|
F. Requirements and procedures for admission and departure of children from residential care centers and institutions
-
As part of the aforementioned obligation of the States of the region to regulate all residential care facilities that are located in their territory, the Commission recalls that this obligation extends to regulation of the requirements and procedures for admission and departure of a child or adolescent from care centers or institutions.
-
The State must establish in its regulatory framework the requirements and the procedure under which the admission of a child to an alternative residential care facility or institution is to take place. Generally speaking, the admission of a child to a facility of these characteristics ought to be the consequence of a special measure of protection issued by the competent authority, setting forth the reasons why it was issued and the content thereof.
-
In addition, the Commission considers that standards instituted by the State to regulate the establishment and functioning of care centers and residential institutions should prohibit recruitment of children by the facilities themselves. The foregoing is under the principles of international human rights law as applied to children without parental care, particularly the principle of necessity and of the exceptional and temporary nature of the separation of children from their families, as well as precedence of the best interests of the child in applying measures of protection and care, . As was discussed above, placement of a child deprived of parental care in a care facility must be in response to the implementation of a measure of special protection issued by the competent authority. For this purpose, the regulations must clearly set forth the requirements and procedures for admission and departure of children at residential care facility, so that no child is cared for at a residential centerwithout it being strictly necessary and suitable, nor that he or she remains at such a facility unnecessarily. Guideline 127 of the UN Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children puts forth a similar recommendation in stating that:
[…] Laws, policies and regulations should prohibit the recruitment and solicitation of children for placement in residential care by agencies, facilities or individuals.
-
The Commission, nonetheless, notes that cases arise in which the parents themselves or the family of the child give the child over to an institution to care for him or her, be it for a short period of time or in a definite manner. The regulations must cover such instances when children are placed in institutions by their parents or family members themselves, because they are unable or refuse to take charge of them. These cases must be promptly brought to the attention of the public authorities with competence for child affairs in order to provide support to the parents through existing family support social services, to investigate whether other relatives might be able to take charge of the child or, otherwise, determine what measure of temporary or permanent alternative care would be most suitable for the child, in light of his or her individual situation and best interests. Additionally, these regulations must address other situations that have also been detected in the region, which lead to the admission of the child in an institution, such as abandonment of children by their families at these institutions. It was recently reported to the Commission that this type of situation takes place without the public authorities even being aware of it.
-
The Commission is concerned that the admission of children to alternative residential care centers or institutions without a measure of special protection being issued by the competent authority for this purpose, and without the public authorities responsible for child affairs being advised immediately, does not adequately ensure their rights, in addition to placing them at risk of sale and trafficking in children, generally for purposes of adoption, but also for exploitation.
-
The Commission highlights that States have the responsibility at all times to know the exact number of children without parental care who, as a result of this situation, are living at a residential care center or institution. Therefore, as part of the duty to regulate, the legal framework must impose the obligation on all alternative care center and institutions to keep a registry containing all of the personal information of all children living at them, as well as record in the registry the decision issued by the competent authority under which a measure of protection entailing alternative care of a residential nature was decided and the justification for the suitability of such a measure.
-
Accordingly, children and adolescents who are admitted to an alternative residential care facility or institution must be immediately entered into the facility’s registry and a personal dossier or file of the child must be opened for him/her at that time. These registries must be made available to the mechanisms of control and oversight during monitoring and inspection visits to the facilities and institutions. Additionally, immediately after being admitted, the child is entitled to a medical examination conducted by specialized personnel and to the recording of the medical examination report in the personal file of the child.434 The Commission attaches great importance to this medical examination at the time of admission in the facility or institution, inasmuch as it finds it necessary to be able to provide any immediate medical care that the child may require, including psychological recovery and rehabilitation,435 as well as to exert subsequent oversight over possible forms of violence or neglect to which the child may be exposed at the facility and which affect his or her health and personal integrity.436
-
In this regard, the U.N. Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children concur in asserting the duty of States to regulate the procedures under which the admission of children into residential care centers take place. Guideline 125 establishes that:
The competent national or local authority should establish rigorous screening procedures to ensure that only appropriate admissions to such facilities are made.
-
Likewise, States have the obligation to regulate the requirements that must be met for the departure of children and adolescents from alternative residential care centers and institutions, and the procedures governing this process. The professional staff at these facilities must create adequate conditions so that the child may leave the care center or institution in the shortest time possible; regular evaluations must be carried out in order to monitor interventions applied for this purpose and developments achieved. Accordingly, once the conditions of the situation are given in order for the child to depart the facility, this situation must be reported promptly to the appropriate authority, in order to vacate the special measure of protection and order the departure of the child from the residential facility or institution in order to become reunited with his or her family or to begin an independent living arrangement as an adult, should he or she have reached adult age; in other instances, as has been explained, the appropriate thing to do is for the competent authority to open proceedings to revoke parental authority in a definite manner, and find the child eligible for adoption, when evidence proves that it is impossible to reunite the child with his or her family of origin.
-
Based on the information it has received, the Commission views with concern that only a few States have reported that a departure procedure is in place for the departure of children and adolescents from residential centers and institutions, particularly, the fact that children are able to leave these establishments without any formal procedure for this purpose being involved. In Chile, for example, information has been provided indicating that, in 2010, out of a total of 18,977 children admitted, 1,131 left the institutions informally, which represents 5.96% of all admissions. This type of situation is especially serious in light of the cases of trafficking in children linked to alternative residential care centers and institutions. According to information gathered by the Commission, in the Federal District of Mexico (Mexico City) alone, three institutions have been identified by the authorities as being implicated in alleged disappearances and exploitation of children and adolescents.437
-
In addition to regulating requirements for admission and departure, States must require alternative residential care centers and institutions to keep up-to-date registries and dossiers or personal history files on all children and adolescents living in their establishment, as will be addressed in greater detail in a subsequent section of this report. In light of the concerns raised by the Commission pertaining to admissions and s departures from institutions, the Commission urges the States to possess , as soon as possible, the completely up-to-date information on all children who are living in the custody of a public, private or a mixed public/private residential care facility or institution in the country.
Do'stlaringiz bilan baham: |
