In the Vitebsk region, employees of housing and communal services, energy supervision, and other services help identify at-risk families

Winter holidays have begun for schoolchildren, with a lot of free time, and often children, especially older ones, are left to themselves. Accordingly, during this period, the mobilization of forces of all services is extremely important, especially when it comes to families with cases of neglect or raising difficult teenagers. Therefore, traditionally on the eve of the winter holidays, a joint meeting of the regional commission for juvenile affairs and the coordination council on Decree of the President of the Republic of Belarus No. 18 "On additional measures for state protection of children in dysfunctional families" is held at the regional executive committee.

– Despite the fact that the 10th year of the decree's implementation is coming to an end, the severity of the problem of protecting children's rights is not diminishing. And this is not because there is no system in place. It is precisely during this period that we have built a fairly coherent system in the activities of state bodies. However, the most important thing is the timely identification of family dysfunction, – emphasized Tamara Olekhnovich, Deputy Chairperson of the Regional Commission for Juvenile Affairs.

The joint efforts of all services are crucial in identifying problem families. This should be facilitated by the regulation on early detection of adverse living conditions for children, which has been in effect in the Vitebsk region since September 1 and unites 12 departments. According to the document, the burden in this difficult task falls not only on teachers, doctors, and law enforcement officers, but also on employees of housing and communal services, energy supervision, energy sales, and district gas services, who, upon noticing factors of neglect, immediately report them to the local education department.

– The introduction of this regulation has activated the work on early detection of family dysfunction, – said Tamara Olekhnovich. – For 11 months of the current year, more than 6,000 reports have been received from all informants. Of course, the main ones are still the internal affairs bodies, courts considering cases of administrative offenses by negligent parents, and healthcare. But it is very important that this work also includes

other services provided for by the regulations. As an example, I can cite Dokshytsy, Orsha, Polotsk, Gorodok, Lepel districts, where signals of distress are actively received from energy providers. We perceive every piece of information as a signal to conduct a social investigation, to ascertain the causes of accrued debt obligations for the use of utility services, the need for intervention by social services and government bodies, so that the situation in the family normalizes.

Thus, it is evident that only the coordinated work of all mechanisms can ensure the successful implementation of Decree No. 18. So that children do not find themselves in difficult life situations, but enjoy their carefree time in loving families near a cozy home hearth.

Natalia Ryzhkova, "Vitebskiye Vesti". Photo from open sources.