The situation of adoption centers across the country has changed since January 2012. The provisions of the governmental act on family support and foster care system, which cause these changes, were intended to simplify and accelerate the conduct of adoption procedures. However, from the interventions and requests addressed to Marek Kuchciński from employees and prospective parents, it appears that the changes will be unfavorable.
In Podkarpacie this concern stems from the decision of the Voivodship Board to establish one adoption center in Rzeszów. This decision was met with widespread criticism. This is because it closes off access for candidates for parents to, for example, the public county center previously located in Przemyśl or the non-public (the only one in Podkarpacie) Catholic Adoption and Care Centre in Krosno.
According to many experts on the subject, the establishment of a central center is a mistake because:
It will prolong adoption proceedings. Documents of people from whole Podkarpackie province will have to be sent to Rzeszow. A long waiting list for a child will be created.
2 The number of those determined to adopt children is very large. A small center in Przemysl trained as many as 50 such people this year. Four training groups were created for the residents of the city, its surroundings and the districts of Jaroslaw, Lubaczow and Przeworsky.
3. persons reporting readiness for adoption will have to commute for many months for training, pedagogical and psychological diagnosis. In case of needs and problems they will be forced to use therapy and psychopedagogical help as far away as in Rzeszów.
4 Tasks are performed primarily in the field. These include repeated visits by staff to candidates' homes, attendance at recusal committee meetings in foster care and court hearings. Intervention trips to hospitals are required, where workers meet with women facing dramatic decisions to give up their children.
Establishing a branch in Przemyśl will not entail huge costs due to a very small group of employees (only 3 full-time and 3/4-time employees). A really modest base of premises in the city is enough.
6. the more so, the non-public center in Krosno (1/5 of full-time employment and several contracts of mandate) operating continuously for 15 years will generate almost no costs.
A total of 140 children have been placed with adoptive families and nearly 90 with foster families since the center began its work.
7 The liquidation of the center in Krosno will close the possibility for possible future parents to receive help from people implementing programs based on Christian values. Unfortunately, there are cases when parents who declare to raise their children based on these values are discouraged by public administration employees from going through further stages of the adoption procedure.
In view of the importance of the above arguments, Mr Kuchciński asked the Minister of Labour and Social Policy to urgently support the Management of the Podkarpackie Province so that the adoption center or its branch could remain in Przemyśl, and so that the non-public center in Krosno could continue to help couples wishing to adopt children.
