Slovakia: Dozens of children from orphanage ending up in psychiatric care - is it a business?

Press TV in Slovakia has aired footage of a crying, horrified 13-year-old girl who has run away from a children's home because she is afraid the management will have her taken to a psychiatric facility as they did with her brother before her. She herself has spent two weeks in the facility once already.
The girl's name is Zuzana. Apparently she is meant to be sent to the facility because she cursed at a governess in the orphanage, despite having subsequently apologized.
According to Zuzana, many children have been taken from the children's home to the psychiatric facility, the youngest of them just seven years old. The children are doped there with psychiatric medications that they are instructed to take even after returning to the children's home.
Press TV interviewed Zuzana and then did their best to investigate the essence of the problem in their reportage. Zuzana's testimony was confirmed by former inmates of the children's home.
According to the reportage, dozens of children from the Center for Children and Families in Svidník have ended up in the psychiatric facility in Hraň. They range in age from seven to 17 and are dependent on strong sedatives and other drugs by the time they are released from the psychiatric facility.
The director of the center, Ľubomír Sluka, says most of the children have mental disorders. The reporters, however, have ascertained that is not the case and that the psychiatric facility is receiving children from a very early age, with the youngest child using the strong drugs aged only seven.
From the testimonies of former inmates of the children's home it can be seen that the children are customarily prescribed drugs there. The approach is that the child is first assigned to the psychiatric treatment facility for a time, where the drugs are prescribed.
After returning to the children's home, the children must use the strong drugs for the rest of the time they are living there. Zuzana knew that a reporter for Press TV had been working on the case for some time, so when she was meant to be taken to the treatment facility, she immediately contacted their editorial office.
After the television crew visited the children's home, however, there was a 180-degree change of direction. According to a new decision by the management there, Zuzana would ultimately remain at the home and not be sent to the treatment facility.
The reporter had contacted people from the management team before visiting, but they locked themselves in their offices when he arrived and did not respond to his calls for interviews. "Our reporters are still investigating whether this is about some kind of dishonest business involving the children," Erik Hilár Lakatošoviec of Press TV said.
Don't miss:
- Slovak Plenipotentiary for Romani Communities: We will focus on education and employment
- Czech film festival visited by seven Romani children from Slovak settlements to promote "Silent Days"
- Slovak Police arrest Czech citizen and two Slovak citizens on suspicion of extremism
- Slovak court grants early release to vigilante who murdered three Roma at their home, prosecutor complains
- USA: Four-month-old Romani boy is youngest child to be separated from his parents at the border with Mexico
- Czech Police charge adults who assaulted Romani children with three felonies including racial defamation
- Czech gunman who fired warning shots over Romani children at summer camp has his sentence reduced to a fine
- Slovak psychiatrist says crimes against Romani boys considered less outrageous than if they had been white
Related articles:
- Slovakia ahead of elections: Romani candidate suing fascists for defamation
- Austria: Wiener Symphoniker names Dalibor Karvay its new first concertmaster
- LIVE BROADCAST TODAY AT 19:00 CET: "Light in the Darkness" - Romani community gives awards in Slovakia
- Slovakia: Ultra-right calls for "asocials" to be sent to labor camps, police investigating
- Slovakia: Café Európa discusses underrepresentation of Romani people in politics
- International Romani amateur boxing match won by team from Slovakia
- Slovak town bans demonstration by fascists out of respect for Holocaust victims
- Commentary by Czech MEP Zdechovský: Roma need work, not welfare!
- Slovak Government says new data show quality of life for Roma is gradually improving
- Jarmila Balážová, renowned journalist from the Romani community, joining commercial Czech online news server
- Slovak President Zuzana Čaputová has breakfast with Romani students
- Slovak Constitutional Court awards compensation to Roma for 13-year court case - but the discrimination sued over still has no final ruling
Tags:
Dětské domovy, Psychiatrie, Slovakia, televisionHEADLINE NEWS
