Improprieties Revisited - The Ombudsman's Repeated Investigation in Special Children's Homes

The Ombudsman has re-investigated four children's homes providing special care and found infringements on several fundamental rights on this occasion, too. Commissioner Máté Szabó has requested the intervention of the competent minister.

In recent years, the Commissioner has conducted investigations in several children's homes where children with severe psychic symptoms and children fighting with psychoactive substances are taken care of. In the course of this year's children's rights project, the Ombudsman has investigated the aftermath of his previous recommendations and the health care and catering situation of children living in those homes. It has turned out that, although general and specialized medical care is available in all investigated institutions, the requirements of healthy eating are not observed everywhere.

Restricting the personal freedom of children posing a serious threat to themselves and others is allowed under the law. Imposing "educational supervision" falls under the competence of the guardianship authority, its perpetuance or termination are decided on by the court. The imposition of this measure is preceded by a complicated legal procedure – that is the main reason why children's homes are reluctant to request it from the guardianship authority, concluded the Ombudsman. The investigation has also disclosed that, in fact, the institutions themselves decide whether or not to use personal or area surveillance systems in or outside the institutions, on mounting bars, on locking up rooms, part of the institution or the entire institution, or on dispensing therewith.

It is stipulated by the law that there should be an isolation ward for children posing a serious threat to themselves and others in children's homes providing special care. One of the investigated institutions, however, has received its operating licence for an indefinite time without having one completed. The professional programme and the rules of the house of the same institution contain regulations that are contradictory and infringing on fundamental rights. The use of the internet is forbidden in this home because, according to the home's management, it would allow the children easy access to controlled substances. The Commissioner for Fundamental Rights has found this decision unacceptable since safe surfing is the technically feasible, and using the world wide web could greatly contribute to the children's development and education, and cater to their cultural needs.

In order to put an end to these improprieties, the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights has contacted the competent minister and the director of the children's home concerned.