Communal children

The removal of children from problematic families in Scandinavia: necessary protection or "juvenile terror"?

The work of Western protection services for children in the Russian media, as a rule, is served in a negative way - almost every case of removing the child abroad from the family, where one or both parents - Russians, causes a storm of emotions in the company. Such conflicts in the countries of Northern Europe are especially frequent. How do children protect children in Scandinavia work, what are they guided by, making a decision to take away the child from their parents and transfer him to the foster family or boarding school?

Recall that in recent years, there have been a lot of noise stories with the seizure of children in Norway and Finland , whose parents come from Russia. Russian woman Irina Bergset , the ex -wife of a citizen of Norway, took one of her sons from this country to Russia, the other remained in Norway with her father, whom Berges accused of pedophilia. She even founded the movement "Russian mothers", designed to protect the parental rights of the Russians living abroad and their children. However, Bergset’s statements about Norwegian laws and morals sounded so extravagant (and were not confirmed from other sources ) that this activist soon acquired an ambiguous reputation.

For many Russians and immigrants from Eastern Europe, a slap or a slap, or even a belt, is a legitimate educational tool. For Scandinavians, the physical impact on children is unacceptable

Nevertheless, the Russian authorities believe that problems with the social protection authorities in children from Russia and their parents arise suspiciously often. Pavel Astakhov, the Commissioner for Children's Rights in the Russian Federation in November last year, argued that only in Norway, about two thousand children, often foreigners, allegedly, every year, was allegedly withdrawn from his parents. According to Astakhov, in this way this country "solves the problem of a demographic decline", and he called its social service "Barnevarn" "a leader of juvenile terror." On the other hand, the Russian side admits that the guardianship authorities return the children if information about the violation of their rights has not been confirmed. This happened last autumn, for example, with a 6-year-old daughter of two Russians, who was quickly returned to parents . A considerable part of reproaches to social services is usually related to the difference in cultures: for many Russians and immigrants from other countries of Eastern Europe, a slap or a slap, or even a strap on a “soft place”, a legitimate educational tool, while for Scandinavians the physical impact on children is unacceptable. But often the matter is not only in relatively harmless spaces.

For example, the Norwegian Czech citizen of the Czech of Eva Mikhalakova selected two sons in 2011. The reason was a complaint to the Barnevarn service, kindergarten educators, in which the children of the Eva and her then partner Joseph went. Referring to certain psychological and medical problems for both boys, as well as the stories of the children themselves, the educators came to the conclusion that not everything was safe in the Czech family for several years in Norway. The social service did not decide on the seizure: the family was under its supervision for more than two years. Barnevarna workers drew attention to psychological oddities in the behavior of both parents, including in their relationship with children. So, the father, according to the conclusion of psychologists, contrasted the eldest son to the youngest, pulled the children among themselves, teasing and mocking the elder. This, according to the Norwegians, led the boys to stress and ailments.

As a result, the children were transferred to the Norwegian foster family, where they are still located. Mother is trying to get their return in court. (They diverged with the father of the boys since then.) In the Czech Republic, the Mikhalakov family caused a great resonance. Part of the public sided with the mother, and several activists even want to go to the highway of ski competitions held this week in the south of the Czech Republic, in which Norwegian skiers participate. People prepare posters with inscriptions like "Norway, return our children!" And "Norway, ashamed."

At the same time, the Czech authorities behave carefully in this matter. On the one hand, they provided Eve Mikhalakova with legal and diplomatic support. On the other hand, as noted by the head of the Czech Department of International Law Protection of Children, Zdenek Captain , the mother of the boys, communicating with journalists, does not report all the details that are in the decision of the Norwegian authorities about the removal of children from the family. “This case could well end with a similar decision with us,” said the Czech official, familiar with the conclusions of the Norwegians. And the Embassy of Norway in Prague, which issued a special statement in this regard, notes that "the removal of children is an extreme measure, and the social service resorts to it only if assistance does not work within the framework of the family." The boys themselves, assures the embassy, feel good for foster parents.

To juvenile justice is a special attitude wherever it exists, including in Russia. Indeed, as a big brother, the state invades the most intimate sphere for a person - family life. Let's try "without anger and addiction" to understand how the system of protecting children works, on the example of Denmark. This system is similar to Norwegian and other Scandinavian. In the countries of the region, institutions of children's protection appeared one of the first in the world, at the end of the nineteenth and early XX century, during violent industrialization and urbanization. Juvenile justice of the Scandinavians binds a lot in common. This is the obligatory cooperation of social services with a problematic family in resolving the conflict, and the emphasis on the care of the local community (commune) about the education of adolescents outside the native family, and much more.

