The ombudsman for persons with disabilities, Anka Slonjsak, said on Saturday the proposal to recognise the right to compensation for six months after the death of a child to caregiver parents was justified in many ways, and that such a proposal has been supported by the Shadow association since 2017.

Slonjsak recalled that her office was contacted by the Shadow association on 17 October 2017 and supported the proposal to amend the Social Welfare Act in the provision regulating the right to the status of parent/caregiver in order to, among other things, regulate the right to the status of a caretaker parent in such a way that the parent is entitled to compensation for a period of six months after the death of their child.

This proposal was not accepted either in 2017, or again in 2021 or 2022, when the new Social Welfare Act was adopted, therefore we again ask the competent ministry to accept the said proposal, the Office of the Ombudsman announced.

In the recommendation that they sent to the competent ministry at the time, it is stated that they consider the proposal to be justified in multiple ways, considering that “the proposed period would represent the optimal period of mourning necessary for the emotional and psychological stabilization of the parents, taking into account the demands of specific care for a child with extremely severe, complex and multiple forms of disability.”

At the same time, said Slonjsak, such a legal definition would reflect the legislator’s willingness to understand all the complexity of the life and family circumstances of caregiver parents, as well as the willingness to recognise and respond to the different needs of certain categories of citizens through changes in the law, and in this case, these are caregiver parents.

Finally, all previous changes and modifications of those provisions aimed to organise that area in such a way as to ensure the best possible care for people with disabilities within their own family, she said.