Decree No. 18 – upbringing of negligent parents through the obligation to reimburse funds spent by the state on child maintenance

             For nine years now, Decree of the President of the Republic of Belarus No. 18 of 24.11.2006 "On Additional Measures for State Protection of Children in Unfavorable Families" has been in effect, allowing for the emergency removal of children from negligent parents due to their chronic alcoholism and idleness, immoral lifestyle, etc., when there is a real threat to the child's life and health. Children are placed in special shelters for six months. Subsequently, if there are no signs of parental correction, parents are deprived of their parental rights through court.

            At the same time, such parents acquire the status of "obligated persons" who, if they are unwilling to voluntarily work and reimburse the money spent by the state on child maintenance, are compelled to do so using special measures.      

            The level of reimbursement of such funds is not just statistical information, but an indicator of the coordinated work of executive committees, internal affairs bodies, labor, employment and social protection bodies, and employers in organizing work to increase the responsibility of negligent parents for raising their children.

            However, a comprehensive inspection by the prosecutor's office revealed that the level of reimbursement of such funds decreased from 58 to 53% (*there are a total of 2178 obligated persons working in the region).      

            In several regions, violations of the requirements of Decree No. 18 have been identified, and preventive work with obligated persons is not always organized properly, including at the management level.

Internal affairs bodies do not always promptly take

comprehensive measures to bring obligated persons who systematically skip work to legal responsibility, and to send them to therapeutic labor prophylactic institutions.

Employers do not always properly organize adequate accounting of working time of obligated persons, inform internal affairs bodies, labor, employment and social protection bodies about the failure of obligated persons to appear at work, and do not submit time sheets, which is necessary for the effective organization of their compulsory labor. There are still cases of employers refusing to hire obligated persons, which is illegal.

            Based on the results of this inspection, the Vitebsk Regional Prosecutor's Office submitted a generalized representation to the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee regarding violations committed throughout the region, which was proposed to be considered at the next Coordination Council for the implementation of Decree No. 18 under the Regional Executive Committee with the participation of all interested services.