The maternal assistant is the 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 definitively from their parents or, as the case may be, during the respite period of another maternal assistant.

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

The evaluation requested by the above-mentioned request is carried out by a team, appointed by the management of the directorate, composed 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 over a minimum of 4 meetings, and at the end of each meeting a meeting note is prepared containing the resulting observations and conclusions.

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

The social worker will establish by mutual agreement with the psychologist and the applicant the meeting schedule. Depending on the specifics of each case, the social worker or, as the case may be, the psychologist may decide, with justification, on the need for additional meetings, communicating this decision to the applicant in order to update the meeting schedule.

Meetings held for social and psychological evaluation take place at the applicant’s residence or at the directorate's headquarters. Each member of the evaluation team is required to conduct at least one of the evaluation meetings at the applicant’s domicile or, as the case may be, at their residence.

After the social and psychological evaluation, in preparation for carrying out

the activity of maternal assistant, the applicant attends professional training courses. The training courses

are not required for the applicant who is a graduate with university studies in social work, psychology, or education sciences.

After completing the evaluation stages and preparation for the activity of maternal assistant, the members of the evaluation team prepare the final report evaluating the capacity to take care of the upbringing, care, and education of a child or, as the case may be, several children.

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

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

b) the motivation to become a maternal assistant;

c) the applicant’s parental abilities from the perspective of their ability to respond to the needs and characteristics of the child separated temporarily or definitively from parents;

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

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

When determining the number of children it is mandatory to check compliance with the minimum requirements fulfilled by the housing used by the applicant, regarding sanitary rooms, minimum equipment of sanitary facilities, kitchen, minimum equipment with electrical installations, common use Sopaces and installations for buildings with multiple homes, as provided in annex no. 1 to the 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 with the directorate, with confirmation of receipt, by a postal service or by email, at the address indicated by the applicant.

Throughout the evaluation process, the person requesting the maternal assistant certificate is obliged to inform the directorate regarding any changes regarding fulfilling the conditions provided by Ordinance no. 27/2024 regarding the conditions for obtaining the certificate, the certification party, and the status of the maternal assistant, annexing, as appropriate, supporting documents.

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

The child protection commission, following the analysis of the final evaluation report of the applicant's capacity to become a maternal assistant, presented by one of the members of the evaluation team and the hearing of the applicant, rules by a reasoned decision regarding the acceptance or, as the case may be, the rejection of the request for issuance of the maternal assistant certificate. The maternal assistant certificate is an annex to the decision of the child protection commission.

The child protection commission may, in justified situations, also hear other people living with the applicant, from whom it may request additional information it deems necessary for acceptance or, as the case may be, rejection of the application.

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

The maternal assistant certificate mentions:

a) the holder’s identification data;

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

c) the children’s age group;

d) the applicant’s ability to care for children with disabilities;

e) the applicant’s ability to receive children in emergency placement;

f) the applicant’s ability to receive sibling groups in placement;

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

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