Child and Family Care in Serbia - Social Welfare -

1. Child and Family Care in Serbia- Social Welfare - Jelena Pešić The Republic Institute for Social Protection Belgrade, 2013

2. Basic facts about country • EU membership candidate • Total population – 7,120,666 • Children – 17.6% • Upper-middle income country facing considerable social cost of the economic crisis: • Unemployment rate – 26% (2012), 50% among young people • Poverty – increased from 2008 to 2010: • General population - from 6.1 to 9.2% • Children – 7.3 to 13.7% • Number of families receiving social cash benefits is constantly rising KEY FACT > 8.8% population benefit from Social Welfare System

3. Key regulations • Social Welfare Law – 2011 • Family Law – 2005 • Law on financial assistance to families with children – 2009

4. Mainstream of the reform • Licensing of professionals and service providers introduced • Service quality standardization established • Plurality of service providers guaranteed • Special-purpose funds introduced to support less developed municipalities • Transformation of residential institutions and development of alternative models of family support • Banning institutional placement for children age 0-3 • Residential capacity of individual institutions limited up to 50 users • Development of foster care • Better and wider protection of abused and neglected children • Social Welfare Law adopted in 2011.

5. Child care system • MULTISECTORAL APPROACHES CENTRAL LOCAL CASH BENEFITS: • Social allowance • Disability allowance • Child allowance • Maternity leave allowance • Parental allowance STATUTORY SERVICES: • Foster care • Residential care • One-of cash payments • Preschool allowance for children from economically vulnerable families • Community based services (Day care centers, Home care, Shelters, Supported housing, ) • Counseling-therapeutic and social-educational services

6. Social welfare/child care system • 140 Social Work Centers • Among 85 Institutions 19 residential care for children and youth: 11 residential care for children and youth, 5 residential care for children and youth with disabilities, 3 institutions for children and youth with behavioral problems • 5 Regional centers for fostering and adoption

7. Local social services • Present in 137 (out of 175) local communities > 33 different types of local social services • 15 types of services are intend to children and youth • 9 types of services for adults and seniors and • 9 types of services are equally used by all age groups of users, and those services are classified as services for family

8. Serbia • Residential care for children and youth • Residential care for children and youth with disabilities • Institutions for children and youth with behavioral problems • Regional centers for fostering and adopting

9. The main facts • Number of children and youth in residential care decreased by 48% in 2000 – 2011 period • Serbia is now among the countries with the lowest rate of institutionalization in Europe • Out of the total number of children separated from their biological families around 80% are placed in foster care

10. Children and youth in formal care

11. Basic characteristics of residential care

12. Summary

13. Professional challenges • Create and develop new and upgrade existing services for family support • Remove adults (young adults) from institutions for children and youth and ensure adequate residental care • Incerase number and territorial coverage of local social srevices for children and youth • Develop cross-sector cooperation (Social welfare with Education system and Health care) • Better knowledge on issues and needs of families at risk provided to general public • Improve competence structureand increasetotal number of professionals working with children and families

14. Thank you Republic Institute for Social Protection www.zavodsz.gov.rs Terazije 34, Belgrade +381 11 36 21 565