Quality Standards for Summer Camps Demanded

According to a survey by the Chamber of Labor, children and adolescents in Austria spend an average of one week per year in holiday camps. The regulations for this are the responsibility of the federal states. Family Minister Claudia Plakolm (ÖVP) advocates for uniform regulations but emphasizes that this falls under the jurisdiction of the states. Concrete considerations should be discussed at the meetings of the state councils.

Currently Few Guidelines for Summer Camp Operators

According to an analysis by KIJA Vienna in the sect report, private providers of summer camps without state funding often do not have to present a mandatory child protection concept and it is not necessarily checked on-site. Without a specific risk case, preventive intervention is hardly possible. KIJA Vienna sees a "significant gap in the prevention and review of potential child welfare endangerments or the restriction of children's rights" here.

According to the Federal Sect Office, there is a need for action in holiday camps with an "esoteric, free church, or social utopian background." The report mentions offers that advertised with seemingly neutral leisure activities but then "stood out negatively through missionary transmission of religious content or indoctrinating teaching." Complaints about "inadequate or questionable educational foundations" have also been received.

In one holiday camp, according to the report, children had to take an oath as "Soldiers of God" at the end and were encouraged to proselytize classmates. At another provider of multi-week camps for participants from various nations, it had been common for years to "largely isolate the children communicatively from their parents," so that the children had limited opportunities to talk to their parents about experiences and fears or to contact them if they were sick.

Summer Camps: Regulations Only in Carinthia and Vorarlberg

The Federal Sect Office therefore advocates for binding quality standards for care, educational concepts, and the prevention of violence, abuse, and neglect. For the care staff, there should be mandatory regular training on children's rights and child protection. Additionally, the Federal Sect Office sees a need for low-threshold and anonymous complaint options for children, parents, and care staff, as well as regular independent quality controls. All caregivers should be required to present an extended criminal record certificate, and there should also be binding protection concepts, according to the demand.

Currently, anyone can open a holiday camp "without any control and without protective measures for the children being cared for," as KIJA recently criticized in a position paper. Only in Carinthia and Vorarlberg are there already regulations. KIJA calls for mandatory quality standards and training of staff, a notification or approval requirement for holiday camps including inspections by authorities, an obligation to annually present an extended criminal record certificate for all care staff, and the introduction of child protection measures as a prerequisite for receiving state funding.

(APA/Red)

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