The Children's Ombudsman's Office considers it essential and has recommended increased state involvement in supporting children living in poverty, especially regarding the co-financing of necessary accommodation and social mentoring for these children.

Children’s Ombudsman Helenca Pirnat-Dragicevic spoke in Rijeka on Wednesday at an expert meeting entitled “How to break the vicious circle of poverty and provide children with equal opportunities.” Addressing the participants, she spoke about the problems children face in poverty and the consequences for their development.

She underscored that based on citizens’ reports, her office estimates that the essential points of helping children from low-income families are providing them with decent and affordable housing and starting a new social service – mentoring children.

There are many reports related to inadequate housing conditions in which children live. Parents who do not own real estate for various reasons happen to have no money to rent an apartment and are at risk of homelessness. In some areas, local government units have priority lists for social housing for these families, but some cities and municipalities cannot do so, said Pirnat-Dragicevic.

For this reason, she said, the state should help local government units that do not have the means to house the most vulnerable families.

On the other hand, it is essential to also help in kind to break the cycle of poverty. Mentoring services for children, with an individual approach, would empower children to acquire vital competencies in life. They would be supported in learning and growing up. Pirnat-Dragicevic underlined that this model was proposed to the government and competent ministries. However, it was rejected because similar social services cover these needs for children.

Pirnat-Dragicevic asserted that poverty is the world’s leading problem and affects more and more European Union countries, including Croatia.

Poverty affects the mental and physical health of children, she stressed. According to the ombudsman, children who live in such circumstances do not have the same opportunities for growth and development, as well as for achieving good success in school as a prerequisite for a well-paid job. They have poor housing conditions and worse nutrition. They often cannot enrol in kindergartens because their parents are unemployed and do not fit in with their peers, said Pirnat-Dragicevic.

All these circumstances lead to the transmission of poverty to the next generations, and these children need help to get out of that circle, she added.

At the meeting, the Rijeka model of basic accommodation was presented, followed by an action plan that foresees measures for implementing the EU guarantee for children in Croatia, and children’s poverty from the point of view of the Social Welfare Act was also discussed.