Child Care Provider at Centre of Abuse Scandal Operated Illegally

By , 05 Oct 2018, 11:50 AM News
The logo of the now closed child care centre The logo of the now closed child care centre

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STA, 4 October 2018 - The daycare provider exposed in a TV report last night on suspicion of serious maltreatment of children has been operating illegally, an Education Ministry official told reporters on Thursday. 

The provider, called Kengurujčki (Little Kangaroos), had registered child care as the company's object, but it was not on the registry of the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport.

Addressing the public in Ljubljana, the head of the ministry's pre-school division, Vida Starič Holobar urged parents to check whether the private providers were on the ministry's registry before entrusting their children to them.

Minister Jernej Pikalo offered a similar piece of advice to parents via his Twitter account: "I condemn illegal child care practices in the strongest terms, urging parents to acquire all the necessary information before enrolling their child in private care. We are here for you."

One of the nannies working at Kengurujčki recorded how small children were force fed and wrapped up tightly head to toe. She and the parents alerted the police, which in turn notified the inspectorate.

The ministry's chief inspector, Tomaž Rozman, said that when the inspectors visited the provider on Friday, they found the house empty. He promised the persons working there and the owner would be suitably processed.

Rozman said that a person had been registered at the address since 2015 for looking after up to six children. The provider faces a fine of up to EUR 1,000 for providing care illegally.

Rozman said that an institute may be registered for a number of objects, but the question was which it in fact performed. If it in fact provides child care, the provider needs to meet the Education Ministry's requirements.

Asked about checks for potential discrepancies between the list of those with child care as their company's object and those registered with the ministry, Rozman said there were not enough inspectors to check everything. Out of 11 education inspectors, eight are operational.

Starič Holobar does not think the case of Kengurujčki can be blamed on a systemic flaw, rather, she sees it as abuse of law "that may have been a grave conscious infringement".

She said that inspectors often discovered providers who operated illegally because they were publicly offering their services to parents.

Inspectors conduct regular planned oversight, at about 40 providers a year, as well as extraordinary inspections, which are as a rule based on a complaint and conducted without prior notice.

The inspectorate issued 20 proposals within three years to ban providers from performing the activity they were registered for, because they no longer met the requirements, such as staffing and space.

This year, the inspectorate has received six complaints against carers in the providers' home - banning them from providing care in two cases.

However, there was no case of alleged violence reported for carers. There have been a total of 55 complaints alleging violence for all pre-school institutions, public and private, and primary schools.

The cases are not closed yet, but statistics indicate that about one in three complaints is justified, Rozman said.

Commenting on the case, Ljubljana Mayor Zoran Janković condemned the incident, which he said could never happen at Ljubljana's public pre-school institutions.

He urged parents to be careful who they entrust their children to, noting that 92% of children born in Ljubljana were enrolled in the city's public kindergartens.

Branimir Štrukelj, the head of the teachers' trade union, urged for the punishment of what he described as criminal offence, underscoring that the daycare provider had no licence.

He said the incident was a clear example of the meaning of oversight of public pre-school institutions and standards and norms, "which are as good as holy to public kindergartens".

According to ministry data, there are 334 public kindergartens in Slovenia, 88 private kindergartens and 335 registered nannies and three private pre-school teachers.

Psychotherapist Nina Kočar said that the treatment of children as seen on the video broadcast by TV Slovenia could be traumatic for the children and could cause behavioural or psychosomatic problems.

"A child who has been ill-treated may turn into someone who may mistreat other children, or may completely withdraw," she said, but added that parents can help them by telling or showing them that it was the carer who acted wrong, not them.

She also said that the situation may not be as traumatic for the child if he or she lives in a healthy family environment. She said that the parents whose children were maltreated also needed support.

Child neglect or mistreatment carries up to three year in prison.

Police said covert police measures in that case would not be warranted, while it was up to prosecutor to decide whether to use the video recorded by the nanny as evidence.

Police handle an average two cases of allegedly inappropriate treatment at child care institutions a year, while the category of the offence depends on how the act was committed and with what consequences.

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