Chapter 3. Observing the rights of the child Notwithstanding the decentralization, the state district administrations continue performing the functions of the guardianship authority. It leads to duplication of work and delays in the consideration of cases related to family disputes, adoption, deprivation of parental rights, etc. 81 At the same time, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine on 3 November 2019 adopted the Resolution #926 “On Amendments to Certain Resolutions of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and Repeal of the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine #746 of 19 June 2019,” according to which the vacancies of employees of service units for children in local state administrations are reduced. According to the statistics of the Ministry of Social Policy, the highest percentage of vacancies is in the district service units for children (13.0%) (see Annex 3.4). Thus, the reduction of vacancies, in particular in state district administrations, and the lack of relevant service units in the ATC will only jeopardize the protection of children’s rights. To obtain unbiased information, in 2019, the Commissioner together with the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine implemented Support to Civil Society in Trial Monitoring Project focused on whether the courts and guardianship authorities take into account the views and best interests of the child. The project attended 80 court hearings, 29 meetings of guardianship authorities and child protection commissions that considered issuing an opinion on deprivation of parental rights, determining the child’s place of residence, determining the ways of upbringing a child, establishing guardianship and custody, granting a child the status of a victim of hostilities and an armed conflict, etc. The monitoring proved that children are normally absent from the hearings in matters that concern their interests. Only in every third case, a child’s opinion was heard. Only every third respondent said that the guardianship authorities or courts are pro-active in protecting the child’s interests (they gather evidence, involve a representative on their own initiative, provide detailed explanations, clarify the child’s interests, etc.). The situation with the observance of the general rules and rights of the participants in the proceedings of guardianship and custody bodies is worse than in the courts. 70% meetings of guardianship and custody bodies were held with violations of the rights of participants in the case, including 24% – with gross violations. Moreover, no single case when the guardianship and custody bodies explain the procedure of consideration or the rights of participants of the meeting was documented. To address issues related to the social protection of children and families with children, the Commissioner submitted proposals to draft regulations developed by the Government and central executive bodies. In particular, in 2019, the Law of Ukraine “On social services” #2671-VIII of 17 January 2019 was adopted (entered into force on 1 January 2020) that defines basic organizational and legal framework for the provision of social services aimed at preventing difficult life circumstances, overcoming or mitigating their negative consequences for persons/families who are in difficult life circumstances. To properly implement it, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine had to develop over 20 regulations. However, as of early 2020, the Government and the Ministry of Social Policy approved only 9 regulations. CHAPTER 3 The monitoring also revealed a significant number of problems in the realization of the child’s rights to be informed, heard, to have a proper representative, etc.