Hungry and locked up children, living in deplorable conditions – mattresses covered in plastic, unsuitable beds, overcrowding, and expired medications. This is what inspectors from the Monitoring Council and representatives from the Legal Resources Center found at several centers for children with disabilities in Târgu Mureș, Romania.
The images are horrifying, they can emotionally affect you and you can see them HERE.
Four centers were inspected on Saturday, all with licenses expired last year, as reported by the Legal Resources Center (CRJ) in a statement.
In the four centers under the jurisdiction of Child Protection Mureș, 63 children with disabilities are accommodated, although the maximum capacity is only 51 places.
The children are malnourished, and their overall condition is severely affected.
Despite the fact that the Annual Action Plan of Mureș County Council for 2024 allocates a total budget of approximately 4.7 million lei (~1 million euros) for the four centers.
The CRJ will notify the General Prosecutor's Office and request urgent intervention by the authorities for the findings.
For now, the president of the National Authority for the Protection of Children's Rights and Adoption has announced that they are sending the Control Body.
Horrendous Conditions
During the Saturday visit, several illegalities were identified, with the following being essential, according to CRJ:
- Children aged between 3-7 years are not in the care of professional foster parents, as required by law, but are locked up in centers. Thus, Mureș County Child Protection Department has violated the obligation to ensure care for children in a family environment.
- In one of the centers, eight children were locked in bedrooms with locks, located outside, to prevent them from leaving the rooms. The staff informed us that they resorted to this method due to a lack of personnel.
- In two of the centers, following the inspection of emergency medication dispensers, expired medications were identified. The staff stated that they had recently administered these treatments.
- In all four centers, living and care conditions are inadequate, do not meet legal standards, with 9 children observed in one bedroom, rooms without doors, unsanitary spaces, mattresses covered in plastic, improperly sized beds - all of which endanger the lives and integrity of the children.
- In one of the centers, a chickenpox outbreak was found, with five children diagnosed, not all of whom were isolated from other institutionalized children.
- There are children with disabilities who do not receive physiotherapy services, even though doctors say that the lack of rehabilitation could endanger their lives.
CRJ has not made its first visit on Saturday, but has conducted several unannounced monitoring checks in these centers since March 2024.
In all visits, CRJ observed the same situation - serious problems of overcrowding, lack of hygiene, inadequate nutrition, lack of access to medical services, lack of activities and child rehabilitation, forced institutionalization - most families were not counseled before taking the children from their families, did not receive adequate services in the community and after institutionalization - their right to visit their children was restricted.
Children are rarely washed, using dirty sponges, diapers are not changed regularly, and clothes, bed linens, and towels are worn out and dirty. The children's health condition is worrying, and the care services are of low quality. Also, oral health is extremely poor, indicating a lack of proper dental care.
Despite a generous staffing scheme, CRJ found irregularities during monitoring visits, especially related to staff not participating in activities as per their job description (absence from work) and providing inadequate care services for the specific needs of the children.
In most unannounced visits, a lack of specialized staff and even a specific program that should be displayed or known could be observed.
First Reaction from Authorities
A first reaction to this case comes from the president of the National Authority for the Protection of Children's Rights and Adoption.
Rareș-Petru Achiriloaie has decided to send the control body to Mureș.
"From the information provided, indeed, there seem to be elements of very serious gravity. The first measure we will take is to send the control body to investigate this case specifically and with a clear approach.
We have indeed received notifications from the Legal Resources Center throughout 2024, but not specifically related to these centers and related to other cases to which we have also responded.
In Târgu Mureș and specifically in Mureș County, throughout 2024, we have not had any control conducted by the control body, irregularities were rather reported in other counties such as Galați, Timișoara, Covasna, where we sent the control body, initiated an investigation there, and now it's Mureș' turn," Achiriloaie stated to Digi24.