Statement on the held dialogue “The Role of the Social Welfare System and Social Work Profession in Ensuring a Safe Environment for the Growth and Development of Children in Serbia”

The Child Rights Centre held a dialogue in Kragujevac on December 12, 2023. The dialogue focused on the role of the social welfare system in ensuring a safe environment for the growth and development of every child.

The perspectives and opinions of practitioners providing social welfare services were of particular importance, along with consultations with experts in this field. Based on these discussions, a proposal was formulated to enhance the social welfare system and the social work profession. This enhancement is crucial for establishing a safe and nurturing environment for every child.

It’s imperative that the social welfare system not only responds to serious cases of violence and neglect but also acts preventively. Therefore, the development of local social welfare services, particularly the daily services prescribed by the Law on Social Welfare and provided by local self-government units, is necessary. These services need to be professionally managed, focusing on a comprehensive approach to working with families and their relationships within the community, including schools and access to other relevant services.

During the dialogue, specific examples of such services already being provided in several municipalities were presented. One such example is the family conference service, where a professional engages with family members and individuals significant to the child to collectively create a support plan for the child. If problems persist, the social welfare center, as the guardianship authority, takes further steps regarding the child’s well-being. Furthermore, Marriage and Family Counseling Centers are already operational in around 20% of municipalities in Serbia, offering various early intervention services to families in difficulty. These services encompass individual work with children, work with the entire family, organizing workshops for parents, and workshops for different targeted groups of children in need of support.

Based on consultations, it’s crucial for every municipality in Serbia to develop preventive social welfare services, as proposed earlier. This represents a critical step toward providing a positive and secure environment for the growth and development of every child. Although municipalities have autonomy in developing local services, there’s a need to change the approach and make them mandatory for the development of preventive services. Additionally, social welfare centers need an adequate number of staff to effectively implement defined procedures and provide proper protection to the most vulnerable children in Serbia.

In the upcoming period, the Child Rights Centre plans further advocacy efforts aimed at improvement within the education, judiciary, and healthcare systems. We believe that incremental progress in these crucial systems is necessary to effectively combat violence against children in Serbia.

This dialogue was held within the project “Strengthening the capacities of civil society organisations (CSOs) to contribute to the fulfilment of Serbia’s human dimension commitments in the field of the rights of child”.