First register of children for adoption in the RS and of potential adopters are priorities for the upcoming amendments to the Family Law of RS, confirmed Ljubinko Mitrović.
The aim is to accelerate the perennial process of adoption, in other words, to facilitate the way towards more complete growing up within a family for children, which will also enable a systematic approach to this area of family system. “Practice shows that the previous procedure is too complicated and that adoption takes even two years to complete. We will maintain the high standards and seriousness in the field of work, but we will change technical issues which might accelerate the process and make it more efficient,” said Mitrović.
When it comes to the Human Rights Ombudsman in BiH, the same issue will be considered in the FBiH, i.e. in the Brčko District. “Registers are important for having a relevant database, necessary for serious and efficient work on these issues. Currently, the Home ‘Rada Vranješević’ in Banja Luka is the only authorized institution in RS with such data, in cooperation with centers for social care,” Mitrović explained.
According to experiences from relevant institutions, parents who submit requests for adoption usually focus their interest on the origin of the child, with the aim of knowing potential health state and diseases. Complete adoption is possible for children up to five years of age, without living parents or where parents are unknown, when parents abandoned the child and their place or residence is unknown for more than a year, or when they agreed to complete adoption of their own child.
On the other side, only married couples can completely adopt a child, if they are older than 18, which means that the valid law does not recognize the one-member parenthood for adoption. This issue, however, will most likely not be amended because there were no initiatives or objections against this part of the law. Social worker, psychologist, doctor and pedagogue all participate in assessment of the suitability of adoptive parents.
“Only 2.33 requests for adoption of children without parental care which were submitted last year were actually realized. Only 15 out of 643 requests were realized and that number must be increased with the amendments to the law because, based on the existing Family Law, the adoption procedure is very demanding and directives have not recognized the best interest of children,” said Nada Grahovac, Ombudsman for Children in RS.
(Source: akta.ba)
