The Association of Orphan Court Workers of Latvia disagreed with several conclusions of Ombudsman Karina Palkova, who previously called for a radical reform of the existing system. Industry representatives believe that the issues of child rights protection cannot be explained by the work of just one institution.
The Association of Orphan Court Workers of Latvia has criticized the report by Ombudsman Karina Palkova, which proposes to reconsider the current model of orphan court operations and implement a large-scale reform of the child rights protection system.
The chairwoman of the association, Taiga Ziemele, stated that the document contains contradictions and insufficiently substantiated conclusions. According to her, the effectiveness of child rights protection depends on the functioning of the entire system, not just the orphan courts.
The association believes that many problems in the report are primarily linked to the activities of orphan courts without due consideration of the roles of social services, courts, medical institutions, and other involved structures.
One of the contentious points is the assessment of the duration of court proceedings. Industry representatives note that the timeframes for case consideration are influenced not only by the conclusions of orphan courts but also by a lack of experts, court congestion, repeated requests for documents, and the actions of process participants.
According to Ziemele, court proceedings often drag on to the extent that orphan courts have to prepare new conclusions, as previously gathered information becomes outdated.
The association also disagrees with the assertion that orphan courts do not know the children who have to be placed in out-of-home care well enough. In emergency situations, the main task is to ensure the child's safety, so complete information about their needs may not always be gathered before making an initial decision.
It is important to understand that the dispute concerns not individual procedures but the future of the entire child protection system in Latvia. The Ombudsman proposes to effectively abandon the current model of orphan courts, while industry representatives believe that the problem should be addressed by improving the functioning of the entire system.
At the same time, the association acknowledges that changes are indeed necessary. Among the main problems are a lack of specialists, high workloads on staff, and the complexity of cases being considered. There is also a need to strengthen unified quality standards and improve cooperation between various institutions.
Representatives of the orphan courts expressed regret that the conclusions of the report were not discussed with industry professionals during its preparation stage. The association invited Ombudsman Karina Palkova to meet on June 27 to discuss the findings of the document and possible ways to improve the system.
It should be noted that the Ombudsman previously proposed two options for reform: to transfer the functions of orphan courts to courts and social services or to create a centralized Child Protection Center with regional subdivisions. In her opinion, the existing system no longer provides an equal level of protection for children's rights across all municipalities in the country.
The government has been asked to develop a new model by the end of this year and to implement it by the beginning of 2028.
Thus, the discussion about the future of orphan courts is entering a new phase and may lead to one of the most significant reforms of the child rights protection system in recent years.
