2014-2015 REPORT ON NATIONAL PREVENTION OF TORTURE Children who behave inappropriately are subject to disciplinary measures, including the prohibition to go outside of the territory of a care home or go home on weekends or bank holidays, restrictions on entertainment activities or participation in trips or camps, the prohibition to take part in celebrations held in an institution, isolation from other children, restoration (repair) of damaged objects, reading a book on a certain subject (about the love for younger ones or good behaviour); children who behave inappropriately also have to draw up an explanation about their behaviour and read it out loud to all the children; quite often, children are disciplined by reducing the amount of pocket money or its withdrawal; when left in charge of the younger ones, older children would discipline them for inappropriate behaviour. composition of the staff in terms of gender helps to prevent inappropriate behaviour. 2. Regarding working hours and work pay – The workload is high, while salaries of social workers are not sufficient; the turnover of the staff is high, which does not encourage the formation of a close positive relationship between children and the staff. 3. Regarding upgrading of qualifications – Qualifications upgrading seminars for social workers and their assistants are very expensive, institutions have no funding for such training courses, while the staff cannot always afford to pay for them themselves. 4. Regarding the activities of volunteers – The procedure for voluntary activities does not operate appropriately, because the requirements for volunteers are not provided for 8. Regarding appropriate preparation of children for independent life (development of responsibility) – There are no possibilities for children to have a pet (to take care of it), older children are not sufficiently encouraged to cook independently. 5. Regarding the general climate of safety – Problems arise concerning children with behavioural and emotional disorders, because the staff are not able to provide specialized services to such children; the children are not supervised by a psychiatrist; and the Child Development Centre no longer provides recommendations on how to work with such children. 9. Regarding prevention of smoking and alcohol consumption – Quite a lot of children smoke, and sometimes they return to an institution intoxicated with alcohol; educators often do not consider such behaviour of children to constitute a violation of the internal rules. 6. Regarding the treatment of children by the staff and the protection against inappropriate treatment – Communication of the staff with children is inappropriate, the staff speak too loudly or even shout angrily. 10. Regarding the procedure for payment of pocket money – Children of similar age receive a different amount of pocket money in different institutions; the procedure for payment of pocket money may be abused by an institution by withdrawing pocket money 7. Regarding applied disciplinary measures and the control of children’s behaviour – 18