“Opening Doors” reported that Poland was identified by the European Commission as one of the EU Member States that presents a specific need for reforms of deinstitutionalisation in its children social and welfare system.
They expressed their concerns regarding the need for a broader deinstitutionalisation process instead of focusing on the use of EU funds to develop smaller institutional care settings, which has been the policy adopted by the Polish government through its National Programme for the Prevention of Poverty and Social Exclusion 2020.
Capacity-building of family assistants and foster carers as well as a multidisciplinary approach (in coordination with other specialists, such as psychologists) to ensure the protection of children has been pointed out as an urgent need by “Opening Doors”. Poor quality of professional orientation for foster families, lack of support by psychosocial experts and overburden of family foster care coordinators is frequent in Poland. This situation demands an update of the National Strategy on Family Foster Care alongside with legislative changes, according to “Opening Doors” and other organisations.
“Opening Doors” recommends that the EU should improve its monitoring system of their funds and also prohibit investments on institutional care settings. At the national level, “Opening Doors” urges Poland to take measures in order to further develop its policy on foster care and to build on family strengthening and reintegration programmes.
The full list of latest Opening Doors fact sheets on deinstitutionalisation is available here.