Amendments to Acts relating to child protection were discussed in the Riigikogu again

The purpose of the Bill on Amendments to the Child Protection Act and Other Acts (427 SE), initiated by the Government, is to improve the identification of and assistance to children in need and to increase the number of foster families. Although everyone has a duty to report a child in need to the local government, many cases come to the attention of child protection too late. The role of people working with children in identifying children in need will therefore be increased.

The Bill will list specialists, such as teachers, coaches and doctors, who will have a special duty of care to identify a child’s need for help and to inform the child protection worker of the municipality thereof. The Bill will also specify the right of municipalities and the Social Insurance Board to process personal data in the performance of child protection tasks.

The Bill will increase support for foster, guardianship and adoptive families who have taken a child from another family to be raised in their family and will establish the content, organisation, volume and funding of the support services for family-based alternative care.

The Bill will also create the possibility for information on children in need of permanent support due to their health condition to be automatically transmitted to municipalities via information systems early on. A list of such health conditions will be set out in a regulation. However, according to a provisional agreement they will be blindness in both eyes, cancer diagnosis, rare disease, cerebral palsy, and intellectual disabilities. The aim of the amendment is to integrate the health and social services offered to children and families in order to ease the burden on parents. Once the information about a child is received, the municipality and the Social Protection Board will have an obligation to offer support measures to the family without the parent or guardian having to apply for assistance themselves.

During the debate, Riina Solman from Isamaa Parliamentary Group and Kert Kingo from the Estonian Conservative People’s Party Group took the floor.

The Social Affairs Committee moved to suspend the second reading of the Bill.

Verbatim record of the sitting (in Estonian)

Video recording will be available to watch later on the Riigikogu YouTube channel.

Riigikogu Press Service
Maiki Vaikla
+372 631 6456, +372 5666 9508
maiki.vaikla@riigikogu.ee
Questions: press@riigikogu.ee

Link uudisele: Amendments to Acts relating to child protection were discussed in the Riigikogu again

Source: Parliament of Estonia