Strengthening Support Capacities for Children Outside of Parental Care

Within the Joint UN Programme “PRO - Local Governance for People and Nature”, the third in a series of training sessions aimed at enhancing the professional capacities of experts in assessing, providing continuous support, and monitoring foster families was held on 11 April 2024 in Kragujevac.

The goal is to ensure quality care for children who cannot live with their biological or foster families. The focus of the training is on occasional family placement - a service that aims to place a child in a foster family for a short period to provide relief and maintain the capacity of the biological or foster family to provide continuous care for a child with developmental disabilities or impairments, thus reducing the risk of separating children from their families.

Twenty professionals from all 18 municipalities involved in the training programme for direct work with foster families participated in this training, including professionals from foster care and adoption centres from Nis, Kragujevac, Cuprija, and Milosevac, as well as representatives from social welfare centres in Pirot, Leskovac, Smederevo, Pozarevac, Kraljevo, Cacak, Krusevac, Zajecar, Bor, Jagodina, Valjevo, Loznica, Sabac, and Uzice.

In addition to training, the Programme envisages other forms of direct support for foster families in the coming period, including initial training for new foster families and enhanced training for existing foster families.

The training is being conducted in partnership with UNICEF and the Association of Foster Care and Adoption Centres, within the framework of the Programme “PRO - Local Governance for People and Nature”, jointly implemented by the United Nations agencies in Serbia - UNOPS, UNICEF, UNFPA, and UNEP, in cooperation with the Government of the Republic of Serbia and with financial support from the Government of Switzerland.