Since 1998, the "Law on Social Service" has been in force in Denmark, within the framework of which the state provides assistance to people with limited physical or mental capabilities, as well as, in the official language, "persons who have social problems of a special nature." The last group includes minors, whose rights are defended by paragraph 42 of the Law: according to him, the state has the right to intervene in family affairs if it considers that the child is oppressed there or it grows under inappropriate conditions.

If the situation does not tolerate deposit, municipal services go to the extreme measure - the removal of a child from the family

The level of intervention depends on the nature and seriousness of the problem. The spectrum of social services here is wide - from a preventive conversation to family therapy courses. But if there is no result or the situation does not tolerate abuse, municipal services go to the extreme measure - the removal of the child from the family, or with the consent of the parents, or against their will. If necessary, use the police if parents hide the child or later try to steal him from the foster family, they face a fine or imprisonment for up to two years.

The law lists the grounds for withdrawal: the risk to the health or psychological development of the child, potential damage due to insufficient parental care or treatment, physical or moral violence in the family, as well as the antisocial behavior of the child, his drug addiction or "other behavioral problems that require adjustment." Children under the age of 11 are most often taken from families where parents suffer from mental illness, have problems with alcohol or drugs. The most common reason for the removal of children aged 12 to 17 years is the problems of transitional age. Conflicts in the family sometimes reach the point that a teenager and parents openly hate each other. According to the DanishNational Center for Social Research (SFI) , in approximately 60 percent of cases, it is the behavioral problems of children that become the cause of both voluntary and forced exemption from the family.

The removal of children from problematic families in Scandinavia: necessary protection or "juvenile terror"?

Says an employee of the social custody service Lena Stansgord :

- Removal is an extreme measure to which they resort to if there are no other ways to ensure the well -being of the child in the parental house. But for the most part, Danish social workers are engaged in preventive work with problematic families. The work uses the Integrated Children System (ICS) , developed in England in the mid-1980s. According to this technique, the well -being of the child consists of three components: his own need for development, the level of parental competence and the child’s connections with the family and the environment. Assessing the situation, a social worker must always put the interests of the child in the first place. The parents' own problems sometimes obscure the situation in which their child is located - this must be avoided in every possible way. The care services pay special attention to working with the children themselves: a social worker asks the child, establishes the level of his socialization and perception of the world, and finds out what his relations with peers and parents are. The position of the child, his opinion is necessarily taken into account in the investigation of social affairs and in the development of plans for the future, ”says Lena Stansgord, an employee of the social guardianship service.

The “Law on Social Service” undertakes citizens to inform local authorities if they know that a child or a teenager under the age of 18 is subjected to physical violence or treatment that humiliates his dignity, or lives under conditions that jeopardize his health and mental development. The same duty is charged with civil servants. An alarm can come from the teacher of the kindergarten, school teacher or family therapist. Often that the family is unfavorable, the neighbors report - for example, if children's crying and screams are heard from the house, the child has a groomed look or he is late for the streets. Random passers -by, who saw, say, how a tourist released a slap in a shared child, can intervene. In most cases, the case is limited to a conversation in the commune. But if it turns out that a real beating occurred, beatings are removed in the nearest emergency room and the case is referred to the police.

Danish foster parents: family Andersen

In Denmark, social protection is supposed to be given before birth. So, a gynecologist or midwife informs municipal authorities, if a woman who is being prepared for childbirth sits on drugs, drinks a lot or mentally unhealthy-in such cases, doubts about the ability of a future mother to take care of a child are justified. Attention does not weaken even after the baby’s birth: social workers visit the family, evaluating the ability of parents to care for the child. If there are problems, it is proposed to solve them with joint efforts, but if this is not enough, there is a turn of social services.

- Previously, the commune intervened only after the birth of the child, if it suddenly turned out that mom and dad were not able to cope with her duties. Now, if the parental abilities of the pregnant woman are in doubt, the guardianship services are “leading” the situation, starting from the first visit to the midwife, ”says Kirsten Raun, head of the consulting family center of the commune.

Have we, the Danes, began to take care of our children so badly?

