Child minder
From the seed of an idea planted in Poland's constitution of 1997, fruit has finally been borne.
Last week, Poland's inaugural child ombudsman's office was officially opened.
Enacted under a law passed on Jan. 6, 2000, the ombudsman's role is to ensure the nation's children are protected from "violence, cruelty, exploitation, depravation, neglect and other maltreatment." Prior to this, the role was split across various government departments, the police, the courts, and the civil rights ombudsman.
But for such a young creation, the office of the children's ombudsman has already attracted its fair share of controversy. It took the Sejm and Senate eight months to find its first ombudsman, Marek Piechowiak, who was finally appointed in June 2000.
He resigned just three months later. The official comment cited Piechowiak's ill health.
The media speculated on other possibilities such as political infighting and a lack of funding.
It was another five months before the government found its second children's ombudsman in the form of MP and family law judge Pawel Jaros. He received a majority vote from 222 MPs and assumed office on Feb. 16 this year.
With a staff of 25, and an annual budget of zl. 3.4 million ($850,000), the 39-year-old father of two has the mind-boggling task of networking with more than 3,000 government and non-government organizations in Poland that are concerned with child welfare. He has also started pushing for law reforms: one to improve the method of government payments for parents of adopted children; and another regarding the rather grisly definition of a new type of crime the torture of minors.
Jaros will be in the position for five years; but he says he will give himself 12 months to see how efficiently his power and his budget work in practice.
"I do not rule out that I may ask Parliament to amend the act on the children's ombudsman toward a change of competencies and whether this money is enough to run my operations.
"But," he adds to temper his comment, "my concept of working here is not based on putting people against each other, but instead, focusing on the problem."
In his opinion, the state of children's welfare in Poland is similar to that of the rest of Europe. Jaros' greatest work will be done behind the scenes, working the political system to achieve his goals.
"What is important to me is that those people (who voted for me in Parliament) support me in the future just as strongly now that I have assumed office but in such a way that they respect my independence.
"It should be friendly help not something pushy from people who understand what 'independence' and 'non-political' mean."
