On March 20, the Working Group on Social Protection held an info session “Protection of Children’s Rights in Municipalities”. Valerii Mikulich, Head of the Group and Adviser at the Regional Office of U-LEAD with Europe in the Zhytomyr Oblast, spoke about it as follows:
“Due to significant turnover in municipalities, we receive a lot of queries about the protection of children’s rights in wartime from newly appointed social service workers and other institutions working with children.
At the info session, U-LEAD experts addressed the most pressing questions and the issues that require urgent clarification.”
Experts Nataliia Kuziak and Iryna Zmysna worked with representatives of municipalities. They presented the introduction of an integrated approach:
“An integrated approach to the provision of services in the municipality, which encompasses social protection, education, health care, juvenile delinquency prevention and other types of services, facilitates the observance of children’s rights and the well-being of the municipality,” said Iryna Zmysna.
They also explained how to organise the work of guardianship and custodianship bodies at the municipal level to protect the personal and property rights and interests of children, including the organisation of the work of guardianship and custodianship bodies under martial law, as well as working with internally displaced minors.
“Guardianship and custodianship are special forms of care for minor children left without parents. Their implementation at the municipal level will ensure the upbringing of minors who were left without parental care due to the death or illness of their parents, the deprivation of their parental rights or for other reasons, as well as the protection of their personal and property rights and interests,” said Nataliia Kuziak.
A guardianship and custodianship body is the executive committee of the local council, which unites the children’s service, the social protection department, the commission for the protection of children’s rights and the guardianship council. Representatives of the body are authorised to establish the status, place and check the conditions of placement, care, upbringing and study of orphans and children deprived of parental care; as well as to transfer children whose life and health (including mental health) are in danger to other placement formats.
According to the experts, the Procedure for Conducting Activities Related to the Protection of Children’s Rights by Guardianship and Custodianship Bodies approved by Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine No. 866 dated 24 September 2008 was supplemented with paragraphs 78–82 in 2023. These additions regulate the placement of children left without parental care, including children separated from their families, orphans and children deprived of parental care, in case of a state of emergency or martial law being introduced in Ukraine. They address the following:
- temporary placement,
- placement if documents are available,
- placement of displaced (evacuated) children outside of Ukraine,
- application of a simplified procedure for registration of guardianship by persons who have a familial relationship with the child (e.g. godparents).
Importantly, under the state of emergency or martial law in Ukraine, persons who have a familial relationship with the child (including godparents) are not required to complete a training course at a social services centre when orphans and children deprived of parental care are placed in their family.
The experts also reminded the participants about the list of persons entitled to apply for registration of a minor with an IDP status.
If the minor is younger than 14 years old, the application must be submitted on their behalf by parents or adoptive parents; a relative with whom they reside if they arrive without a legal representative; or a representative of the guardianship body at the place of residence of the minor (if a legal representative or a relative are unavailable). If the minor is older than 14 years, they must apply to be registered as an IDP in person.
An application for registration as an IDP of a minor child who is an orphan or a child deprived of parental care to obtain a certificate must be submitted by the guardian, custodian, adoptive parents, foster parents or the head of a children’s institution, health care institution or social welfare institution.
Summing up the event, Valerii Mikulich stated the following:
“It is essential for specialists of services and institutions of local councils that take care of children to always be up-to-date with what is happening in the municipality. After all, children who grow up in wartime need more attention, support from adults and timely intervention in non-typical situations.”