We just got word that the police in South Zealand have decided to charge a foster care family who was living in the town of Mern of neglect and abuse. It is the final nail in a sick foster care system functioning totally outside any political control.
Last month it was revealed that a residential treatment facility named Herkules sent some of the children in their care to a subcontractor in Sweden where they received a special kind of wilderness therapy including being placed in alleged minefields and being forced to watch a false escape attempt where young actors pretended to have their fingers cut off and fed to dogs.
According to testimonies from now young adults who have been living a various foster care families and group homes all over Denmark the cases mentioned above are not single incidents. All too often the social workers back in their original town see a placement as "out of sight, out of mind". There are not good enough plans for the return to society. The children hardly receive education making them able to function as adult.
Reports are that every 14 day a kind of sexual attack will take place among the children. The people hired to work in the group homes are not educated to talk with the children about the abuse they suffer and it increases the possibility that the victims will become abuser over time.
Without proper supervision the foster care families and group homes have not only become warehouses where the children will be kept for an undisclosed period of their lives but also a place where the children will be hurt and scared for life.
The State of Denmark has around 14.000 children in their care. It is by far the highest number among the Nordic countries. It is with the cost of 13 billion DKK also the most expensive system among the Nordic countries. A recent report did show that there is no proof that a residential solution will work regardless of how it is put together.
What is worse is that there is no system supervising how the individual foster care family or group home is chosen. It increases the possibility for a high level of corruption. While Denmark doesn't make use of private paid educational consultants which is a line of work general known for their use of payment in return for referrals to certain boarding schools and residential treatment facilities, there are social workers who decides which group home will get the task without anyone getting an insight in what kind of circumstances which became the deciding factor when choosing a certain partner for the job.
We must urge the politicians in Denmark to demand a reconstruction of the entire system. In the case of the foster care family in Mern there had been complaints for almost an entire decade. It is not acceptable.
Danes! Demand justice for your children
Press-release from Domestic prisoners of conscience
Last month it was revealed that a residential treatment facility named Herkules sent some of the children in their care to a subcontractor in Sweden where they received a special kind of wilderness therapy including being placed in alleged minefields and being forced to watch a false escape attempt where young actors pretended to have their fingers cut off and fed to dogs.
According to testimonies from now young adults who have been living a various foster care families and group homes all over Denmark the cases mentioned above are not single incidents. All too often the social workers back in their original town see a placement as "out of sight, out of mind". There are not good enough plans for the return to society. The children hardly receive education making them able to function as adult.
Reports are that every 14 day a kind of sexual attack will take place among the children. The people hired to work in the group homes are not educated to talk with the children about the abuse they suffer and it increases the possibility that the victims will become abuser over time.
Without proper supervision the foster care families and group homes have not only become warehouses where the children will be kept for an undisclosed period of their lives but also a place where the children will be hurt and scared for life.
The State of Denmark has around 14.000 children in their care. It is by far the highest number among the Nordic countries. It is with the cost of 13 billion DKK also the most expensive system among the Nordic countries. A recent report did show that there is no proof that a residential solution will work regardless of how it is put together.
What is worse is that there is no system supervising how the individual foster care family or group home is chosen. It increases the possibility for a high level of corruption. While Denmark doesn't make use of private paid educational consultants which is a line of work general known for their use of payment in return for referrals to certain boarding schools and residential treatment facilities, there are social workers who decides which group home will get the task without anyone getting an insight in what kind of circumstances which became the deciding factor when choosing a certain partner for the job.
We must urge the politicians in Denmark to demand a reconstruction of the entire system. In the case of the foster care family in Mern there had been complaints for almost an entire decade. It is not acceptable.
Danes! Demand justice for your children
Press-release from Domestic prisoners of conscience
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