ZAGREB, May 18, 2019 - There are 1,398 foster carers in Croatia and 67 children under the age of three in children's homes, it was said in downtown Zagreb on Saturday at an event marking the International Day of Families and promoting UNICEF's "Every Child Needs a Family" campaign.
"The aim of the drive is to promote foster carers, to encourage people to become foster carers... because the family is the pillar of every society," Romana Galić of the City Social Protection Office said at the event, attended by many foster carers.
According to Zagreb's Welfare Centre, there are 239 foster families in the capital, 221 children are in the care of foster families in Zagreb and 101 in foster families outside Zagreb.
The International Day of Families is a reminder of the importance that every child has a safe and warm home and parents who support them, said Đurđica Ivković, deputy head of UNICEF Croatia.
She recalled that last year the Ministry of Demography, Family, Youth and Social Policy launched the "Every Child Needs a Family" in cooperation with UNICEF.
"We still think there are families willing to open their hearts," she said, adding that 2,107 children are in foster families in Croatia, including 121 who are under three.
She said that when the biological family could not provide for a child, every state had the duty to provide an alternative family.
More news about children can be found in the Lifestyle section.
