For two years they had the chance to take a break in the summer, but this year it is over: Ukrainian families are surprisingly cut off from financing holiday camps in Austria. And with an argument that is completely incomprehensible to the responsible organizations.
It was supposed to be a few carefree days for the Ukrainian children, but what was possible for them last year is denied them this year. Just a few weeks before summer camp, about 130 families had their state funding cut.
“It is incomprehensible that the children no longer receive anything under the same conditions as last year,” says Andreas Loinig, responsible for the camps in Kinderfreunde Steiermark. For most families, their summer dream has fallen apart: they can rarely afford 700 euros per child.
The country seems to believe that the refugees are ‘no longer traumatised’, says Ulrike Krawagna of ‘Styria Helps’ in horror. For the past two years, she had placed Ukrainian families in summer camps. When they came to Austria, they were offered support, for example in the form of family benefits and support.
Special arrangement for 2023
The responsible State Councilor Simone Schmiedtbauer (ÖVP) is calling for a special arrangement that was only planned for 2023. This year, the support only applies to working parents; benefits have even been increased for them.
But Ukrainian families, who mainly provide basic care, are now excluded; they accounted for ten percent of the bookings for children’s friends. Nothing was known about this arrangement, Loinig emphasizes. It would also have helped to have been informed earlier; finding alternative financing would now be difficult. “It’s a drama for the children,” says Krawagna.
Source: Krone
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