They want to create a new type of family. Urgent changes for the good of children.

• Local government officials pointed to the need to create new places in institutional care, as current restrictions make it impossible to implement court decisions on child placement.
• The number of children requiring foster care is constantly growing, while the number of foster families and places in institutions is insufficient.
• Local government officials also demand that the rights of foster families be equal to those of adoptive families in terms of leave on the terms of maternity leave.

The Paweł Adamowicz Union of Polish Metropolises' Committee on Social Policy and Healthcare has prepared a package of proposals regarding the functioning of the foster care system. Cities associated with the UMP are warning that current regulations are failing to keep pace with growing needs and, in many places, are paralyzing efforts to support children in need of care.

The number of children requiring foster care is constantly growing, while the number of foster families and places available in institutions is insufficient. Therefore, the Commission proposes, among other things:

• making the rules for increasing the number of places in facilities more flexible by transferring the decision on this matter to the staroste;
• obliging counties to quickly secure a place for children placed in another county for emergency purposes;
• changing the rules for financing the stay of abandoned newborns so that the costs are borne by the county where the mother is registered;
• limiting the possibility of extending the stay of adult pupils in care without the consent of the starosta, while simultaneously developing a system of training apartments.

Local government officials also pointed to the need to create new places in institutional care, as current restrictions make it impossible to implement court decisions on child placement.

Our proposals aim not only to improve the functioning of foster care, but above all, to protect the rights of children who live there. We need urgent changes that will allow us to better respond to crises and support families.

- emphasize representatives of the UMP social policy and health protection committee.

An important element of the proposed changes is shortening court proceedings regarding the termination or restoration of parental authority and the adoption of children. The UMP Commission also calls for better use of family assistants and other forms of assistance before placing a child in care, as well as for training for family judges to ensure that decisions are better tailored to the needs of children.

The proposals of the Union of Polish Metropolises also include the creation of a new type of family - caring families for adult pupils with disabilities, a more precise definition of a related family and an increase in the catalogue of obligatory benefits and their financing from the state budget.

Local government officials also demand that the rights of foster families be equal to those of adoptive families in terms of leave on the terms of maternity leave.

The UMP also calls for a clear definition of the costs of a family foster care coordinator, limiting ineffective debt collection proceedings and enabling authorities to obtain information from employers for the purposes of administrative proceedings.