Protecting Children Is Everyone’s Responsibility

The Marshal’s Regional Centre for Social Policy is establishing a Regional Specialist Centre for Assistance to Child Victims in Toruń. The agreement on funding for the project was signed today in Warsaw by Marshal Piotr Całbecki and Vice-Minister of Justice Sławomir Pałka.

“Protecting children is everyone’s responsibility. Unfortunately, we continue to see an increase in documented cases of violence against children, including in our region. Our centre, which will cooperate with, among others, courts, family support centres and psychological support centres, will fill an existing gap in this area. I hope that the individual therapies offered there, tailored, among other things, to the age of the children in our care, will help them overcome the trauma they have experienced,” Marshal Piotr Całbecki stressed.

The funds for establishing and operating the centre for the next year (PLN 3 million) come from the Justice Fund administered by the Ministry of Justice.

The centre, which will be located in the complex at 27/29 Maria Curie-Skłodowska Street and launched this autumn, will offer individually tailored therapies and counselling, as well as opportunities to participate in workshops and support groups. Therapeutic activities will be individually tailored to each child following an assessment of their situation, problems and needs. The centre will also provide, among other things, legal and material assistance, as well as co-financing medication purchases and holiday trips for the children it supports. In its first year, the centre will provide support to at least 160 children.

Unfortunately, we are also seeing an increase in documented cases of violence against children in our region. This includes physical, psychological, sexual and economic violence, as well as cyberviolence and cases of severe neglect, both in child-parent/carer relationships and among peers. Last year, nearly 3,000 young people experienced this type of abuse – an increase of 1,000 over a two-year period.

Also attending today’s ceremony to sign the project funding agreement were Vice-Minister Arkadiusz Myrcha and Milena Skopińska, Director of the Regional Centre for Social Policy in Toruń.

Press Office of the Marshal’s Office

30 September 2026