Woman Gets 10 Kunas Child Support For Each Child!

Marija Mijic, 46-year-old single mother of five can barely make ends meet. She moved more than 10 times in the last 20 years.

The Municipal court in Slavonski Brod ordered Jozo Mijic to pay child support in the amount of 50 kunas in the course of the divorce proceedings between Marija Mijic and Jozo Mijic in 2004. Since the divorced couple has five children, Jozo had to pay 10 kunas for each child! 

The court officials distanced themselves by saying that the decision was such because Jozo Mijic is a psychiatric patient and has no source of income because he is unemployed. Even though the alimony that was set was absurdly low, Jozo did not pay it.

Single mother Marija was left on the street with her three sons and two daughters. She was not aware of the fact that, in a situation like this one, the Centre for Social Welfare was obligated by Family law to help her. 

Social Welfare Centre did not react 

To clarify, article 352 of the Family law states that the Social Welfare Centre is obligated to help support a child if the court rules that the parent has not fulfilled his or her commitment for more than three months.

The mother and her children moved to Zagreb, where they first lived in the Autonomous House and then she turned to the single parents' association.

"She lived in with benefactors for six months and, as I had been informed on the case, I told her to turn to the Social Welfare Centre for child support aid," said the single parents' association secretary Goran Pavlic, who was also the association's president at the time. 

This happened two years after the absurd court ruling in Slavonski Brod. The Centre for Social Welfare awarded 400 kunas for four children at the time, but now she only receives the sum for three. To clarify, the two daughters are going to university and, since this is not mandatory education, social welfare has "given up" on them. 

Apartment in Zumberak mountains for 1,900 kunas a month  

The single mother currently resides in Samobor, in an apartment given to her by the heads of the town of Samobor. The modest, introverted Marija is very grateful for the deed, but she says that this does not even come close to solving her problems. 

"I pay 1,900 kunas for the apartment because we are subtenants and it is also 30 km away from Samobor, which is to say, it is in the Zumberak mountains," the 46-year-old Marija confessed to us. 

She continued by saying that the location did not suit her because only three buses passed there the whole day. It is also interesting that the introverted Marija does not blame anyone for her situation. She is not even angry at the legal system, which utterly failed in this instance without any question. 

13 percent of single parents in Croatia 

Democratic Centre (DC) headquarters commented on the sad fate of Marija Mijic. The party's spokeswoman Iva Mia Erak said that the Government did not take sufficient care of single parents. 

"There are 250,000 single parents living in Croatia and 300,000 children, which constitutes 13 percent of the entire population," said Iva Mia Erak. 

She noted that it was sad that the Minister of the Family, Veterans and Intergenerational Solidarity Jadranka Kosor, a single mother herself, did not show more understanding for single parent families.  

Ministry of the Family has no authority!? 

On the other side, the Ministry that was called out has tossed the ball into a different courtyard. Berislav Zivkovic, Minister Kosor's spokesman, claims that alimony problems are under the authority of the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare. 

It is odd that a ministry that has the noun FAMILY in its complex name would wash its hands of this case... Is it really possible that a child of a single parent is worth 10 kunas?