Forms of violence against children in detention are often invisible. Children may not want to inform detention staff about them because of mistrust, fear of consequences and because they are not aware of the proper procedures. Also, the staff may not be ready or fully trained to prevent and take action in case of violent incidents.
In order to respond to such situations, Terre des hommes specialists organised a workshop in Craiova, on 7 June, with regard to monitoring violence in children detention centres – a session attended by 25 social workers, counsellors, psychologists, educators from Craiova Detention Centre, Buziaș Educational Centre, DGASPC Dolj (General Directorate of Social Assistance and Child Protection), CNASR Dolj (National College of Social Workers).
Adults are required by law to protect children against violence. Children in detention are exposed to a higher risk of violence, therefore the specialists try to intervene by monitoring it.
DATA MOSAIC project experts are working on a tool in order to help detention centre staff to better monitor violent incidents. This tool offers clear and easy to use procedures that cover all forms of violence against children. During data collection, maximum attention is paid to vulnerable children. The data can be compared among various institutions at national and European level. Based on this data, an analysis will be conducted that will show current trends and blockages in the system. Also, the tool is meant to help criminal justice national agencies and child justice institutions to collect and use comparable data on violence against children in detention.
The draft tool proposed by the expert team was tested by participants. They brought amendments, additions, improvements, so that the tool may correspond to the real situation in detention centres and may be useful to detention staff.
Every detained child has his story, his character shaped by childhood experiences, by his family, entourage, the traumas he went through, Emilia Sorescu, trainer and psychologist, explained to the participants when talking about trauma informed approach.
Children and youth in detention centres have huge difficulty in building and maintaining harmonious relationships, as well as trusting other people, the psychologist added. Young persons who experienced traumas often expect that the new relations will confirm the negative beliefs that they formed about themselves and others: the belief that they are inherently unpleasant or ”bad”, that the adults cannot be trusted and will hurt them anyway. Many experts agree that one of the best ways for traumatised young people to heal is to develop positive and safe relationships. Professionals who work with these youth may either help them to heal or increase their vulnerabilities. The path these young people will take in future largely depends on us, the adults.
How can the adults help them? We can offer these teenagers safety, protection, even a positive example through our attitude, the trainer explained. When the negative emotions settled down, we can talk to them, listen tot hem, mirror them (by objective feedback), empathise, validate them, offer them opportunities for reflection and self-reflection.
The workshop was held within DATA MOSAIC project - Data for monitoring the safety of imprisoned children, implemented in Romania by Terre des hommes Foundation and co-funded by the European Union.
