“Invisible children”: the police opened a case because of the terrible conditions in the boarding school in Bukovina
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In Bukovyna, volunteers discovered terrible living conditions and inappropriate treatment of pupils in a children’s boarding home.
The children were hospitalized at the Kyiv “Okhmatdyt” hospital. Law enforcement officers are investigating a criminal case regarding the improper performance of duties by employees of the institution.
Marta Levchenko, the head of the “City of Good” charitable organization, was the first to report on the plight of the children and the poor conditions in the psycho-neurological orphanage in Magaletsk.
As she told “UP. Life”, in March 2023 she decided to give sweets to the children from the boarding school. The woman was admitted to the facility, and the nurse showed her the children who were in serious condition.
What Marta saw shocked her. The woman says that sick teenage children were lying in cots for babies, broken beds, some were sitting in dirty strollers without padding. Under the children’s heads were pillows with ripped foam. Some children wore two diapers each, which probably didn’t change for a while, Marta says.
“Stink, dirt and horror. I asked to wash the children. There was no water, we were brought brown water from where it was not clear. We washed the children in a small plastic tub made of a duika. The volunteers and I anointed the children with creams, brought our own towels. They changed into fresh clothes, put them on chairs they brought blankets so that the children would not touch those surfaces,” – says Marta Levchenko.
One child had cirrhosis, and the other’s body was covered in ulcers
The volunteer also noticed that many children needed medical help. In particular, a boy with a big belly, who was later diagnosed with cirrhosis. Another child, according to Marta, had sores all over her body – probably bedsores, which were covered with diapers. Another child had “rotten, spoiled teeth.”
Does everyone have drafts in their phone where they write down their thoughts? Yesterday on the plane, I found 13 unsent but very emotional messages in my phone to the governor of Chernivtsi region, the VRU commissioner for human rights in the region and the minister of social policy. My husband jokes that since May he has not been living with me, but with the Magalet orphanage. Well, in life, as in poker, there comes a time to reveal the cards. Everything you saw in the press is the truth. Everything you saw on Facebook of respected officials is a pure lie. What do you need to know from the main point? We took the most serious children to the intensive care unit, and today they are in a better condition. I emphasize WE (not the governor or anyone else). This is a big and very important story about how children were changed in the ambulance. The boy who entered Okhmatdyt with a weight of 7.4 kg at the age of 11 already gained 1.7 kg in a week, because it turned out that if children are fed, not poked, tied, beaten, they can live and develop normally. Many people call the case of the Magaletsky Children’s Home political, because it seems to them that someone is tearing them down from their positions, but this is not true. Absolutely false. They’ve been writing reports and posts vertically for six months, but they’re not doing anything, and in most situations they’re even preventing it. The governor personally stood at the door of the orphanage and did not allow the children to be taken to the hospital. Do you know what a regional circular guarantee is? Because now I know. When I was told about it, I could not believe it, but six months of fighting for the right of these children to live taught me a lot. To be honest, I no longer have the arguments, tools, and strength to explain to adults and influential people that it is impossible not to feed, beat, tie up, and do many other inhumane actions to defenseless children from boarding schools. And no, I’m not interested in what’s worse, I’m interested in the fact that you’re not doing anything to make it better. I understand all responsibility for this public post. I understand that this will be a problem for the school of public administration, which I manage. I understand that the public is an extreme option. But just believe me that in six months I did everything so that it did not become public. I personally convey my greetings to the governor of Chernivtsi region. ❤️ At the end of every public post, there should be a call to action: 1. Change the head of the orphanage and create a human community council of volunteers that will pull these children out of the abyss. 2. Change the human rights commissioner in the region. 🙈because she is not human (sorry for the emotions) 3. It is very polite to ask the governor to stop killing more than 50 small children. And also to ask how many of them died in that orphanage between May and today? Because I have something to say… And I am very grateful to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the police and the prosecutor’s office, who really, in this case, stand up for the interests of these children. Please share the September 4 video
Posted by Anna Mishchenko Monday, September 25, 2023
One child was hospitalized for intensive care on the same day. ⠀
Marta Levchenko also claims that children in the boarding house were tied with ropes to hard benches and swings.
“No toys, no playground, no education, no development. One child was quietly howling like an animal in a pile of rags. These are sick children. They can’t say anything, so they even suffer from an incredible toothache. A blind child is lying, and next to her – the wall and you can stick your hand in the mold.” – says Marta Levchenko.
Correspondence with the authorities lasted three months
The volunteer says that after she published information about the boarding school’s assistance, she was no longer allowed there.
