Conclusion

• Author: Applica, Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion (European Commission), Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER)
• Pages: 25-26

Report on the online consultation

25

Conclusion

The online consultation was implemented as part of a study on the feasibility of introducing

a Child Guarantee f or vulnerable children in the EU and was aimed at gathering views on

the feasibility, efficiency an d overall benefits of such a schem e. Over 1,150 peopl e were

invited to fill in the questionnaire between 14 January 2019 and 22 February 2019 and 301

valid replies were received.

The responses to the questionnai re came mai nly from people expressing views on behalf

of organisations an d, in p articular, of NGOs and national public authorities. When

interpreting the replies, it is important to keep in mind the geographi cal imbalance, in the

sense that those responding were not evenly distributed across the EU.

The large majority of respondents indicated that their country should combat child poverty

and social exclu sion better and that the EU should help in this by doing mor e than it has

up to now. This was particul arly true for countries where the level of child deprivation is

relatively high. The greater involvement of the EU wa s supported in pa rticular by

respondents from NGOs.

The main barriers to ch ildren’s access to key social services in the view of respondents,

differ according to the type of disadvantage experienced by the chi ldren.

 Independently of the type of service provided, the main barri ers identified for

children living in precarious famil y situations are the non-avai lability of services,

lack of awareness of those available and problems of a ffordability. Discrimin ation

and problems relating to cultural access were also relevant for access to education,

while the non-eligibility for sup port was identified as one of the main barriers to

access decent housing.

 For children of migrants or refugees, the major barriers identified stem from

discrimination and problems of cultural access, as well as insufficient i nformation

and the lack of affordability (specifically for early childhood education and care and

housing). Being a migrant and the residence status involve is also seen a s a

problem since it affects access to many services.

 For children with disabilities, the mai n barriers are seen as problems of physical

access, services not being adapted to children’s needs and th e non-availability of

services. In addition, a number of respondents pointed to problems of

discrimination, specifically as regards education and problems of affordab ility as

regards housing.

The large majority of respondents was strongly in favour of more EU political commitment

to improving the access of vulnerable children to key social rights, preferabl y on the basis

of the 2013 EU Recommendation on Investing in children and the European Pillar of Social

Rights. Most also agreed on the importance of monitoring, assessing and reporting on child

poverty and children’s access to key social rights

9.

The large majority of respondents also suppo rt the idea that the Commission should do

more to promote exchange of best practice between Member Stat es and that EU targets

relating to child poverty and children’s soci al rights should be established as part of an y

successor to the Europe 2020 Strategy.

Equally, respondents expressed support too for:

 the development and the promotion by the Comm ission of good standards for the

social integration of the children of migrants;

9 More specifically, the large majority of respondents therefore expressed support for the annual reporting by

the Member States on child poverty and children’s access to social rights in their country; for establishing an

obligation to assess of the impact of policies on child poverty; for creating an indicator for the situation of children

in the “Social Scoreboard”; for more EU involvement to improve the quality and availability of data on vulnerable

children, and for encouraging transparency and reporting by Member States on the amounts spent on policies to

combat child poverty and promote children’s social rights.