EUROPEAN COMMISSION Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion Directorate C — Social Affairs Unit C.3 — Disability & inclusion European Commission B-1049 Brussels Contact: Julius op de Beke ([email protected]) EUROPEAN COMMISSION Feasibility Study for a Child Guarantee Target Group Discussion Paper on Children living in Precarious Family Situations 2019 José-Manuel Fresno, Stefan Meyer and Skye Bain Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion 2019 In 2015, the European Parliament called on the European Commission and the European Union Member States ‘to introduce a Child Guarantee so that every child in poverty can have access to free healthcare, free education, free childcare, decent housing and adequate nutrition, as part of a European integrated plan to combat child poverty’. Following the subsequent request by the Parliament to the Commission to implement a Preparatory Action to explore the potential scope of a Child Guarantee for vulnerable children, the Commission commissioned a study to analyse the feasibility of such a scheme. The Feasibility Study for a Child Guarantee (FSCG) is carried out by a consortium consisting of Applica and the Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER), in close collaboration with Eurochild and Save the Children, and with the support of nine thematic experts, 28 country experts and an independent study editor. For more information on the Feasibility Study for a Child Guarantee, see: https://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=1428&langId=en. LEGAL NOTICE Manuscript completed in 2019 Neither the European Commission nor any person acting on behalf of the European Commission is responsible for the use that might be made of the following information. More information on the European Union is available on the Internet (http://www.europa.eu). Please cite this publication as: Fresno, J-M, Meyer S. and Bain, S. (2019). “Target Group Discussion Paper on Children living in Precarious Family Situations”, Feasibility Study for a Child Guarantee (FSCG), Brussels: European Commission. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2020 PDF ISBN 978-92-76-20771-9 doi:10.2767/861528 KE-02-20-555-EN-N © European Union, 2020 cover page: © Eurochild, 2020 Reuse is authorised provided the source is acknowledged. The reuse policy of European Commission documents is regulated by Decision 2011/833/EU (OJ L 330, 14.12.2011, p. 39). For any use or reproduction of photos or other material that is not under the EU copyright, permission must be sought directly from the copyright holders. Target Group Discussion Paper Children living in precarious family situations Contents LIST OF OFFICIAL COUNTRIES’ ABBREVIATIONS AND OTHER ACRONYMS ............................ 4 Official countries’ abbreviations .................................................................................. 4 Other acronyms ........................................................................................................ 4 CONTEXT OF THE PAPER, AUTHORSHIP AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................... 6 1 SUMMARY ................................................................................................................ 7 2 DEFINITION OF THE TARGET GROUP AND INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS OBLIGATIONS .......................................................................................................... 8 3 OVERALL SITUATION OF THE TARGET GROUP IN MEMBER STATES ............................... 13 3.1 Relative size of the target group and overall poverty/social exclusion situation in the Member States ................................................................................................. 13 3.2 Overall situation of the target group in terms of adequate nutrition in the Member States ............................................................................................................. 25 3.3 Overall situation of the target group in terms of problems of access to free education ...................................................................................................................... 28 3.4 Overall situation of the target group in terms of problems of access to free healthcare ...................................................................................................................... 33 3.5 Overall situation of the target group in terms of problems of access to decent housing ...................................................................................................................... 36 3.6 Overall situation of the target group in terms of problems of access to free early childhood education and care ............................................................................. 40 4 DESCRIPTION AND ASSESSMENT OF MAIN POLICIES AND PROGRAMMES IN PLACE IN THE MEMBER STATES AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR IMPROVEMENTS .......................... 44 4.1 Description and assessment of main policies to ensure adequate nutrition and recommendations for improvements ................................................................... 44 4.2 Description and assessment of main policies to ensure access to free education and recommendations for improvements ................................................................... 47 4.3 Description and assessment of main policies to ensure access to free healthcare and recommendations for improvements ................................................................... 52 4.4 Description and assessment of main policies to ensure decent housing and recommendations for improvements ................................................................... 54 4.5 Description and assessment of main policies to ensure access to free early childhood education and care and recommendations for improvements ................................. 58 4.6 Extent of integrated, comprehensive and strategic approach and recommendations for improvements ............................................................................................. 62 4.7 Costs of services (exploratory) ........................................................................... 65 5 USE OF EU FUNDS AND POTENTIAL FOR A CHILD GUARANTEE ..................................... 68 5.1 Extent of use ................................................................................................... 69 5.2 Effectiveness ................................................................................................... 75 5.3 Recommendations ............................................................................................ 79 REFERENCES .............................................................................................................. 91 BACKGROUND DOCUMENTS GENERATED WITHIN THE FSCG .......................................... 101 ANNEXES ................................................................................................................. 103 Estimation of size of Roma population ..................................................................... 103 Management of European Funds ............................................................................. 106 List of Policy Area and Country Experts .................................................................... 112 3 Target Group Discussion Paper Children living in precarious family situations List of official countries’ abbreviations and other acronyms Official countries’ abbreviations EU countries prior to EU countries that 2004, 2007, and 2013 joined in 2004, 2007 enlargements (EU-15) or 2013 BE Belgium 2004 enlargement DK Denmark CZ Czechia DE Germany EE Estonia IE Ireland CY Cyprus EL Greece LV Latvia ES Spain LT Lithuania FR France HU Hungary IT Italy MT Malta LU Luxembourg PL Poland NL The Netherlands SI Slovenia AT Austria SK Slovakia PT Portugal FI Finland 2007 enlargement SE Sweden BG Bulgaria UK United Kingdom RO Romania 2013 enlargement HR Croatia Other acronyms AROP At risk of poverty AROPE At risk of poverty or social exclusion CERD Convention for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (UN) CESCR International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (UN) CoE Council of Europe CRC Convention on the Rights of the Child (UN) CSF Common Strategic Framework CSR Country Specific Recommendations (of the European Semester process) EAFRD European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development EC European Commission ECEC Early childhood education and care EPSR European Pillar of Social Rights ERDF European Regional Development Fund ESF European Social Fund ESIF European Structural and Investment Funds (includes ERDF/Cohesion Funds and ESF/Youth Employment Initiative) EU-SILC EU Statistics on Income and Living Conditions FEAD Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived 4 Target Group Discussion Paper Children living in precarious family situations FRA Agency for Fundamental Rights (EU) FSCG Feasibility Study for a Child Guarantee GMI Guaranteed minimum income HBSC Health Behaviour in School-aged Children IP Investment Priority IPR Integrated Pedagogical System (Hungary) NGO Non-government organisation NRIS National Roma Integration Strategy OP Operational Programme PA Policy Area PF Precarious families PISA Programme for International Student Assessment (OECD) SDG Sustainable Development Goal SEN Special educational needs TG Target group TO Thematic Objective UHC Universal health coverage UNICEF United Nations Children’s Fund WHO World Health Organisation 5 Target Group Discussion Paper Children living in precarious family situations Context of the paper,