The Ministry of Labour and Social Solidarity (MMMSS) wants greater involvement of non-governmental organizations in social assistance and the creation of a solid and transparent partnership with civil society representatives, according to a press release sent to AGERPRES on Monday.
Thus, starting from the idea that social services must focus on increasing the quality of life of the beneficiaries, MMMSS organized a consultative work meeting with civil society representatives on Monday, during which the main problems that led to the abusive situation within the old age care centers were pointed out out, which it wants to remedy, first of all, "by creating a solid and transparent partnership with representatives of civil society," the press release states.
"In order not to allow the disruption of the activity of the suppliers who respect the minimum standards and the rights of the beneficiaries, we proposed that these meetings be monthly, in the same minimum format (we expect the participation of several NGOs) where we will invite the public authorities with control powers, in order to identify the correct formula in the initiated approach. Also, two working groups together with specialists from civil society will be set up as a matter of urgency to amend Law 448/2006, updated 2020 , on the protection and promotion of the rights of persons with disabilities and Law No. 197 /2012 regarding quality assurance in the field of social services," the same source also specifies.
At the same time, the ministry requested the urgent amendment of Law 292/2011 on social assistance, which is currently in the interministerial approval procedure.
According to the MMSS representatives, within the working groups the following will be pursued: the adaptation of the legislation to the needs of civil society regarding the activity of care centers; the launch of a transparent, open procedure for the implementation of a monitoring mechanism that will aim at evaluating the quality of services, but also respecting the rights of the beneficiaries; the selection criteria that must be transparent, objective and predictable, and their establishment carried out in a participatory manner; modification of approval procedures, monitoring and control, with the involvement of all decision-making factors.
The MMSS clarifications come in the context of the publication of the open letter of the Social Platform in Romania regarding the situation of elderly people and institutionalized disabled people, through which the non-governmental providers of social services express their dissatisfaction that "the competent institutions are not yet ready to constantly carry out these monitoring of human rights, themselves, in parallel with civil society organizations."
The non-governmental providers of social services recall the fact that, in Romania, non-governmental organizations (non-profit) represent approximately 45% of the total number of accredited providers of social services and do not yet benefit from a level of public funding necessary to cover basic costs, most of them making considerable efforts to ensure the continuity of their services and investing massively in the quality of these services, in staff training, in modernization and innovation.
The open letter was sent as a result of the situation discovered last week at three old age care homes in Voluntari, where almost 100 elderly people were rescued by the police following some searches.
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