11.1. Children deprived of their liberty
when they had taken away a child’s favorite object. According to a staff
member, there were cases when one of the children complained that he
could not go home because he had done “this and that.” In my report on
the visit, I pointed out that various forms of punishment jeopardizing the
children’s right to psychological health or restricting communication and
home leaves would result in fundamental-rights-related improprieties, so
they should be abolished as soon as possible.
The visiting delegation got the impression that the children were tolerant with and helpful to each other; however, there were cases when they
yelled at and fought with each other and used foul language for no apparent
reason. According to one of the staff members, one of the children had been
ostracized by the others because “he could not be nice.” When he was agitated, he was taken to his room and put on the bed. The National Preventive
Mechanism pointed out that, by taking an agitated or ostracized child to
his/her room, putting him/her–as an object–on his/her bed, and leaving
him/her there on his/her own, the staff had caused an impropriety related to
the right to human dignity and the prohibition of inhuman treatment.
Cseppkõ (Dripstone) Children’s Home
The Cseppkõ Children’s Home is one of the largest single-location children’s
homes in the country, consisting of three independent professional units
qualifying as separate care providers with a capacity of 40 each, and an aftercare home. At the time of the visit planned for two days, the institution with
an authorized capacity of 137 took care of 111 children and young adults.
The living space, the number, size, and tidiness of the rooms, with the exception of certain circumstances, e.g., in some cases, the lack of doors and door
handles, were adequate. In the absence of separation, and depending on
the actual utilization rate, the institution provided care to 100–120 children
and young adults in three independent professional units located on the
premises; therefore, the institution complied only formally with the provision of the Child Protection Act stipulating that the children’s home shall not
provide care to more than 48 children.199
During the two days of the visit, due to an off-site program, ordered by
the director of the Home, my colleagues were not able to interview the
majority of the children. Therefore, interviewing was continued on April 26,
2016, within the frameworks of an unannounced visit. During the three days
of the visit, my colleagues talked to 57 residents of the Home.
The way of taking care of sick children, the everyday presence of a nurse,
and the bi-weekly possibility to consult a pediatric psychiatrist were all con199
See Section 59, Subsection (1) of the Child Protection Act.
77
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