Kosovo's Minister for Labour and Family, Andin Hoti, has expressed concern over the violations found in the case of the five-year-old from Janjevë in Lipjan and six other children who were under the care of the Centre for Social Work.
This comes after, late on Wednesday afternoon, the Division for the Inspection of Social and Family Services received the final report on the handling of the case involving the family by the local centre. Among other things, the report states that only two social workers were licensed at this Centre for Social Work.
“I have reports that sometimes a social worker in a Centre for Social Work in Kosovo has up to 250 cases, while the standard in the EU is 30. These reports were not created by us, they were created by international organizations, but this is the responsibility of the municipality, not mine. So, do not attribute something to me that is not my responsibility. I can help, because I will recommend it, we have prepared a document recommending to mayors to increase staff, but I also do not understand why they do not increase staff. In Lipjan there should have been at least six, and there are three, and out of these three, two are licensed. Not even three are licensed. This is also one of the findings of the report. Two are licensed and one is not licensed. That one without a license can perform administrative services but does not deal with the case, does not manage the case. So only two, do you understand how serious this is,” he stated.In an exclusive interview for KosovaPress, the minister said that the condition of the five-year-old is stable, but that he has suffered severe psychological trauma.
“I have reports that sometimes a social worker in a Centre for Social Work in Kosovo has up to 250 cases, while the standard in the EU is 30. These reports were not created by us, they were created by international organizations, but this is the responsibility of the municipality, not mine. So, do not attribute something to me that is not my responsibility. I can help, because I will recommend it, we have prepared a document recommending to mayors to increase staff, but I also do not understand why they do not increase staff. In Lipjan there should have been at least six, and there are three, and out of these three, two are licensed. This is also one of the findings of the report. Two are licensed and one is not licensed. That one without a license can perform administrative services but does not deal with the case, does not manage the case. So only two, do you understand how serious this is,” he stated. In an exclusive interview for KosovaPress, the minister said that the condition of the five-year-old is stable, but that he has suffered severe psychological trauma.“The six other children, based on what I have, are in very good health, they have been sheltered, they are under monitoring by shelters but also through the Department for Social Services. The small child is in a stable condition, while in other aspects that child has suffered severe trauma. I may not be competent in this, but the Ministry of Health is, however that child has suffered severe trauma,” he said.
As a result of the abuse of the five-year-old child, both parents are in pre-trial detention.
Meanwhile, the six other children of this family have been taken under the care of the Centre for Social Work in Lipjan.“This is a problem in itself. In Kosovo there are families and I am happy that there are such families, which have agreements with the Ministry, in this case the Department for Social Services, and they shelter children. But this does not mean that these children are permanently placed. These children are placed temporarily until another solution is found for them. This is a fairly big problem regarding what will happen to these children; it is a problem that does not fall under my ministry anymore, because another decision-making authority must take it. It is the court that makes such decisions, whether it will permanently take away parental rights in this case, which should inevitably be done, and whenever that happens there are other centres where these children are sent, such as orphanages and others for supervision,” he said.
He pledged that these children will receive state care, although authorities did not manage in time to prevent the abuse suffered by the five-year-old.“What will happen to these children remains to be seen. What I can certainly guarantee is that these children will not be without state care. It is a great tragedy that we were not able to prevent it, but naturally they will now be under state care until they have a permanent solution, whether through what I mentioned, family placement, or other forms,” he stated.
Speaking about the low number of social workers in the country, he said that the budget allocated for Centres for Social Work had been “redirected” by municipalities for other purposes.
“There have been cases, based on the information I have, where the budget that was dedicated to Centres for Social Work in some municipalities has been reallocated to other departments. So, a budget that was given for the Centres for Social Work—I am not referring to a specific municipality, because this has happened in many of them—a mayor has taken this budget and reallocated it elsewhere, concluding that it was not necessary to invest here. The government gave the budget, the municipality reallocated it. What we are legally reviewing is whether we can obligate municipalities so that when we send them the budget, they cannot move it but must invest it in the Centre for Social Work, whether in infrastructure or in staff,” he concluded.Hoti announced punitive measures for all those identified for improper handling of the case.
The full interview with the minister, covering many other issues as well, will be broadcast during the day across all platforms of the KosovaPress News Agency.
