“Children of the System” from “Turkeys” come to “Teika” – better conditions, but worries about the spirit of the institution / Article

Almost twice as many children as provided for in the deinstitutionalisation plan currently live in the state social care center “Teika” in Riga, to which children have been transferred from the care center “Kalkūni” in Daugavpils region.

IN SHORT:

• 15 children left without parental care were transferred to the care center “Teika” from the center “Turkeys”.
• As a result, 42 children with disabilities live under one roof in Teika.
• Living conditions are now better for them.
• However, concentrating so many children in one institution is not in line with good and modern practice.
• Supervisors will assess whether the best interests of the child have been taken into account.
• The MoW and the care center do not see any significant violations.
• “Teika” explains – children live in apartments close to the family environment.

The State Social Care Center “Kalkūni” has previously been accused of having both children and adults under one roof. And that’s why they decided to take the children to the “Teiku” more than 200 kilometers away. Currently, 42 children with disabilities live under one roof in the care center. This is almost twice as much as the deinstitutionalisation plan.

Complaints to the Ministry of Welfare, the State Inspectorate for the Protection of the Rights of the Child and the Ombudsman have been submitted by the director of Kapseļu Street Orphanage Ilze Dzene. “These children should not live in large groups. This is against the interests of children. Because we see not people, we see how to cut something at the expense of these children. (..)

We will not achieve the best interests of the child in such an institution.

Because he is separated from other children, from society, but he has to live in society. Until we provide that, these are small groups of children, three to four children. The maximum is four, ”explained Dzene.

And this is exactly what deinstitutionalisation, which is binding on Latvia, envisages. The abandonment of large orphanages and the inclusion of these people in society.

“However, the new family-friendly care model would have three groups. No more than three groups in the institution, and no more than eight children in a group or 24 children in the institution. The only question for us is – why to “Teika”, if there are such a large number of children? ” said Laila Grāvere, Head of the Children’s Rights Division of the Ombudsman’s Office.

Līga Āboliņa, Deputy State Secretary of the Ministry of Welfare, confirmed that at the time of the transfer of the children, the care center “Teika” was the most empty: “It must be said that” Teika “consists of two buildings. We, looking at the situation the children were in before and knowing the recommendations,

was one of the main conditions for children to move to better conditions when planning to change their place of residence. “

The Ministry of Welfare, which is in charge of state social care centers, does not see any significant violations in the incident.

He also disagrees with the accusations made at the Teika care center. There, too, children live in apartments close to the family environment. But there are different ones – only two children live in separate apartments, and there are also those where six children live in one apartment.

The branch has borrowed the idea of ​​adapted apartments from a pilot project implemented on Kapseļu Street. This means that children live, rest and have meals the way they do in the family. In the future, it is planned to introduce such a model in all state social care centers where minor children live.

“These rooms in” Teika “are very large. There are many apartments. There are new, renovated apartments, especially for these young children. The children were interviewed themselves, and I also understand that the children have given the opinion that they also like where they have come, ”said Ina Zajončkovska, Deputy Director of the State Social Care Center“ Rīga ”.

Since June, the Teika care center has had several inspections. The LTV program “Panorama” knows that in the near future the specialists of the Ombudsman’s Office will also go there.

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