“I corresponded with the local authorities for three months. I proposed to create a public council at the boarding school so that the children would be under supervision. However, they replied that such a council had already been created, thanked me for the suggestions, promised to take them into account. I demanded that the children be hospitalized. And time went on “, – says Marta Levchenko.
Soon the Minister of Social Policy Oksana Zholnovich came to the region, and the volunteer managed to give her a photo from the boarding school. The woman says that she hoped for changes, but they did not happen.
“The minister was shocked and promised to help. I calmed down, but the children were not hospitalized. Then I saw a video with music and the plans of the director, who said that everything was fine at the institution.” – says the woman.
At the beginning of September 2023, Oksana Zholnovich reported that she had received from Chernivtsi volunteers photos of children with complex disorders who were in a difficult condition. She noted that these children were transferred from the Druzhkiv Children’s Boarding Home.
“Monitoring showed that some children lack or have expired individual plans for inpatient care and rehabilitation. Children’s rooms obviously need improvement in accordance with modern requirements, and there are violations of sanitary standards in the kitchen.”Oksana Zholnovich reported.
| Volunteers feed children in a boarding school |
The minister assured that all children were examined by doctors, and those who needed treatment received it at the hospital.
“It is with the Chernivtsi OVA that we are starting a pilot project to transfer children to family-style institutions and provide them with appropriate care. The boarding school itself in the Chernivtsi region will be reformatted.”Oksana Zholnovich assured.
“UP. Life” appealed to the Ministry of Social Policy with a request to comment on the situation, and is waiting for a response.
The children were taken to the hospital
Head of the Kyiv School of Public Administration named after Serhiy Nyzhny Anna Mishchenko and the adviser of the Secretariat of the Commissioner of Human Rights of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Anton Gulidin also joined the fight for children.
With their joint efforts, they managed to hospitalize the children from the boarding school to the Kyiv “Okhmatdyt” hospital.
“The children are in a completely different state, they are loved there, they take care of them. The boy who entered Okhmatdyt weighing 7.4 kg at the age of 11 already gained 1.7 kg in a week, because it turned out that if children are fed, not stabbed, not tied , don’t beat them – then they can live and develop normally. And when they were brought to the “ambulance”, even the policemen cried.” – says Anna Mishchenko.
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| Pupil of boarding school |
Anton Gulidin also commented on the positive changes in the condition of children:
“The children are smiling, responding very well to the wonderful staff, demanding attention, playing with toys, and even trying to get up and move, isn’t that wonderful?”
According to Anna Mishchenko, now the most important task of the volunteers is to ensure that the children are distributed among hospitals, and not returned to the institution.
Marta Levchenko says that these children need round-the-clock medical care and does not understand how they could get into an institution where there are no medical specialists. According to the woman, only a part-time psychiatrist worked at the boarding school, but he resigned, so it is not known who prescribed sedatives to the children.
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| Volunteers brought blankets to cover the carts |
“In my opinion, what happened in Bukovina can also happen in other boarding schools. No one goes there, because it is difficult to look at. There is no single electronic system where all examinations of children, the progress of rehabilitation and the state of health would be recorded . These children are like invisible. You can write whatever you want in paper documents later.” – she says.
Law enforcement officers are investigating
The Investigative Department of the National Police of Chernivtsi Region registered a criminal proceeding under Article 137 of the Criminal Code on improper performance of duties regarding the protection of children’s lives and health, the head of the Chernivtsi Regional Prosecutor’s Office, Anton Kovalskyi, told “UP. Life”.
“During preventive measures to monitor social networks, representatives of the Verkhovna Rada’s Commissioner for Human Rights discovered a number of publications stating that officials of a communal institution were improperly performing their duties. The pre-trial investigation has been going on for almost a month. A large amount of investigative actions have been carried out.” – says the prosecutor.
According to Anton Kovalskyi, investigative actions were carried out both in the territory of Chernivtsi region and in the territory of the city of Kyiv, namely in the “Okhmatdyt” hospital, where the children are staying.
“The proceedings are under my personal control. The pre-trial investigation is controlled by the Prosecutor General’s Office. I can assure you: all investigative actions are carried out on time, there are a large number of them. There is a lot of work there. Since it is necessary to evaluate not only the actions of the officials of the institution where the children are, but , probably also to the officials of the self-governing body – the regional council and, accordingly, to the branch departments of the administration. We cannot say about any prospects, but the work continues.” – noted Kovalskyi.
“UP. Life” also asked the Chernivtsi regional military administration for comments, but has not received a response so far.
Read also: In Ukraine, the most waiting for adoption are children aged 10-12 years
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