The result of the activity of the municipalities was not slow to affect: statistics over the past four years have shown a tenfold increase in the number of selected babies. At the same time, in most cases, children are separated from parents immediately after birth. This causes concern among Danish lawyers specializing in cases of forced seizures:

- The current trend bothers and scares me. Have we, the Danes, began to take care of our children so badly? Of course not. Personally, I am sure that the sharp increase in the exemptions of newborns is the echoes of the family drama in the Blorers Commune, which caused a shock reaction four years ago in all Denmark. It’s just that they don’t want to repetition of what happened in the communes, but to quickly remove the baby from a problem family - the fastest and safe way to be safe, ”says the Copenhagen lawyer who did not want to reveal his name.

In the case of the Blonders, about which he talks about, the mother and father of a large family were sentenced, respectively, by 4 and 11 years in prison for systematically subjected their ten children to be beaten and sexual violence. During the court hearings, it turned out that the house reigned in the house: the children at the slightest offense beat the heads, cut their fingers with a knife, forced to sleep on the pledged floor and expelled barefoot in the cold. The eldest daughter, who was kept under the castle in the back room - his father regularly raped a girl, beaten with a bat, forced to eat excrement of pets from the floor, and once forced his grave. All this was revealed when the eldest daughter managed to escape from the house and declare to the police about what was happening.

Family drama in Bronderslevy ended, so to speak, safely: Isaver parents in prison, their children received monetary compensation from the state and currently live in foster families. But in the Danish press, the municipalities were severely criticized: the police informed utility services since 2006, but due to the inaction of the officials, the nightmare has been stretched for five years. Therefore, now in the communes they do not hide that, having burned in milk, they blow into the water, and parents are now much less likely to revise the affairs of forced seizures.

The decision to withdraw a child from the family is made by the commission for children and youth. It includes three municipal workers, a district judge and an expert in the field of pedagogy and psychology. The commission verdict is built on the basis of a communal report, including the opinions of specialists: it can be the educators of the child, medical workers, teachers and psychologists who worked with the problem family. In most cases, children are separated from the family without excessive drama: only 10-15 percent of the seizures are against the will of the parents. But here there are nuances. In the statistics of forced seizures of a metropolis such as Copenhagen, the vast majority are children of immigrants.

- up to 90 percent of forced children in the Copenhagen commune are children from the families of foreigners. The only reason is the improper performance of parental duties, which is massive. Unfortunately, many immigrant parents consider it their legal right to beat their own children or to educate them with severe methods, ”says Danish politician, former chairman of the Commission for Children and Youth , Yetta Berghenholz Butrup .

In 2009, two Ethiopia sisters were adopted by the Danish family in the Nesta commune in the south of Denmark. However, the eldest girl, Amy, lived in a new family only for a short time. The adoptive parents failed to establish relations with her, and after a series of conflicts, Amy was transferred to the patronage family Hannah and Ole Keller. In a new place, the girl took root and felt comfortable, but after some time the municipal authorities decided to transfer Amy to a boarding school in the north of Denmark. The 11-year-old girl categorically refused to part with adoptive parents. Nevertheless, in March 2012 she was forcibly removed from the family. This took place in dramatic circumstances - the ICITIT was shot on video by representatives of the Butch -Vilkås children's human rights organization, which applied for the actions of communal workers to the police. As a result, the actions of the guardianship service were recognized as unreasonable, and the public authorities apologized.

The minor taken under the custody of the minor is usually placed in the foster family. Here, according to statistics, children spend an average of 1033 days - this is twice as long as the average stay in boarding schools and other institutions of children's custody. About 60 percent of children living in foster families - boys, in patronage parents they spend some more time than girls. Says a foster parent with 22 years of experience Ingrid Andersen :

Forced withdrawal from the family is a temporary measure. It stops if the goals outlined in the developed communal plan of action are achieved, or if the guardian has reached adulthood

- Foster families are licensed by municipalities. Those who decided to do the care of other people's children go through checks and tests, represent a certificate of no criminal record, and then study at the courses of pedagogy and child psychology. Study continues after receiving a certificate - at least twice a year, at the request of the commune, we attend courses for patronage families. The guardianship service controls our work annually by organizing checks without prior notice - they check the state of finance, housing amenities, and the conditions of the detention of children. Biological parents have the right to date with the child, but the municipal authorities determine how much communication should occur. В первые три месяца после изъятия служба опеки вновь пересматривает дело, а затем производит повторную оценку – как минимум раз в полгода. Принудительное изъятие из семьи – мера временная. Она прекращается, если достигнуты цели, намеченные в разработанном коммуной плане действий, или если опекаемый достиг совершеннолетия. Но если молодой человек сам хочет остаться в приемной семье, то он может там жить до того, как ему исполнится двадцать, – говорит Ингрид Андерсен.

