Child and Youth Welfare: Ombudsman Demands Nationwide Uniform Standards in Austria

Such standards were developed six years ago by the association FICE Austria for residential child and youth care. These "must become mandatory in all facilities. This, of course, must also be appropriately funded," emphasized Achitz in a statement.

FICE Austria is the Austrian section of the International Federation of Educative Communities ("Fédération Internationale des Communautés Educatives"). It connects people and organizations and is concerned with improving out-of-family education. The association already developed these standards in 2019. They address issues of participation, the preventive protection of minors from violence, dealing with risks, assaults and violence, healthcare, and educational processes.

"All parties involved, from professional representatives to the organizations that operate the residential groups, to the states as supervisory authorities, agree: The quality standards are correct and important. But they do not have to be mandatorily applied," criticized FICE Austria President Christian Posch. "Good training is the foundation to prevent assaults, or at least to recognize them if they do occur."

Child and Youth Care: Each State Has Its Own Rules

Posch sees a problem in the fact that each state regulates child and youth care differently. FICE Austria and the Ombudsman have long criticized that the full application of the recognized standards fails due to costs. "Beyond the standards, early and flexible support services for young people with challenging behaviors must be further developed," said Posch.

"There needs to be binding professional collaboration in diagnostics, assistance planning, and intervention. Personnel resources and labor law foundations are required." And the Ombudsman nominated by the SPÖ, Achitz, also stated: "Scandals keep emerging, like the recent one involving SOS Children's Villages. I dare to say: With uniform quality standards in residential groups throughout Austria, it would not have come to this."

Only Half of the Facilities Know Quality Standards

The standards of FICE are known in only 53 percent of the facilities visited during a focus inspection as part of the preventive human rights control by the Ombudsman Board. "In almost half of the facilities, there is therefore a lack of in-depth knowledge about the standards. It would be important for each facility to assign at least one person the responsibility for implementing and adhering to the standards. However, at the time of the focus inspection, this was only the case in 47 percent of the facilities," said Achitz.

According to Achitz, the "greatest possible harmonization of child and youth welfare" and a round table were recently announced in Parliament. "The round table would not be necessary if the demands of the Ombudsman Board and FICE, which have been on the table for years, had been implemented," said the Ombudsman. Should there still be a round table, the Ombudsman Board is, of course, ready to reiterate its position there as well. "In addition to authorities, child and youth welfare facilities, and the Ombudsman Board, the Care Leaver Association, the Austrian Association of Youth Welfare Facilities (DÖJ), FICE Austria, schools, police, Neustart, universities and universities of applied sciences, as well as professional associations, should also be invited," said Achitz.

Demands from the Greens

Barbara Neßler, the Green Party's spokesperson for children and youth, called on the federal government for more financial resources for the Ombudsman Board: "The Ombudsman Board must be significantly better equipped with financial resources. Only then can it conduct more frequent visits to facilities and gain the trust of the children. No child will confide in a complete stranger, no matter how good their intentions may be, especially if this trust has been repeatedly disappointed in the past."

For Neßler, the establishment of a low-threshold whistleblower platform directly at the Ombudsman Board is also important. "This would be state-anchored, independent in its function, and usable anonymously. This way, people from facilities or the environment of child and youth welfare could report grievances without having to fear repression or exclusion," said the Green politician in a statement. "Only in this way can it be ensured that protection gaps in the area of child and youth welfare are consistently identified, addressed, and closed. Trust is not created by good intentions alone, but by clear structures, sufficient resources, and real opportunities for control and reporting of grievances."

The SOS Children's Villages are under massive pressure due to the allegations. Several facilities are affected, such as Imst, Seekirchen, Altmünster, Moosburg, Stübing, and Vienna. There were also allegations of abuse against the organization's founder Hermann Gmeiner and long-time president Helmut Kutin. An independent reform commission led by Irmgard Griss has been tasked with thoroughly reviewing the past and including other locations in their evaluation.

(APA/Red)

This article has been automatically translated, read the original article here.