Support person for better child protection
Better protection of child’s rights in court proceedings through the introduction of the legal institute of the Support persons
- Available in:
- Crnogorski
- English
PODGORICA, 23–27 October 2017 – Divorce lawsuits, procedures for obtaining custody, property law related proceedings, placement of a child in an institution, placement of a child in a foster family, as well as establishment of an adoption, can often be complicated processes that could leave consequences on the emotional and psychological development of the child.
In order to ensure adequate support for the child in such proceedings, the amendments to the Family Law have introduced the legal institute of a Support Person, whose role is to support the child during the court and other proceedings of importance for the rights of the child, as well as to ensure that the child’s opinion is heard and taken into consideration.
So that the child is informed about the subject of the proceedings, to freely express an opinion, and that this opinion can make an appropriate impact on the court decision.
The training, which took place from 23 to 27 October 2017, was organized by the Ministry of Justice of Montenegro, with technical assistance of UNICEF.
We have special pedagogues, social workers, psychologists, but also an English language teacher with the experience in working with families, as well as lawyers who also have valuable experience and who can successfully perform the work of the support persons with certainty.
He explained that Support persons are to be appointed by a court or other competent authority, in situations when that is necessary due to the intensity of the conflict between the parents, or between the child and the parent, but also when the child does not feel free to express his or her opinion.
Trainees had the opportunity to get acquainted with the legal framework of the new institute and to learn how to establish the relationship of trust with the child whose authentic opinion should be presented in front of the court or other competent authority. In addition to the acquired knowledge, the Support person should have special skills and sensitivity for work with children, in order to credibly convey the opinion and stand point of the child, and to provide the necessary support to the child.
According to the psychotherapist Dijana Gavranovic Popovic, who works in the Professional Support Service of the Supreme State Prosecutor’s Office of Montenegro, the trainees have gained significant experience through the practical part of the training and the exercise of role playing.
We tried on ourselves something we thought we knew perfectly, because we had five, ten, fifteen, or thirty years of experience. However, we have only then realized how difficult it is to act as a child whose parents attempt to agree in court for 11 or more years.
A Croatian psychologist who works with children victims of violence on a daily basis, Professor Gordana Buljan Flander, insists on building mutual trust between the support person and the child.
Children often do not know whom to turn for support, they do not have the right to their sorrow, because they think about mum and dad all the time.
The introduction of the Support persons in the Montenegrin judiciary is the result of the recommendations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child and the application of Council of Europe standards, said International Law professor Nevena Vuckovic Sahovic. She pointed out that the introduction of the new institute was only a partial alignment with international standards, because the entire process still took place in the courtroom: “There are better legal solutions, as in Austria and Scandinavian countries, where children never enter the courtroom, and always have support.”
UNICEF is also in favour of moving children out of courtrooms. “With a view to provide a procedure consistent with the age and developmental capacities of the child, the ideal situation would be the one in which each municipality would have a room adapted to the needs of a child, which can be used by police officers, prosecutors, judges, social workers, that is, all professionals who are interviewing a child”, said the Coordinator of the Child Protection Programme in UNICEF Montenegro Office, Nela Krnic, pointing out that the five-day training represents only one of the planned steps towards achieving the ultimate goal, that is, the implementation of the “child-friendly justice” standards in Montenegro.
