{"id":21235,"date":"2021-12-15T15:42:42","date_gmt":"2021-12-15T13:42:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ombudsman.hr\/en\/?p=21439"},"modified":"2025-05-28T15:43:42","modified_gmt":"2025-05-28T13:43:42","slug":"citizens-should-have-equal-access-to-social-welfare-services-and-rights-regardless-of-where-they-live-in-croatia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ombudsman.hr\/en\/citizens-should-have-equal-access-to-social-welfare-services-and-rights-regardless-of-where-they-live-in-croatia\/","title":{"rendered":"Citizens Should Have Equal Access to Social Welfare Services and Rights, Regardless of Where They Live in Croatia"},"content":{"rendered":"

It is important to continue the discussion on the Draft Proposal of the Social Welfare Act, and the result of its adoption should be a well-organized system\u2014responsive and preventive, with adequate benefits and connected to the local community\u2014providing citizens with access to rights and services regardless of where in Croatia they live. At the same time, system employees need to be relieved of administrative burdens so they can ensure rights and services for citizens. All participants in the discussion on social welfare reform, organized by Ombudswoman Tena \u0160imonovi\u0107 Einwalter<\/strong> on November 15<\/strong>, agreed on this.<\/p>\n

For consistent procedures and legal certainty, the Ombudswoman emphasized the need to more precisely formulate the provisions of the Law and list the rights, as was done in previous laws. It is also important to thoroughly assess the possible effects of centralizing the system and changing the status of social welfare centers, and to further discuss these proposals, stressing that citizens and system users must remain at the center of the reform.<\/p>\n

Minister of Labour, Pension System, Family and Social Policy Josip Aladrovi\u0107<\/strong> welcomed the discussion and emphasized the many problems in the current system\u2014high fragmentation, an overwhelming number of responsibilities assigned to social welfare centers, a lack of personnel, and inconsistent procedures. He also noted that no staff layoffs<\/strong> would occur during the reform process.<\/p>\n

One of the most controversial proposals during public consultations was the elimination of the legal personality of social welfare centers<\/strong>, partly due to the lack of evaluation or impact assessment of this change. Professor Zdenko Babi\u0107<\/strong>, from the Social Work Study Centre at the Faculty of Law in Zagreb, reiterated that reform is necessary but \u201cmust be carefully prepared and based on prior scientific, research, and analytical insights, as well as on the real needs of users.\u201d Representing the Croatian Chamber of Social Workers<\/strong> and the Croatian Association of Social Workers<\/strong>, \u0160tefica Kara\u010di\u0107<\/strong> urged openness to the arguments of those working in the system, stressing that \u201cthis proposal does not provide opportunities for significant improvement in the lives of the most vulnerable groups.\u201d<\/p>\n

Magdalena Komes<\/strong>, representative of the Association of Cities in the Republic of Croatia<\/strong>, supported the proposed changes and emphasized the importance of oversight in elder care homes, which benefits both older people and service providers. Tatjana \u0160tritof<\/strong>, Director of the Social Welfare Center Zagreb, noted that fear of upcoming organizational changes is currently present in the system, but expressed hope that such changes could help solve existing funding problems<\/strong>, given that not all centers have the basic resources to operate. Tatjana Katki\u0107 Stani\u0107<\/strong>, from the Ministry, stated that the role of social welfare centers would not significantly change\u2014they would continue to provide services to users\u2014while a new central body would take over administrative duties, allowing the centers to focus more on working directly with citizens.<\/p>\n

Nedjeljko Markovi\u0107<\/strong>, President of the Croatian Network for the Fight Against Poverty<\/strong>, and Zvonko Mlinar<\/strong>, Executive President of the Croatian Network for the Homeless<\/strong>, shared insights from working directly with users. One major risk of the proposed reform, they said, is the loss of connection with local communities<\/strong>, which should be the driving force of the system. Markovi\u0107 welcomed the increase in guaranteed minimum benefits<\/strong> but criticized the reduction in housing cost support<\/strong>, while Mlinar called for stronger cooperation between the Ministry, social welfare centers, and civil society organizations<\/strong>. Representing family home owners<\/strong>, Sabina Angelina Latin<\/strong> from the Starka Association<\/strong> warned that the lack of proper care for the elderly<\/strong> has already created a black market<\/strong>, which will only grow if the proposal to eliminate family homes and transform them into social welfare institutions or foster families is implemented. According to Latin, this would lower service quality<\/strong>, reduce capacity, and increase the burden on other systems, such as healthcare.<\/p>\n

In closing the discussion, Ombudswoman \u0160imonovi\u0107 Einwalter<\/strong> expressed hope that some of the arguments presented by participants would be incorporated into the law. She also welcomed Minister Aladrovi\u0107\u2019s statement<\/strong> that open issues would continue to be discussed. This dialogue, she stressed, should continue even after the parliamentary process, since reform is not a one-time task<\/strong>, but a continuous process<\/strong> requiring ongoing dialogue in order to be truly successful.<\/p>\n

You can watch the full recording of the discussion titled “Social Welfare Act \u2013 A Step Forward or Backward for the Most Vulnerable?”<\/em> [here<\/a>].<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It is important to continue the discussion on the Draft Proposal of the Social Welfare Act, and the result of its adoption should be a well-organized system\u2014responsive and preventive, with adequate benefits and connected to the local community\u2014providing citizens with access to rights and services regardless of where in Croatia they live. At the same […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":12767,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[169],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ombudsman.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Tena-Simonovic-Einwalter-i-Josip-Aladrovic.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ombudsman.hr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21235","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ombudsman.hr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ombudsman.hr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ombudsman.hr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ombudsman.hr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21235"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ombudsman.hr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21235\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ombudsman.hr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12767"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ombudsman.hr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ombudsman.hr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ombudsman.hr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}