welcomed without reservation in the spirit of the UN Convention on the
Rights of the Child (CRC). The consequence of this is, however, that
residential youth facilities, which are operated by public authorities or
private owners, face ever increasing requirements as far as both
quality and quantity are concerned. Psychological damage in the first
years of life are serious and require differentiated and needs-oriented
possibilities and resources.
As had been the case in 2013, in 2014 it was obvious during visits by
the commissions that there is a lack of special places for minors with a
psychiatric diagnosis or experience of being in a psychiatric institution.
Children and adolescents with mental disorders in group homes,
where there is neither adequate staff nor a multi-professional team
with psychotherapists and psychologists, have and create problems,
which can sometimes intensify to a crisis level and be accompanied
by significant risk to themselves and others.
Risk factors
The situation is similar when a crisis diagnosis is performed resulting
in a decision on whether care should be subsequently considered and
what form it should take. When, for example, adolescents, who have
committed or are suspected of criminal offences, are released from
pre-trial detention and are placed in crisis centres together with
children upwards of the age of three, one is permitting conditions that
sometimes make socio-pedagogical work impossible.
Especially smaller children have reported to the commissions that they
are sometimes very afraid of the extremely aggressive adolescents.
This is understandable after impulse outbursts that range from
destruction of furniture to physical assaults of minors or staff. Social
pedagogues have indicated that in their work with highly aggressive
adolescents, some of whom are prone to violence, they themselves
cannot ensure adequate protection in acute phases. To get such grave
crisis situations under control, they must call for police assistance.
Such difficult borderline situations are the exception rather than the
rule, but they are a part of reality in social pedagogy that is anything
but negligible and are experienced as very stressful.
Crisis situations
Research into aggression and violence and the recognition of
cumulative risk factors suggest that prevention of violence should
begin not with the undesirable behaviour of minors but with the
circumstances as well and this sometimes makes even professional
helpers appear helpless. The commissions are active in this direction
and the recommendations should be interpreted in this context as
well.
Individualised help is
necessary
The experiences of the commissions show that some minors with
mental disorders and resulting psychosocial impairments have the
potential of bringing many facilities to their absolute limits and they
often find it difficult to accept the standard services available to them.
Repeatedly changing the institution taking care of them hampers the
Violence-free
upbringing as a human
right
53
Select target paragraph3
Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents