CHAPTER 5 VIEWS AND PERSPECTIVES OF CHILDREN DEPRIVED OF LIBERTY Many other children also reported that they did not receive visits or contact at all, a situation that was particularly common for children in orphanages: ‘I hadn’t family. Relatives could come to other children once a week’. (MF/18/4:EEG) ‘Ever since I left home, no one has cared to look for me. It was better when my parents were alive’. (F/15/4:AFG). One boy who had been held in immigration detention when he was aged 17 years reported that no contact was allowed with anyone at all. In another setting, the same boy reported that he was allowed one hour of Wi-Fi that he used for contact with NGOs who could help his asylum case (M/21/3:WEOG). In another country, it was reported that children who did not have families had to wear the standard grey clothes provided by the institution and that they were more vulnerable to exploitation by others in order to secure extra food or cigarettes. b. The Conditions of Visits Visits with families were often dependent on good behaviour. ‘Yes, some are visited by their parents and relatives, however others in view of their recidivism… don’t receive any visit’. (MF/15-18/1:AFG) Some children expressed concern about privacy during visits and the quality of the visits with family, particularly that visits were very short. ‘We don’t have any privacy. Maybe today I want to tell my mother that something happened to me or that I do not feel well. We cannot talk because they stand next to us’. (M/16/1:EEG) ‘At the visiting room, to exchange with family, it’s only 8-10 minutes so the time is too short’. (M/13-17/1:AFG) c. Contact with Friends Contact with peers, where safe and appropriate, was seen as important by many children and necessary to facilitate re-integration. For example, one of the participants said he meets his best friend very often. Every time that friend comes, he drives the child’s family members as well, so they all visit him together. However, social attitudes often remained a barrier to friendship. 100