Social Service: Orphan status given only by us

The Vice Director of the Social Service, Linda Leskaj, declared that the procedures for giving the orphan status, which is given only by the Social Service, have been implemented rigorously for the past year, different from what has happened before.

“This status used to be given even without going through the official channels. There may have been cases when non-orphan people have received this status. For the past year everything has been very rigorous”, Leskaj declared.

The Inspectorate of Labor and Social Service inspects these organizations and verifies their activity. These have the legal right to license their documentation, their programs, and they also have the obligation to check them first, according to Leskaj.

But what danger are facing these children who grow up in institutions without a family?

“We have notified competent institutions for every time when someone has approached to the children and tried to take them away from the institution by offering money”, Leskaj says.

But why are courts delaying the process of adoptions for children who have been abandoned by their biological parents?

“The institutions acts much faster with children under three years of age. This is the court’s dilemma, because they need to declare a child abandoned or not, when there is interest from parents. But there’s a minimal interest. You don’t consider a parental interest a single phone call each year. That’s called an abandoned child. The court prolonges the time to consider this child abandoned, by letting the child longer in the institution”, Leskaj says.

1000 people have received the orphan status so far, which guarantees shelter, employment and other free services, but this scheme has failed so far.

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