ALL FAMILIES ARE EQUAL
Croatia is a country with a relatively good legal framework on the rights of LGBTQI + community andfoster care in LGBTQI + family is guaranteed by the Constitutional Court decision in December 2019. However, it still does not happen or happens very rarely and after public pressure.
Hidden power of social welfare centres, probably caused by prejudices, fear of superiors and relatively justified fear of reactions in public space should be removed.
The two-year project “All families are equal” is implemented in partnership with the Association of family Rainbow and Dikkedokken Filmlaug from Norway, financed by the Croatian active Citizenship Fund.
The idea of the project is to show in the most sensitive area of discrimination to the general population that LGBTI + persons have common needs and desires and that the prevailing social construct of “otherness” is unjustified. The project “All families are equal” aims to reduce discrimination against members of LGBTQI + community by ensuring institutional conditions and social acceptance of adopting children in LGBTQI + families.
The project team will educate employees of social welfare centres and their principals, a non-Orthodox public campaign based on the reaction of different people on social networks and electronic and internet media, and establish a network of civil society organisations, experts/women interested in supporting foster careers in LGBTQI + families.
Many will benefit from the project: social welfare centres, the general population, LGBTQI + families and communities.
The aim of the “All families are equal” project is to increase the percentage of population that accepts adoption of children in LGBTQI + families. The project also plans to establish multi-sectoral cooperation between competent ministries and civil society organizations dealing with the promotion and protection of human rights of LGBTI + persons. Cooperation between human rights organizations and state bodies can lead to significant progress in procedures that determine the content and quality of everyday life, and enable the state administration to start applying and promoting non-discriminatory policies towards everyone.
The partnership in the project is carefully complex. OMG, the project applicant, has experience in managing multi-annual projects and public campaigns dealing with human rights. Long families are specialised in human rights OF LGBTQI + families and have already worked in foster care. They have a network of volunteers and experts who are ready to engage. Dikedocen Filmlamlauju from Norway is an association with experience in documentary production and sufficiently widespread connections to organize a relevant study trip to Norway and bring experts/cinema to Croatia who can transfer their experiences
