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Substitute care institutions

According to the Act of 12 March 2004 on Social Welfare and the Ordinance of 19 October 2007 of the Minister of Labour and Social Policy on care-educational centers, there are following types of twenty four hour substitutive institutions:

-               foster families

-               care-educational centers

 

With regard to foster families, one can specify the following types:

-               foster family  related to a child

-               foster family that is not related to a child

-               professional foster family that is not related to a child

-               numerous family (number of children from 3 to 6)

-               specialized foster family

-               foster family functioning as an emergency shelter in crisis situations

 

Polish legislation defines the following four types of 24 hour care-educational centers,:

-               intervention center

-               center functioning as a family

-               socialization center

-               multifunction center

 

The term children home is not used within Polish legislation. Children home is a type of an educational center which can function as a one of the following: a numerous family (a family children home), a socialization center or a multifunctional center.

 

Intervention centers provide temporary care for children in crisis situations until their return to natural family or until they are placed in an adoption or foster family. Intervention centers shall guarantee access to schooling adapted to the age and possibilities of a child and provide a child with pedagogical and psychological assistance. Children from the age of 11 can be placed in this type of care-educational centers. Younger children can be accommodated there only in special situations. A child’s stay at an intervention center should not exceed 3 months except when court proceedings regulating child’s legal situation has not been completed then a child’s stay at an intervention center can be prolonged up to 3 months. A maximum of 30 children can be accommodated in one intervention center[1].

 

Care-educational center, which functions as a family, constitutes a numerous family for children of various ages that could not be placed in a foster or adoption family. No more than 4 children can be places at once in this sort of care-educational center. The number of children can exceed 4 when several siblings are placed in the center at once.

 

Socialization centers provide children with care and access to the following assistance: educational, correctional, and pedagogical activities, therapy, as well as physical rehabilitation. Moreover, socialization centers engage in actions which aim at returning a child to the natural family or placing her/him in a foster family. The number of children placed in socialization center should not exceed 30 children[2]. Socialization centers can organize and run separate apartments for adolescents between the ages of 14 and 18 in order to prepare them to a transition into an independent living once they turn 18. Groups of youngsters who live in those separate apartments run their own household; nonetheless, they are under 24 hour supervision of an educator. 

 

Multifunctional centers fulfill tasks of both intervention and socialization centers.

A care-educational center can be situated only in a building equipped with following facilities:

- accommodation rooms for 1-5 persons (equipped with beds, side tables, bedside lamps, a wardrobe, and toys)

- a bathroom

- a living room

- a guest room

- a dining room

- kitchen (one for a maximum number of 10 children)

- a room for ill children

- a room for therapeutic and sport activities.

 

In general, one educator should look after a maximum number of 8 children. The scope of an educator’s tasks is defined by the Act of 12 March 2004 on Social Welfare and the Ordinace of 14 February of the Minister of Labour and Social Policy. Educators duties include: engaging in all activities related to everyday care, recognizing and fulfilling minor’s individual needs, contacting future school on behave of the minor, contacting minor’s family, and collecting documentation on minor and her/his family. Educational qualifications of an educator require a completion of a master’s degree in one of the following subjects: pedagogy, psychology, rehabilitation, or social care.

 

As it was mentioned before, separated children asylum seekers are placed in the Children Home Number 9 located in Warsaw. Costs of a separated child’s stay in the children home - until the completion of the asylum procedure - are covered by the state, namely, by the budget of the Head of the Office for Foreigners received from the Minister of Interior and Administration. Since there are no special care-centers for foreign children, separated children - who do not apply for the refugee status or who have been granted any a kind of the humanitarian protection - are accommodated in various care-educational centers across on the same basis as Polish citizens. Costs of separated child non-asylum seeker’s stay in a care-educational center are covered by the state budget of the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy.

 

While studying Polish legislations related to the substitute care system, it is important to keep in mind that that the new Act on Substitute Care is still being prepared. This legislation initiative response to the need of having all regulations of the substitute care system collected under one legal document, instead of numerous legal acts and policies. Also, this legislation initiative reflects a belief that smaller care institutions are better suited to answer children’s needs. Under the new legislation, a substitute care will be provided mainly by foster families and family children homes. Care-education centers will be obligated to provide substitute care only as a last resort. Also, the number of children in caring institutions will be limited.