1. Riga municipality support for families with children - delegation of individual social case work with families with children to NGO EUROCITIES Social Affairs Forum: Deep seated urban poverty – Preventing and responding to poverty and inequalities Lisbon, 3-4 April Workshop 2: Child poverty and Child Guarantee
Mārtiņš Moors
Riga City Council Welfare Department
Head of Social Administration

2. Status of the City since 1201
Overview about Riga
Status of the City since 1201
Riga is the largest city in the Baltic States in terms of city population –
residents ( )
The working age population – 61.5%
Unemployment rate:
Riga 5.0%, Latvia 8.4%
About one-third of Latvia’s population lives in Riga city, and over half the population of Latvia lives in agglomerations of Riga
Minimum monthly wage 380 euro
The average monthly
 wages (gross) of workers:
Riga EUR 971
Latvia EUR 859
Riga is truly a multi-ethnic society. Riga residents by nationality:
43% - Latvians
39% - Russians
4% - Belarusians
4% - Ukrainians
10% - other nationalities
Riga is Latvia’s capital, and the main industrial, business, culture, sports and financial center in the Baltic region, as well as important port city

3. Number of children in family Total number of children
Families and large families in Riga % of all children in Latvia live in Riga
Number of children in family
Number of families
Total number of children 1
52 026 2
21 910
43 820 3
5 248
15 744 4
1 076
4 304 5
299
1 495
6 and more
201
1 712
Total
80 760
„Family” - family members living at the same address
In in poorest Latvian region risk of poverty 39.2%
Population bu age (0 – 17) - Latvia:
Age 0-6 – 150 093
Age  012
Total – 375 105 children
Risk of poverty rate 13.5%, for children 7.9%
12 % of all families received social benefits from Riga municipality – tested and untested benefits

4. Social integration and support to families – the priority of Sustainable Development Strategy of Riga 2030
Universal support (not depend on family income or social status)
Support to large families (3 and more children)
Support to families with disabled children
Support to needy families with children
Individual approach for families with children at risk
The main task is to reach families who need help the most and at the same time to support the well-being of families with children in general

5. Integrated approach to support families with children, examples of standing practice – municipal budget
Public transport services are provided free of charge to pupils up to grade 12
Pupils of grades 1-9 and pupils of grades from needy families receive free lunch at the school canteen
Co-payment for children in private pre-schools is EUR for years old children, EUR for 5-6 years old children and EUR for baby- sitters support
Possibility to register for municipal housing support if the parents have lived in Riga at least for 5 years
Over 20 different social services for families with children
100% exemption from the co-pay for hobby and vocationally oriented education (such as sports, music and art schools) programmes for needy or low-income families with children, students with disabilities and large families
Property tax relief for 50% families with 1 child, 70% families with 2 children and low- income and 90% for large, poor families and families with pupils with disabilities
Social benefits
Integrated approach- education, transport, leisure, housing
Standing practice and activities supported through projects - municipal budget
Public transport fare for adults relief - 100% of the monthly subscription tickets, if both parents with 6 and more children have registered their place of residence in Riga
Public transport fare for adults relief – 60 % of the monthly subscription tickets for one of parents with 3 to 5 children
Child care services in Riga are provided by municipal and public institutions as well as private persons and provision of these services is mandatory for children from 1.5 years of age. Municipalities in Latvia implement pre-school education for children from 3 years of age, however mandatory pre-school education starts at the age of 5 and the school should be started at 7 years. It is to be taken into account that parental leave for the mother or father who is taking care of the child is granted for a period not exceeding 1.5 years. Consequently, Riga municipality has extensive experience in child care and education (Au Pair, kindergartens) service organisation and provision for the children at age of 1.5 years and older.
Family health promotion activities
Classes for pre-school and primary school parents (parent meetings in educational institutions) on children's emotional development issues;
classes for parents - strengthening of pairs relations by promoting the involvement of fathers in child care;
lectures for school youngsters (7th -9th grade and 10th-12 grade age groups) about life skills and awareness on the mutual relationship and the building and the strengthening of family values;
training programs for parents in pedagogy of love "Love therapy for me and my child»,
support (self-support) group sessions for parents «Positive school start», whose children are preparing for the first class;
mediation program / mediation counseling for Riga Social Service clients in crisis situations, finding an acceptable conflict / crisis situations solution for all parties involved.

6. Families with children - social case work service receivers in Riga Social Service office
Number of families
Total number of persons in families
Number of adult persons in families
Number of children in families
Social service office
3 211
12 654
7 284
5 373
Multifunctional problems
caregivers addictions, violence, child neglect, caregivers mental disorders und psychiatry, emotional abuse, low income
around 40 social cases per social worker – overloaded
lack of social workers in the municipality
ethical dilemmas for social workers and administration

7. Case Study
Project - Family support & strengthening program of SOS Children’s Villages in Latvia ( ) Delegation of Individual SOCIAL Case WORK WITH FAMILIES TO NGO

8. Overall goal of the project: to prevent children from abuse and neglect and to reduce the risks of their social exclusion
TOTAL budged: EUR
Micro level  to build capacity within vulnerable families to prevent them from falling apart and abandoning their children
Mezo level  to build up capacity and to foster cross-sectorial cooperation of professionals of social work and to improve prevention system for vulnerable children
Macro level  to foster cooperation between the relevant NGO’s & public stakeholders to reach improvement of the policy framework & quality and accessibility of services for children & families

9. Delegation of Individual SOCIAL Case WORK WITH FAMILIES TO NGO
Riga Municipality: 48% funding
Delegating full social case management function to SOS
Possibility to develop new approach
20 social cases per social worker, 100 cases per month
SOS: 23% funding
Quality support to children and families
Systemic changes
Development of state and municipality services for families with children
By the law: social work can be done only by the municipality, the project showed courage and for the first time in Latvian this function of municipality was delegated to NGO
EUR ( ) –ir budžets ar visām citām aktivitātēm – interešu aizstāvība, dzemdības, bērnudārzs
“The social order” from OAK Foundation: 29% funding Innovations in the area of social work Preventive work Systemic changes Scale of country

10. What we gained from this experience?
Experience of municipality function delegation:
Legal conditions and procedure
Agreement about subject, service description, unit of cost
Standard of service – max case load
Provided services for 174 families with ~370 children (complicated cases)
42 families (or 24%) have finished cooperation as self- reliant (and 26 families for other reasons)
More flexible teamwork approach /experience
More diverse social service market
From 2017 full social case work to SOS is financed from Riga budget
Improved Handbook how to work with the risk families
Established cooperation with OAK foundation to implement another new initiatives
Cooperation on all levels – state, municipality, NGO
~ 66 % are high risk level families – Orphan’s Court already engaged in their cases
In 12 families terminated parent rights - 15 children with custodians, 6 children in foster families, 6 children in state orphanage

11. Thank you! Mārtiņš Moors E-mail: martins.moors@riga.lv
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