Rõuge faces €6,500 penalty over child protection failures
Tuesday 10th November 2026 on 15:15 in
Estonia
Rõuge Municipality has until the end of August 2027 to address persistent shortcomings in its child protection work or face a €6,500 coercive payment, ERR reported. The Social Insurance Board and the municipality have both cited frequent staff turnover as one cause of the problems.
The board opened a supervisory review on January 26, 2024, to examine how the municipality organised child protection. It found systemic shortcomings and later conducted a follow-up review, which showed that they remained. The board initially gave the municipality extra time to make improvements because staff had changed and new employees needed time to address the issues.
A second follow-up in July found that the problems persisted. The board then issued an order requiring the municipality to correct them in five areas.
Board supervisory official Aasa Harjak said some cases had not been properly assessed. In some instances, officials had not spoken with the child or documented a conversation, established all relevant circumstances or considered how problems in the child’s environment affected them.
Harjak said some cases lacked an action plan setting out what steps would be taken, what support the family would receive and what responsibilities the parents would assume. The municipality had also failed in some cases to assess a child’s need for help or decide whether the child and family required coordinated support or a single measure.
Under the Child Protection Act, a child’s need for help must be assessed within 10 days of authorities receiving information about the child. Harjak said that in some cases no decision had been made about the appropriate support.
Harjak said frequent staff changes could leave unfinished cases without a proper handover. She warned that failing to assess a child’s needs and choosing support without analysis could leave gaps in assistance and cause setbacks. In cases involving abuse at home, she said, the first priority is to ensure the child’s safety and check whether the measures being used are helping.