Riga, Nov 27 (LETA) - The institution of Orphan Courts in Latvia is outdated and it would be best if decisions about the future of children were made within the court system, Ombudsman Karina Palkova told LETA in an interview.

She said that the Ombudsman's Office receives a lot of complaints about violations of children's rights and the work of Orphan Courts, so the quality of the work of this institution will be one of the priorities of the Ombudsman's Office in the coming year.

Palkova said that the complaints point out that the Orphan Courts are not impartial, not independent, that their decisions are not justified, not of good quality, that they do not take into account the opinion of the mother, do not pay attention to the issue of alienation, that they are influenced and do not look into the essence of the problem.

"I would say that the institution of Orphan Courts as such is outdated. In no other European country do Orphan Courts exist as they do here. What puzzles me most is that decisions about the future of a child are taken by an institution that is outside the judicial system and whose work is largely determined by the perceptions and priorities of the municipal leadership and politicians," said Palkova.

She said that the requirements for Orphan Court staff were too low and that the Saeima was now planning to lower them even further, i.e. not to introduce a certification system for Orphan Court staff and to leave professional assessment to the discretion of each municipality.

The Ombudsman stressed that children's rights cases are always interdisciplinary and require both legal knowledge and an understanding of child psychology, social protection, violence prevention and crisis management.

"Ideally, Orphan Courts should be reorganized and decisions on the future of children should be taken within the judicial system, by people with appropriate education, maturity and, of course, independence," stressed Palkova.

The Saeima is currently considering amendments to the Orphan Courts Law, which propose to abolish the qualification commission for Orphan Courts and the certification of Orphan Court staff. The Ombudsman's Office has submitted proposals, which point out that the current mechanism of evaluation of Orphan Court employees in municipalities does not replace the objectives of the qualification commission and the purpose of certification of Orphan Court staff - evaluation of professional performance and the system of evaluation of the content of continuing education programs and the results of their completion. Therefore, the Ombudsman's Office calls upon the Saeima to decide what mechanism of professional performance evaluation of Orphan Court staff would be the most appropriate to protect and ensure the rights and interests of the child.

The Ombudsman's Office also calls for the Orphan Court Law to stipulate that persons who have previously been removed from the duties of a guardian due to their disorderly performance or who have been deprived of the status of a foster family may not work in an Orphan Court.