Lithuania and Austria?

Question

Is Lithuania and Austria sympathetic to social issues like homelessness and child care?

Answer 1

I can only speak for Austria.
Austria has one of highest developed social systems in Europe - nevertheless poverty exists also here and the gap between rich and poor is widening as it is everywhere.
Homelessness exists but not at a high level and there are a lot of institutions which try to provide at least a bed -especially with cold weather.
As Austria has not a lot of all-day schools child care could be better especially in rural areas in the cities the system is well developed and every child that needs a kindergarten place normally can get one - at least for the last year before school.
School is free for everyone in general (private schools exist as well - some of them are boarding schools) also most school-books are provided for free.

Answer 2

Hi,
I'd say that Lithuania seems to be doing more at caring for children than the homeless people.

For example, the homeless feel they have no rights whatsover, they claim that health care institutions tend to simply throw them out of the premises without providing help. There's a huge amount of homeless people who only survive by rummaging through the waste dumpsters, in many cases they don’t have identity documents, their children are not registered anywhere, let alone education and health care.

There’s a lot of finger pointing going on as to who should be responsible for ensuring that this social group is taken care of. Police forces claim it’s not their job, however they are the first to actually come across the problem of homelessness.

You can find more statistical information in this .pdf file: http://www.feantsa.org/files/enlargement/ngo_lithuania.pdf