-Pedro Vilela Marques
In all, over 7500 at-risk youths were in state custody last year, still less than in 2016. Families are lacking to accommodate these children.
The clash of newspaper reports in the last year multiplies, even if the graphical details are handled with tweezers. That of a stepfather who took advantage of the woman’s house to abuse her step-daughter; the one of a couple who began to rape the daughter when she was only 3 years old, still in 2017; or earlier this year, of a father who was serving an electronic bracelet at home and abused his 5-year-old daughter, who ended up in critical condition at the hospital. A case that has not yet entered the Casa 2017 Social Security report, which outlines the portrayal of at-risk youth who were in the shelter last year and shows that 469 children had to be withdrawn from their families because they had been victims of violence sexual. Abuses that can range from sexual language to rape, which nevertheless represented 118 of these cases.
These are the most serious situations experienced by young people who entered the host system last year, 2202, and who in most cases were victims of negligence on the part of the families: we are talking about children from 0 to 18 years old – although protection can now be extended to 25, if the young man so requests – that they are left to themselves, or with brothers equally children, for long periods of time. In total, more than 7500 young people at risk (7553, mostly boys) were in state custody last year and more than half of them (58%) had experienced such situations at home. But there are also cases of malpractice at the level of health care, sick or disabled children who do not receive adequate treatment, or the absence of routine medical care or school trips.
Children are left to give themselves, or with siblings equally children, for long periods of time.
Dulce Rocha, a director of the Child Support Institute and a magistrate who for many years contacted these cases, encountered situations of great violence on the south bank of the Tagus. From environments marked by domestic violence to “lets walk, not caring”, from very serious assaults “with matches and rapes, like a small girl who has suffered injuries that will prevent her from having children in the future.”
However, despite the somber tone of these cases, the report that the ISS now publishes also brings good news. First of all, it is important to note that the total number of young people needing to be accommodated decreased from 8175 in 2016 to 7553 last year, when there were ten thousand precisely ten years ago. to return to their families or to follow a project of life (from 2531 to 2857) and less to have to be removed from their homes (there was a decrease from 2396 to 2202 within a year).Among the explanations pointed out by the ISS is the bet on prevention and work with families, so that the withdrawal of children from their environment is the last option, and more social support provided in these cases. But the birthrate will also have its weight, acknowledges the official source of the institute.
“They are environments marked by domestic violence, with the letting go, the not caring, until very serious aggressions, with matches and violations.”
Birth break that also has an impact on another very mediatic area, that of adoptions. Last year, 248 children who were in the host system were adopted, out of a total of 653 who were referred to this solution. Still, less than the previous year, when they had been 830. And the downward trend should remain, not only because there are fewer births but also because the children reaching the system are getting older: more than one third are between 15 and 17 years old, when it is known – and the report shows it – that adoption preferences go to children up to 10 years. And the ISS ensures that the overwhelming majority of children targeted for this solution are in fact adopted.
Most young people have a self-empowerment project (38%), but reintegration into the nuclear family is also intended for more than a third (36%) of the total. Adoption appears only in third place in this aspect and is the solution for 10% of children.
Government wants more host families … but with care
There are missing host families in Portugal. This is a reality that jumps in the face when reading the House report, and just look at the data from the last decade to prove it: in 2008, 908 children were delivered to host families, while last year that number had dropped dramatically to 246 . The great change occurred precisely between 2008 and 2009, when the law prevented family members from integrating this solution. Since then, the number of host families has dropped to just over a hundred, a number that has remained stable – today there are 178.
“We are in fact with a big flaw in this aspect,” DN Dulce Rocha, of the Child Support Institute (IAC), who on Tuesday marks his 35th birthday with a concert at Altice Arena. “Support for families has been cut, and I speak of financial support, but also of training. There is so little support for children that lower-income families are unable to help.” A situation that the government itself, through the voice of the Secretary of State for the Inclusion of People with Disabilities, stresses that it must be a bet in this area. “What worries us is that the accompaniment in a family is not the same as a reception house, we have to ensure that we have the means to supervise the host families, and this is what has delayed the regulation.”
“We have to ensure that we have the means to monitor host families, and this is what has delayed regulation.”
Dulce Rocha argues that these families are fundamental to humanize the system, “become a reference for these young people, both in adolescence and entering adulthood are a constant support,” as evidenced by Social Security data. Most of the young people who are still in this solution already take more than six years with these families. “We continue to bet on institutionalization, and this is wrong,” concludes the director of the IAC, which points out the importance of campaigns such as Pajama Day, which is once again marked, to alert the importance of host families.Traditional shelters and temporary shelters alone account for 87% of the total response in this area. Still, it is worth noting that we have had less than 2,000 children in homes in the last decade (from 6799 in 2008 to 4633 last year).
“The issue for the regulation in this area has not yet been advanced is not financial,” says Ana Sofia Antunes, “but [lack] of human resources. We found the ISS in a human catastrophic situation and we launched vacancies to provide technicians We have to make sure there are technicians to visit the families. ” Position in which the Secretary of State is seconded by Fátima Serrano, general secretary of CrescerSer, an association that welcomes 96 children in seven houses in Lisbon, Porto and Leiria. “The law even favors this solution, but you have to have a rigorous initial diagnosis to see if the family meets the needs.”
Half of young people followed by mental health problems
The portrait of CrescerSer’s shelters – four from 0 to 12 and three from 12 to 25 – is the network that works with the Ministry of Social Security: many young people with mental health problems arrive at a which the vacancies have difficulties in answering. “We have young people waiting, complicated cases, not going to school, walking in groups,” says Fátima Serrano.
There were 116 escapes from institutions that lasted more than a month, most of them girls.
Mental health problems affect a large proportion of children in institutions. Last year, 2209 children and young people (mostly in the 15-17 age group) in the host situation needed regular psychological support (corresponding to close to 30% of the total children and young people) and 1617 had pediatric psychiatry (21 %). More than 1600 (1643) really needed to be medicated.Behavioral problems also have a lot of expression: 2119 children and young people were identified, “which means that for about 28% of these, a pattern of disruptive behavior was identified.” Among these behaviors, the report examines this year for the first time the leaks of institutions – “which are open doors”, as the Secretary of State reinforces -, 116 which lasted more than a month, most girls, adolescents among the 15 and 17 years old.
Other highlights
Deaths
There were seven deaths in young people who were in a foster care situation last year, non-violent and disease-related cases, explains the source of the Social Security Institute.
Education
91% integrate training offerings.
Lenght of stay
More than a quarter of the children (732, 28%) remained on average for one year, and more than a third (868, corresponding to about 34%) remained in foster care for 2 to 3 years.
Adoption
97.2% of children with an “adoption” life project (85% in 2016) saw this project of life actually materialized when the host ceased.
