Minister pledges action as all sides shift the blame
THE LABOUR Minister yesterday pledged action to tackle the appalling conditions prevailing at Cyprus’ children’s shelters.
Antonis Vassiliou told members of the House Human Rights Committee that a study was being carried out to ensure the modernisation and improvement of the shelters.
Apart from the minister, the committee heard the police shifting responsibility onto the social services, who in turn blamed the problem on the lack of staff (who weren’t even qualified anyway), while the Public Administration and Personnel Department blamed the government, from whom they take instructions on matters of public service.
In other words, a resolution to the problem is far from imminent, with all sides pointing the finger at the others. This was confirmed after the meeting when Committee Head Sophoclis Fyttis of DIKO announced that talks on the shelters would resume in autumn, when Parliament returns from its summer recess.
Following the Committee’s first discussion of the matter last week, Labour Minister Antonis Vassiliou visited the Limassol Child Shelter to see how it was being run and spot any shortcomings.
“When we visited the shelter it emerged that it was not operating in a modern way. There were insufficiencies in staff structuring, scientific equipment and specialisation,” noted the minister.
But Vassiliou’s most significant observation was the fact that there were virtually no child psychologists available; not just for the specific shelter, but for all the others in Cyprus too. “This is very serious,” he commented.
He also noticed that there was a wide range of different ages and said that this couldn’t be good for the children. “And the quality of the shelter is not up to scratch,” he added. “I have given instructions that a child psychologist is found immediately. I have also requested the preparation of a list of all Cyprus’ shelters’ employees, so I can see if they are appropriately qualified.”
In the case of children whose parents are imprisoned, Vassiliou said the Ministry had made arrangements. “For the first 24 hours the children will remain with their parents until arrangements have been made for their welfare. Apart from the fact that it is inhumane to take them from their parents straight away, we also need to check their medical histories and make sure they have somewhere safe to stay.”
A study is currently being carried out to determine which shelters need to be closed down, he added.
“The shelters will undergo a restructuring and staff will be found for the new ones who are properly qualified.”
Vassiliou pointed out that the conditions on the island for people with special needs were not in harmony with those set by European directives, before concluding, “My dream is to have a modern, updated and complete system by the time my service as Labour Minister is over.”
Directing the conversation towards Police Chief Charalambos Koulentis, Committee head Fyttis asked what measures were being taken by the police to protect the shelters’ children, who are at the most tender and character-building stage of their lives.
Koulentis said police were sensitive to the problem, but indicated that it was not within his department’s authority to protect the shelters’ children. “It is the Social Services who are responsible for that.”
Current legislation, said Koulentis, made the appointment of responsibilities very difficult as there are many uncertainties that make it hard to determine which authority falls within what service.
“We need new legislation stating the responsibilities of each state service – the police, the social services and so on – because sometimes responsibilities overlap among services.”
There are serious disciplinary problems within the shelters, mainly with children from uncaring or absent families, said Koulentis, adding that there was nothing the police could do about that. “We can’t arrest them. What can the police do? This is not the police force’s fault. Proper education is needed.”
One of the main problems agreed on by all parties involved, was the serious lack of staff in the shelters.
The Public Administration and Personnel Department was keen to point out that an increase in public personnel was something the government decided on.
“However, the Cabinet recently decided to increase the number of positions,” said the Department’s spokeswoman.
“We too have noticed that the children’s shelters are seriously understaffed, with under qualified staff.”
But she added that only a fraction of the children living in these shelters had serious disciplinary problems.
Concluding, the spokeswoman said the Department suggested the increase of the level of qualifications and education for prospective staff, and state funding for the construction of new shelters. “We are currently in talks with the Finance Ministry to promote these suggestions and present them to the Cabinet.”
Head of the Social Services, Chloe Koromia, admitted there were serious problems in the shelters, but expressed her disappointment at the recent media coverage of conditions at the Limassol shelter.
“We feel like we have been unfairly bulldozed by Parliament and the media,” said Koromia.
She admitted there was just one child psychologist available to the Department, who covered two districts.
“Indeed the Social Services Department is understaffed and has shortcomings; though I believe we have been seriously wronged in the past few weeks,” said Koromia.
CHILDREN OF IMPRISONED PARENTS SUFFER THE WORST
THE PROBLEM of children whose parents are in prison is huge and it has been for a very long time, police chief Charalambos Koulentis told the House Human Rights Committee yesterday.
There was one point, he added, when the idea was being discussed to keep the children in an apartment, built within the prison, which previously used to house the Prison Director. “This is how desperate the situation has been. You can’t have the children living within the walls of a prison. It is inhumane,” said the police chief.
“The problem was so big at one point,” Koulentis added, “that parents caught smuggling drugs into the country from say Lebanon, would take their children with them in the hope that this would deter police from searching and arresting them. Sometimes we would take these children to our homes; there were no other options. That’s how big the problem is.”
SOCIAL SERVICES HEAD LEFT RED-FACED
THE SOCIAL Services were left red-faced yesterday, as the House Human Rights Committee met to discuss the dire condition prevailing in children’s shelters.
Voicing the Services’ disappointment over the recent media coverage of the Limassol Children’s Shelter, head of the Social Services Department Chloe Koromia incensed female deputies when she said the fact that more women have careers nowadays was one of the main reasons why more families were not fostering children.
“It is a fact that there is a problem with finding foster families,” said Koromia adding, “Modern life and women working make it difficult for us to find foster parents.”
Eleni Theocharous of DISY broke in: “Can you repeat that please? The reason why you can’t find foster families? Did you really say it was because women are working?”
Koromia quickly covered up by announcing, “We have been receiving a better response lately”.
THEOCHAROUS’ CLAIMS
DISY Deputy Eleni Theocharous, both during and after the Committee meeting, yesterday claimed she had received information over the telephone that some of the most problematic children had been taken away from the Limassol children’s shelter before the Labour Minister’s visit.
This, she said, had occurred because there was danger of children speaking out and revealing things the shelter’s staff didn’t want the minister to know.
But Minister Antonis Vassiliou denied such a thing, saying no children had been absent from the shelter on the day of his visit. He wasn’t sure if that had been the case the day before his visit, however.
He added that he had personally spoken to the children and heard their opinions, complaints and accusations, and that these were recorded and would be evaluated as part of the study into how to improve the situation.
