Pipaluk Olsen (D) has tabled a debate in Inatsisartut on changing the current practice, where foster children are temporarily placed with another family when their foster family goes on vacation.
– Imagine how a child feels when their foster parents leave them and the child is placed with another family while the foster parents are on vacation, says member of Inatsisartut Pipaluk Olsen from Demokraatit to the newspaper Sermitsiaq.
To change the practice, she has tabled a debate in Inatsisartut during the spring session, so that foster children are given the opportunity to take a vacation and live a family life like other children.
According to current legislation, foster children are temporarily placed with another family while their foster parents are on vacation.
Different practices in the municipalities
The background to the inquiry debate is that the rules are administered differently from municipality to municipality. Some municipalities allow foster parents to take foster children on holiday, while others refuse.
Pipaluk Olsen believes that greater consideration should be given to the children's needs – regardless of which municipality they live in.
– Children should be treated equally throughout the country, regardless of which municipality they live in, because it is about their feelings. Foster children and foster parents should be able to go on holiday together, she says.
– The legislation seems too insensitive towards children, and rules should be introduced that take their needs into account to a greater extent.
– With the current legislation, there is a need for rules that better protect both children and foster parents.
Grateful to foster parents
It will cost 14.3 million kroner to introduce annual vacations for foster families, according to a response from the Government of Greenland to Pipaluk Olsen.
Public employees currently have the opportunity to take a vacation every other year.
– When I propose a debate on questions, I am always open to different solutions. If Inatsisartut believes that it is necessary to give foster families the opportunity for a paid vacation every other year, I have nothing against it, says Pipaluk Olsen.
According to the proposer, foster parents play an important role in society, and their efforts should be recognized to a greater extent.
– We are grateful to foster parents, who provide children with security in the home, care, food, upbringing and support for their emotional well-being all year round, says Pipaluk Olsen.
Debate in Inatsisartut
The proposer hopes that the debate in Inatsisartut will focus more on the well-being and feelings of foster children.
– I hope that there will be a big debate in Inatsisartut about children, and I also hope that there will be interest in the topic outside Inatsisartut, says Pipaluk Olsen.
On May 13, Inatsisartut will discuss item 151, which is a question-and-answer debate based on the answers from Naalakkersuisut.
