Description
Access for children in need to the key services covered by the European Child Guarantee
On 14 June 2021, the Council of the European Union adopted a Recommendation establishing a "European Child Guarantee", with a view to guaranteeing access to six key services for "children in need":
- effective and free access to four services: high quality early childhood education and care (ECEC); education and school-based activities; at least one healthy meal each school day; and healthcare; and
- effective access to two services: healthy nutrition and adequate housing.
The purpose of the present report is to assess the extent to which low-income children in Montenegro do indeed have effective (or effective and free) access to these services.
In Montengro, the only poverty-targeted cash transfer is family support allowance, and those who receive this benefit may be considered low-income households. In addition, receipt of this benefit is a precondition for access to many other benefits or services.
ECEC is accessible to all children from birth until they enter primary school. The costs are met by parents, while for beneficiaries of family support allowance they are met by centres for social work. The rigid exclusionary criteria for family support allowance leave many other vulnerable households without free access to ECEC. There are different criteria for enrolment depending on whether demand for places exceeds supply; but those do not apply to recipientss of family support allowance, who always have an adventage.
Read more:
ESPAN_ME_ECG_2022-23_final.pdf
Publication can be downloaded by clicking on this link.
