Accused of institutional violence
In the attachment of the shared video it is stated that in the Panevėžys district, VTAĮT officials took away 6 children from the mother, whom she raised together with her partner.
„After learning that the children were planned to be separated, and some even adopted abroad, MOTHER KILLED“, says a post by a group called Cellophane Live.
Narrating the situation, A. Kandrots revealed that the oldest child of the woman was 15 years old, the youngest was two years old.
According to him, after taking the children from the woman, VTAĮT specialists revealed to her that it was planned to give them up for adoption, and some of them to be sent abroad. It is said that when the mother found out, she could not stand it and raised her hand in front of her.
The video received tons of likes and even more snarky comments. Some internet users openly called to deal with VTAĮT specialists, to dismiss the Seimas and to force the country’s president to “explain”.
The accident really happened
15min after sending the request, the head of the Communications sub-department of the Panevėžys County Chief Police Commissariat confirmed that the police received a report of the accident on the evening of November 5.
“The police received a report about the death of a woman. Currently, in order to clarify all the circumstances and determine the cause of death, a pre-trial investigation has been launched,” the comment states.
However, after examining the family situation in more detail, it becomes clear that A. Kandrot’s story does not provide the entire context.
Tried to help the family
15min according to sources, the family has been known to VTAĮT specialists for several years – they tried to help the woman and her children for a very long time.
“In this case, the defenders of the child’s rights have been communicating with the family for some time, and the social partners made sure that the family was offered and provided with all the necessary assistance.
Alvydas Januševičius / 15min photo/Violence against children
Considering the circumstances in the family, a decision was recently made to ensure the safety and well-being of the children by establishing a court-approved temporary guardianship.
Therefore, at the moment, all the children of the mentioned family are in a safe environment, and they are provided with complex assistance, which is taken care of by social partners”, commented Žaneta Ginaitė, head of the Child Rights Protection Department of Panevėžys County.
Removal from the family is only a last resort
According to the laws currently in force in Lithuania, a child can be separated from the family only by law under the intended circumstances. These circumstances are as follows:
- A child’s development, health or life is at risk due to parents’ neglect of the child or unfavorable circumstances.
- The child has committed a crime and has received a prison sentence as a result.
- A child poses a serious threat to his health by consuming alcohol or drugs.
Giulia Bertelli / Unsplash photo / Teenager
After receiving information about a possible violation of the child’s rights, the defenders of the child’s rights go to the family, assess the circumstances, communicate with the child, listen to his opinion, and if necessary – move the child to a safe environment, perform an assessment of the child’s situation.
As A. Kandrotas himself mentioned, the eldest of the woman’s children was already 15 years old – a sufficient age to be able to adequately assess the situation at home.
It is important to emphasize that the transfer of a child to a safe environment is only applied as a last resort, when all other options have been exhausted, and only after obtaining the permission of the court.
Read more: Child rights specialists: in what extreme cases are children separated from their parents?
The service emphasizes that A. Kandrot’s statements about the allegedly planned adoption of children in foreign countries do not correspond to the truth – VTAĮT specialists did not tell the woman about the planned adoption. Under the laws and procedures in place, even after the children were removed from the home, the mother could still get the children back by changing her lifestyle.
He offered to live with the children
According to Ž. Ginaitė, after receiving a notification about a possible violation of the child’s rights, if a real and immediate danger to the child’s physical or mental safety, life or health is revealed, the situation is resolved in various ways.
“First of all, we look for opportunities to establish temporary care for the child – while the parents retain all their rights, a person is appointed to temporarily care for the child, who is indicated by the parents and who could help them take proper care of the child and ensure a safe environment for him.
If the parents cannot indicate such a person who can temporarily help, then both parents or one of them, together with the child, are offered to live in a social service institution providing social care, where temporary care can be applied for up to 12 months,” the comment explains.
A mother with many children was also offered accommodation in the crisis center. Here, she and the children would be provided with all the necessary help, and with the help of specialists, she could improve her mothering skills. But the mother did not want it.
There is no single reason
How 15min already earlier commented Vilnius University Suicidology Research Center researcher, psychologist, lecturer dr. Said Dadashevs, the reasons for suicide are complex, multi-layered – there is no single reason why a person decides to end his life.
“One common myth is the belief that there is only one reason for suicide. For example, if a person experienced an unrequited love and committed suicide, it was supposedly because of unrequited love. Not true. Suicide is a problem involving many different events, situations, and experiences. There is never one reason for suicide,” explained the specialist.
15min verdict: missing context. A. Kandrots, when talking about the family, does not mention that they have tried to help it more than once. it is not true that the children were planned to be given up for adoption as soon as they were taken from the family – the woman could still get them back.
The publication was prepared in 15 minutes in partnership with Metawhich aims to stop the spread of misleading news on the social network. More about the program and its rules – here.
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2024-08-28 17:14:13
