British actor Nicholas Lyndhurst continues to promote foster care in Montenegro
Every child needs a family
- Crnogorski
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DANILOVGRAD, MONTENEGRO, 18 March 2016 – British actor Nicholas Lyndhurst, famous for his role as Rodney Trotter in BBC’s TV series “Only Fools and Horses”, visited Montenegro for the third time after 2013, when he became a friend of the campaign Every child needs a family.
I am very honored to be here and I am quickly falling in love with Montenegro and especially the Montenegrin people, how very clever and how special you are. If you think there is a chance that you might want to foster care then please get some information. From what I have seen it is a terribly rewarding thing to do and I know, speaking as a father, the love of a child is a magical thing which changed my life.
The campaign Every child needs a family was launched in 2013 by the Government and UNICEF, with the support of the EU, in order to encourage people to become foster parents and end placing children without adequate parental care in institutions in Montenegro.
Benjamin Perks, UNICEF Representative to Montenegro, said that "for a child to be abandoned by or separated from his or her parents in the first days of childhood is a heartbreaking and deeply traumatic experience.“
We all share the same vision of Montenegro as one of the first countries in the region to completely eradicate institutional care of children under 3. But, there is a difficult journey ahead and much more work needs to be done to address this key human rights challenge.
Foster parents from Danilovgrad spoke about their experiences and invited citizens to become foster parents.
I am a foster mom of three children of my late sister who tragically lost her life seven years ago. My husband and I also have three children. At first it was a hard, but I hope this effort will pay off because they are such good kids and students and it was honor to be a parent and guardian to such children.
According to Maja Luketic, director of the Center for Social Work in Danilovgrad, every child has the right to live in a warm family environment..
"Parenting is always a challenge, but some parents are faced with the harsh living conditions and circumstances, so the challenges for them are even greater. It is crucial to provide continuous support and encouragement to parents in such situation, and this is the only way to prevent the placement of children in institutions“, she added.
The campaign Every child needs a family is part of a wide-ranging social and child welfare system reform aimed at enabling every child to grow up in a safe family environment.