Труд патронажной семьи оплачивается из муниципальной кассы. Минимальная ставка – 3863 датских кроны (примерно 610 долларов) – полагается за уход за ребенком с нормальным развитием, чьи контакты с биологическими родителями проходят без проблем. Но в зависимости от потребностей ребенка выплаты могут увеличить в семь, а в исключительных случаях и в десять раз. Такие деньги платят за содержание детей с серьезными психическими или физическими проблемами, нуждающихся в постоянном уходе и лечении. Кроме того, коммуна возмещает патронажной семье текущие расходы на содержание. В одной семье может находиться не более четырех приемных детей.

Существует и другая проблема с детьми, изъятыми из семей иммигрантов. Конвенция ООН о правах ребенка гласит, что детям, принадлежащим к религиозному или этническому меньшинству, не может быть отказано в праве пользоваться родным языком, принадлежать к своей культуре или исповедовать и практиковать свою религию. Соответственно, и в датском законе упоминается о необходимости сохранять преемственность в воспитании ребенка с учетом его этнической, религиозной, культурной и языковой принадлежности. Но на практике ребенка родителей-иностранцев, как правило, размещают в патронажной семье или учреждении, где никто не говорит на его родном языке. В итоге многие дети из этнических меньшинств после нескольких лет пребывания вне родного дома больше не могут общаться со своими родителями.

Вообще, изъятие из семьи – сильнейший стресс для ребенка любой национальности. По результатам опросов датского Национального центра социальных исследований, 44 процента подростков, разлученных с родителями, как минимум однажды переживали психический срыв в приемной семье или интернате. Типичной в этом смысле выглядит судьба 17-летней Ани, сменившей в общей сложности 11 интернатов и приемных семей с тех пор, как в 9-летнем возрасте служба опеки впервые увезла ее из дома. Несмотря на то что к подростку было прикреплено до 15 педагогов и социальных работников, жизнь на новом месте быстро кончалась скандалами, исключением из интернатов, издевательствами сверстников и даже физическими травмами.

– Психический коллапс в 44 процентах случаев – это высокий показатель. Парадоксально, но хотя изъятие молодого человека из дома продиктовано желанием сделать его жизнь лучше и стабильнее, разлад продолжается и в стенах учреждения опеки, – отмечала в интервью научному порталу Videnskab руководитель программы исследований Национального центра, профессор Тине Эгелунд (ныне, увы, покойная).

Выясняется и другое: изъятие из семьи не решает всех проблем ребенка и его недостаточно, чтобы помочь детям избавиться от дурного социального наследия. Выводы профессора Эгелунд и ее коллег основаны на изучении трех поколений молодых людей, родившихся в период между 1980 и 1982 годами, – всего в исследованиях Национального центра принимало участие 167 000 человек.

Мы не призываем к тому, чтобы государство перестало изымать детей у плохих родителей. Но мы хотим улучшения работы институтов опеки

– Если у ребенка мать-алкоголичка или отец психически нездоров, то у детей есть шанс получить лучшее воспитание в приемной семье или в специализированном детском учреждении. Но наши исследования показывают, что молодые люди, изъятые у родителей в детстве, хуже социализированы по сравнению с имевшими подобные проблемы сверстниками, которых с семьей не разлучали. Проживание вне дома увеличивает вероятность того, что образование детей ограничится начальной школой. Будучи уже взрослыми, они чаще теряют работу, сидят на пособиях или выходят на пенсию по ранней инвалидности, – говорит Тине Эгелунд.

Исследование специалистов Национального центра показало также, что жизнь вне родной семьи негативно сказывается как на физическом, так и душевном здоровье детей – они гораздо чаще сверстников обращались впоследствии к помощи психиатров. Изъятые из семей дети, как выясняется, в большей степени склонны и к преступлениям насильственного характера. Однако, хотя результаты исследования звучат неутешительно, его авторы считают изъятия необходимыми, ведь многие дети из проблемных семей растут в таких условиях, что просто нуждаются в перемещении в иную среду.

– Мы не призываем к тому, чтобы государство перестало изымать детей у плохих родителей. Но мы хотим улучшения работы институтов опеки, чтобы они могли лучше удовлетворять индивидуальные потребности детей, которых невозможно защитить, если они живут в своей семье, – отмечала профессор датского Национального центра социальных исследований Тине Эгелунд.