No funds for the children of foreigners: the decision of the Austrian Ministry of Social Affairs to cut a large part of the funds hitherto allocated to foreigners, especially “Kindergeld” (child benefits), has caused an uproar and given rise to a boom in requests for aid to such humanitarian organizations as Caritas and Aktion Leben by large numbers of young mothers deprived of Austrian citizenship. According to the new regulations of the Ministry, from now on mothers who live legally in Austria must demonstrate that the presence of their own newborn infants is not illegal: due to bureaucratic delays, the times needed for processing applications for benefit may take up to six months. The parents must obtain a passport for their child from their country of origin: only after having done so is it possible for them to request a residence permit. So long as proof of the legality of the child is not presented, it is impossible to gain access to Kindergeld. The reaction of the head of Caritas in Vienna, Michael Landau, has been angry: “This is a form of bureaucracy that shows contempt for the person, to the detriment of the weakest members of our society”, he declares in a press release issued on 28 November. “The mothers hit by the provision are living legally in Austria. It is pure cynicism to impose of them the need for them to present a residence permit also for their children, they too legally resident in our country, before they can have a right to social services”. This new provision creates great problems for many young mothers devoid of any source of income or with particularly low incomes. A particularly alarming aspect consists of the fact that the benefits are not paid with retroactive effect but are only disbursed from the moment of the recognition of the child’s legal presence in the country. According to the social worker Christina Gerstbach of “Aktion Leben”, many women no longer know how to care for their own children; they are afraid of going to the doctor because they are deprived of medical assistance. Criticisms of the measure have also come from Austrian Catholic Action (KAO): “Politics ought to place the person and not the laws in first place, in cases of doubt”, declared the President of KAO, Luitgard Derschmidt, on 29 November. “The laws ought to be formulated in a human way, in such a way as to prevent those in need being further dragged into the abyss. If justice, compassion and reasonableness are not restored as essential points of reference of policy, Austria will be heading towards a future full of conflict”, he concluded.
