Monitoring personal assistants

General

Social assistance for people with disabilities is provided by "Compartment monitoring personal assistants" of the Special Protection Service, based on Law No 448/2006, republished, on the protection and promotion of the rights of persons with disabilities, as amended and supplemented.                                                                    

Beneficiaries are those persons whose social environment, not adapted to their physical, sensory, mental, psychological and/or associated impairments, totally prevents or limits their access to equal opportunities in society, requiring protective measures to support social integration and inclusion.

Main activities

• It creates access conditions for all types of services appropriate to the individual needs of people with disabilities;
• Provides training on specific issues for staff working in the disability protection system, including personal assistants;
• Develops and supports collaborative programmes between parents and disability specialists, in collaboration or partnership with public or private legal entities;
• Encourages and supports voluntary activities;
• Provides home care services to severely disabled people by employing a personal assistant under the law;
• Provides information and counselling services to severely disabled people with personal/family assistance or their legal representatives on specific rights and obligations;
• Identifies social, individual and family needs for severely disabled people with personal assistants;
• Provides regular specific training for personal assistants of people with severe disabilities;
• Performs any other duties provided for by the legal regulations in force.

Principles

The protection and promotion of the rights of persons with disabilities is based on the following principles:

• Respect for fundamental human rights and freedoms;
• Preventing and combating discrimination;
• Equal opportunities;
• Equal treatment in employment and occupation;
• Social solidarity;
• Community empowerment;
• Subsidiarity;
• Adapting society to people with disabilities;
• The interest of the disabled person;
• Integrated approach;
• Partnership;
• Freedom of choice and control or decision over one's own life, services and forms of support;
• Person-centred approach to service provision;
• Protection against neglect and abuse;
• Choosing the least restrictive alternative in determining the support and assistance needed;
• Integration and social inclusion of people with disabilities, with equal rights and obligations as all other members of society.

The right to social assistance

The right to social assistance in the form of social services are granted on request or ex officio, as the case may be, on the basis of supporting documents, under the conditions laid down by the legal regulations in force. The application, together with the supporting documents, shall be submitted for registration to the local public administration authority in whose territorial area the disabled person is domiciled or resides, by the disabled person concerned, his/her family, legal representative, personal assistant, professional personal assistant or non-governmental organisation of which the disabled person is a member.

The severely disabled person is entitled, on the basis of a socio-psycho-medical assessment, to a personal assistant. If the employer is unable to employ the personal assistant, an allowance is granted, regardless of the choice made.

Conditions

Conditions which a person must fulfil in order to be engaged under a contract of employment as a personal assistant are as follows:

• He/she must be at least 18 years old;
• She has not been convicted of an offence that would make her incompatible with the occupation of personal assistant;
• It has full capacity to exercise;
• Has an appropriate state of health, certified by the family doctor or on the basis of a specialist medical examination;
• Has completed at least compulsory general education, with the exception of relatives up to and including the fourth degree of the severely disabled person, and with the exception of the spouse, if applicable; in exceptional circumstances, on the proposal of the social worker from the local council's own department in whose territorial area the person to be employed as a personal assistant is domiciled or resides, the National Authority for Persons with Disabilities may approve exemption from the educational requirements for other persons.

Documents required for the person applying for employment as a personal assistant

In order to start the employment procedures, the person applying for employment as a personal assistant must present himself/herself at the Social Assistance Department of Targu Mures, the following documents:

• Application for a social inquiry with a view to employment as a personal assistant (Application form 02. Application for a social inquiry for employment as a personal assistant);
• Identity and civil status documents of the applicant (original and copy);
• Applicant's educational documents (original and copy);
• Criminal record of the applicant (original) and certificate/certificate of behavioural integrity;
• Medical certificate issued by the family doctor or other authorised health establishment, stating that the applicant is fit for the post of personal assistant to a severely disabled person, mentioning whether he/she is registered with chronic, neuro-psychiatric diseases or has other medical recommendations (original);
• DGASPC's written agreement to the option of the disabled person/legal representative (original);
• Written consent of the disabled person or, where appropriate, his/her legal representative or family for employment (original and copy);
• Identity document of the person with disabilities (original and copy);
• Birth certificate, if applicable (original and copy) - for children with disabilities under 14;
• Certificate of classification as severely disabled + Annex, if applicable (original and copy);
• Decision and pension voucher for the disabled person, if applicable (original and copy);
• Document proving the legal representation of the disabled person, if applicable (original and copy);
• Copy of the work card for those in employment;
• Employment certificates - periods after 01.01.2011;
• Receipts from last job with 6 months gross salary (including unemployment, social benefits, etc.);
• Military record (if applicable);
• Retirement decision (if applicable);
• Bank account (Convention 7719).

If it is established that the mandatory legal conditions are met and the social investigation is completed with a recommendation for employment, the individual employment contract will be drawn up within 30 days of the submission of the file with the above documents.

Please note that, in accordance with the provisions of Law No. 448/2006 - republished, on the protection and promotion of the rights of persons with disabilities, the role of the social worker is to monitor, in optimal conditions, the duties and obligations of personal assistants of persons with severe disabilities, (Form 03. Beneficiary's sheet - activity report) in order to improve their situation so that they receive special care at the level their situation requires to meet the whole chain of physical, personal, social and spiritual needs.

Regardless of the age or disability faced by this social segment, they have a fundamental right to self-determination and individuality, to overcome their disability and to reintegrate into society. The care they receive can enable people with severe disabilities to realise their physical, intellectual, spiritual, emotional and social potential despite their disability.