The MDRI-S Initiative for the Rights of Persons with Mental Disabilities has published the publication “Guidelines for Centers for Social Work”, developed as a result of the work of a team of experts who, recognizing the results of qualitative and quantitative research conducted on about 110 centers for social work and their employees in the period from June to September 2019, detected key obstacles in the social protection system in the Republic of Serbia and efficient work of the centers for social work in the implementation of the policy of establishing and depriving the citizens of Serbia of their business capacity.

Namely, one of the largest problems when it comes to human rights in Serbia is the deprivation of business capacity. With the loss of business ability, our fellow citizens cease to be equal citizens and become subjects, whose lives are decided by someone else, restricting or even preventing them from having a whole series of other civil, political, economic and social rights.

The research showed that more than half of the proposals for deprivation of business capacity come from centers for social work, as well as that the centers are more often proposers when it comes to young people.

Of particular concern is the fact that out of 80 submitted proposals for the extension of parental rights during 2018, as many as 74 were submitted for persons aged 18 to 25, although according to the current laws in Serbia, citizens become adults at the age of 18 and acquire business capacity or the parental right towards them ceases.

Therefore, centers for social work are an important, if not the most important, link in the social protection system in Serbia, although they do not directly make the decision on deprivation of business capacity, as it is done by the court in an out-of-court procedure.

Centers for social work are the first address that our fellow citizens with mental difficulties and disabilities and their families will turn to, and thus the responsibility of employees of the centers is even greater, especially in the field of timely informing citizens about the protection of their rights and opportunities to exercise them.

The publication summarizes the results of the research, the difficulties and problems observed, as well as the recommendations for overcoming them.

The MDRI-S publication "Guidelines for Centers for Social Work" is available on https://www.mdri-s.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Smernice-za-centre.pdf.  

Source: portaloinvalidnosti.net and Coordination Body