry of Welfare to increase the number of foster families and to support other host families, which have contributed to the fact that more and more children have received out-of-family care by their guardian or foster family rather than in childcare institution in recent years.
The auditors believe that we will consider the stated policy outcomes achieved only when the best interests of every child left without parental care are respected.
However, the findings of the audit show that the actions of the responsible institutions, that is, Orphan’s courts and social services, as well as the State Inspectorate for Protection of Children’s Rights (hereinafter referred to as SIPCR), and the Ministry of Welfare have not always been in the manner to meet the best interests of the children left without parental care and to prioritise them.
The audit has identified significant shortcomings in the preventive work of local and regional governments with families with children, in the decision-making process of Orphans’ Courts, in the supervision of the out-of-family care process, as well as in the cooperation of the involved institutions, etc. Based on the audit findings, there are 22 recommendations for the improvement of the out-of-family care provided to the Ministry of Welfare as the leading public administration institution in children’s and family rights.