Groups call for children’s homes for abused minors

Seeking to minimize the trauma of abused children, three rights groups have called for the creation of special children’s homes.

“This is an institution that has been widespread abroad for decades, and was institutionalized in Greece in 2017,” said Olga Themeli, professor of criminal psychology at the University of Crete, in an online briefing.

“Houses were rented in five cities and many psychologists were trained at the National Children’s Advocacy Center in the US on a scholarship from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation,” she said, ruing that “once the government changed, the procedures froze.” 

The three groups, SOS Children’s Villages, the Network for Children’s Rights and Terre des Hommes, say the current process that an abused child in Greece must follow to report abuse is traumatic.

This includes repeated testimonies to different services (preliminary investigation, forensic examination, main interrogation, expertise, hearing procedure etc).