UNICEF Representative meets with religious leaders
to increase support to fostering in Montenegro
- Crnogorski
- English
PODGORICA, 25 November 2013 – Within the campaign “Every child needs a family”, UNICEF Montenegro Representative Benjamin Perks will meet with the religious leaders this week in order to increase support to fostering in Montenegro.
Perks has already talked to the President of the Jewish community in Montenegro Jaša Alfandari and will meet with Zef Gashi, Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Bar today.
Tomorrow, he will talk about fostering with the Reis of Islamic Community Rifat Fejzic and with the Archbishop of Cetinje and Montenegrin Metropolitanate Mihailo (Miras Dedeic).
On Thursday, November 28, Perks will meet with the Archbishop of Cetinje and Metropolitan of Montenegro and Litoral Amfilohije Radovic.
Religious leaders are influential opinion-makers all over the world. For this reason, we have decided to ask them to join this campaign that promotes the right of every child to live in a loving and safe family environment. With their support, we hope to increase the number of foster parents in the country and decrease the number of children growing up in institutions.
According to the recent UNICEF’s survey, 58 per cent of Montenegro’s citizens think that placement in institutions is a good solution for children without parental care. However, more than 50 years of research show that children placed in institutions in early childhood are at risk of psychological, emotional and physical developmental delays. This can only be recuperated by the care of a loving family environment.
For this reason, in September 2013, the Government of Montenegro, UNICEF and EU launched the campaign “Every child needs a family” inviting citizens to open their hearts and homes to children who need a loving family environment.
