The maternal assistant is a natural person, certified under the conditions of Ordinance No. 27/2024, employed by the general directorate of social assistance and child protection, who provides at their home or, as the case may be, at their residence, the upbringing, care, and education of the child during the application of the special protection measure of placement, emergency placement for the child separated, temporarily or permanently, from their parents, or, as applicable, during the respite period of another maternal assistant.

The evaluation request for the issuance of the certificate of maternal assistant is resolved within 90 calendar days from the date of registration at DGASPC Sibiu.

The evaluation requested through the above-mentioned application is carried out by a team, designated by the management of the directorate, consisting of a psychologist and a social worker, the latter usually also being responsible for preparing the final report, and includes the following stages:

a) social evaluation;

b) psychological evaluation.

The social evaluation is carried out by a social worker throughout at least 4 meetings, and at the end of each meeting a meeting note is drawn up containing the observations and conclusions.

The psychological evaluation is carried out by a psychologist and involves at least 2 evaluation meetings and, as applicable, counseling, and the results of the psychological evaluation and the recommendations are noted in clinical psychological evaluation sheets.

The social worker sets the schedule of meetings by mutual agreement with the psychologist and the applicant. Depending on the particularities of each case, the social worker or, as the case may be, the psychologist may decide, with justification, on the need to conduct additional meetings, communicating this decision to the applicant for updating the meeting schedule.

Meetings conducted for the purpose of social and psychological evaluation take place at the applicant's residence or at the directorate's office. Each team member has the obligation to conduct at least one of the evaluation meetings at the home or, as applicable, residence of the applicant.

After the social and psychological evaluation, in order to prepare for the exercise

of the activity of maternal assistant, the applicant participates in professional training courses. The training courses are

not taken by the applicant who is a graduate of university studies in the field of social assistance, psychology, or education sciences.

After going through the stages of evaluation and preparation for the exercise of the maternal assistant's activity, the members of the evaluation team prepare the final report on the capacity to care for the upbringing, care, and education of a child or, as applicable, several children.

The final evaluation report of the applicant's capacity to become a maternal assistant includes:

a) synthesis of the psychosocial information recorded in meeting notes, clinical psychological evaluation sheets, and the training report;

b) the motivation to become a maternal assistant;

c) the applicant's parental abilities from the perspective of their capacity to respond to the needs and characteristics of the child separated temporarily or permanently from parents;

d) the conclusions of the evaluation team regarding the number of children the applicant can care for simultaneously, their age group, the capacity to care for sibling groups, children with disabilities, as well as the capacity to take over children in emergency placement or during the respite period of another maternal assistant;

e) the proposal regarding the issuance or, as applicable, non-issuance of the certificate of maternal assistant.

When establishing the number of children, it is mandatory to verify compliance with the minimum requirements of the dwelling used by the applicant, regarding sanitary rooms, minimum equipment of sanitary rooms, kitchen, minimum equipment of electrical installations, common-use spaces and installations for buildings with several dwellings, provided in Annex No. 1 to Housing Law No. 114/1996, republished, with subsequent amendments and completions.

The final evaluation report is communicated to the applicant within 10 working days from its registration at the directorate, with confirmation of receipt, by post or electronic mail, to the address indicated by the applicant.

Throughout the evaluation process, the person seeking to obtain the certificate of maternal assistant has the obligation to inform the directorate about any changes that are relevant to fulfilling the conditions provided by Ordinance No. 27/2024 regarding the conditions for obtaining the certificate, the certification procedure, and the status of the maternal assistant, attaching, as applicable, supporting documents.

The applicant who has received the final evaluation report with a proposal for issuing the certificate submits to the DGASPC Sibiu headquarters a request addressed to the child protection commission, requesting the issuance of the certificate of maternal assistant, which is resolved within 30 calendar days from the date of registration at DGASPC Sibiu

The child protection commission, after analyzing the final evaluation report of the applicant's capacity to become a maternal assistant, presented by one of the evaluation team members and hearing the applicant, makes a motivated decision regarding the acceptance or, as applicable, rejection of the request for issuance of the certificate of maternal assistant. The certificate of maternal assistant is an annex to the decision of the child protection commission.

The child protection commission may, in justified situations, also hear other persons who live with the applicant, whom they may request additional information considered necessary for the acceptance or, as applicable, rejection of the request.

The certificate of maternal assistant is issued for an indefinite period and is endorsed every two years.

In the content of the certificate of maternal assistant, the following is mentioned:

a) the identity data of the holder;

b) the number of children the certified person can receive simultaneously in placement, if they can care for several children;

c) the age group of the children;

d) the applicant's capacity to care for children with disabilities;

e) the applicant's capacity to receive children in emergency placement;

f) the applicant's capacity to receive sibling groups in placement;

g) the applicant's capacity to receive children during the respite period of another maternal assistant.

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