Vaikų aukų teisinės ir socialinės apsaugos struktūrinių trūkumų šalinimo galimybės Lietuvoje

Abstract

The article presents an analysis of abused child social and legal protection. Physical, sexual or psychological abuse against children provides an impulse for the interaction among responsible institutions. This interaction is a complex phenomenon that involves diverse legal, social and private institutions. The clash of interests between state and family institutions responsible for child protection places a child in a problematic position. When the needs of child are disregarded, institutional interaction may cause system abuse. The damage of inappropriate help of institutions (here one has in mind not only formal institutions, but also different projects, programs) upon a child is rather differently called, namely: the institutional abuse, program abuse, repeated abuse, system abuse. The essential difference is that the system abuse touches not one child, but a lot of children as well as most frequently it is related to the policy of childhood protection. Such a process of child protection ends to the child’s disadvantage and creates an incentive for an abuser to exploit a child more intensively.
The article is based on the data from legal document analysis and the survey of child’s rights protection experts. The survey was carried out in August-September, 2001. The questionnaire includes 46 questions, 19 of which are open-ended. The Market and Opinion Research Centre “Vilmorus“ selected experts throughout Lithuania. The total of 198 experts comes from the Children’s Rights Protection Agency, the police, the Prosecutor’s Office, Courts of law, Psychological support services, the Institute of Medical Expertise and medical institutions of Lithuania.
The article argues that main of the characteristic manifestations of system abuses are structural limitations of an effective child-victim protection in Lithuania. More specifically, it analyses the basis for intervention and its limits in cases of child abuse, the interpretation of parents’ social and legal power in relation to the concepts of authority and responsibility, the questioning of the structural power enjoyed by the child-victim in the process of institutional interaction and the normative orientation of socio-legal institutional child protection. It is argued that in Lithuania there is no adequate definition of abuse: physical abuse is tolerated until it causes pain or minor health disorder, which is defined as the loss of 5 per cent workingcapacity or temporary loss of working-capacity not exceeding the period of 10 days. In contrast to international legal acts, the consequences of abuse are not directly connected to development disorders.
This article also analyses the problem of parental authority and the problem of the child’s structural participation: there is no sufficient legal basis for representation of a child, especially in case of family abuse, no child-friendly environment and assistance.
The problem of institutional cooperation and coordination is pointed out.
In the conclusion the article shows how to improve institutional interaction and eliminate the causes of systemic abuse. This discussion focues on two sources of reference: an analysis of literature and the results of the survey. This section will provide a comparative analysis on issues of child opinion and participation, the adequate standards of protection, the efficiency and control of work, the creation of a mechanism to eliminate damaging practices, the improvement of skills and competences, the development of social services and the improvement of laws.