Ombudsman requests assessment of child-care services

Ombudsman László Székely has requested an assessment of child-care services and the introduction of alternative measures from Human Resources Minister Zoltán Balog in response to a recent survey showing that every third child taken into care is deprived of a family upbringing due to their family’s financial constraints.

Székely said in a statement sent to MTI on Thursday that the practice revealed by the survey breaches obligations included in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and severely violates the child’s right to be raised and looked after in a family.

The survey was completed in Budapest, Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén County, Nógrád County, Pest County and Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg County.

Székely called for coordinated social policy measures in order to fulfil a child’s right to be raised in a family, and said further measures were needed to increase the number of temporary foster parents. He also called for the establishment of a professional working group to work out ways to prevent the problem through social policy measures.

Source: MTI