Lights and shadows of juvenile centers: "There is too much business"

• EVENTS The director of a reception center and an educator warned that one of the minors was a prostitute

The scandal over the prostitution network in which several minors protected by the Community participated has revealed

that should help adolescents, but is leaving them unprotected.

What is happening in the juvenile centers of the region?

Currently,

, according to data from the Ministry of Family, Youth and Social Policy.

Of all of them, there are 2,263 (60%) who reside in foster care and the other 1,451 (40%) live in one of

, which has a total of 1,880 beds.

For a minor to enter one of these centers, they must be in a situation of risk or helplessness.

In these cases, the Commission for the Guardianship of the Minor

, so it is the Administration that assumes the guardianship of the child.

In addition, there is the modality of guardianship when

and ask the Administration to act as a caretaker for a certain time.

The minors then go on to stay in the Community accommodation, where there are various modalities:

for emergency procedures;

early childhood centers for children from 0 to 6 years old;

residences for minors from 3 to 18 years old;

homes or groups arranged to resemble a family environment and teen flats.

Some of these centers are publicly owned and others are managed

such as Aldeas Infantiles, Fundación Anar, Calasanz, Cáritas, Nuevo Futuro, Grupo Norte, Diagrama, Consulting Asistencial or Trama.

This situation causes

: from exemplary centers where minors are treated perfectly to others that accumulate numerous complaints.

The most conflictive centers

, precisely two of the places where minors forced into prostitution resided.

“I ran away twice.

.

I felt like shit in there, ”says a young woman who was interned at Picón del Jarama, specialized in minors with behavioral disorders and managed by the Grupo Norte Foundation.

This residence received harsh criticism in

for locking the kids up for 72 hours in punishment rooms.

On this occasion it was the management of this center that denounced the juvenile mafia to the authorities.

In the opinion of Miguel Ángel Martín, former director of two centers for minors, the model is failing and urgent reforms are necessary.

and in full decline,” he asserts.

This social educator criticizes

, in which more than 100 adolescents participated, who were being prepared to become emancipated.

, who are the ones who work to prevent young people from ending up in the hands of the Administration

, have been reduced to the maximum .

«There has been a

with few resources and staff in poor working conditions.

Late-Francoist resources are being used and many young people do not adapt to these institutions”, declares Martín.

private management

Another problem denounced by experts is having left the management of these centers in the hands of companies.

.

The problem is that certain services have been privatized to companies that are dedicated to reducing costs and obtaining the highest possible profit.

Minors have become a business for some companies that disguise themselves as NGOs, ”criticizes Victoriano Fernández, president of the Association of Families for Society of the s.

XXI.

The Community of Madrid invests

to care for each minor in care, a figure that can vary depending on the needs of each young person.

This was one of the arguments put forward by Vox during the last election campaign

of the

.

However, 70% of the minors in the centers are Spanish compared to 30% of foreigners.

Precisely, as a result of the criticism of Vox, the association We Are Sheltered emerged to support these minors.

Its president, Emilia Lozano, disapproves

in which the Hortaleza first reception center finds itself.

"It's like

.

A horror.

I do not understand how from the Community of Madrid it is consented that it is working as it is doing, "censorship.

According to their testimony, the young people cannot have cell phones or wear their own clothes and

if they commit any infraction.

“They have given us chilling recordings of how they were beaten.

If the security guard catches them picking up the cell phone,

," Lozano alleges.

This center has recorded numerous incidents: fights, robberies,

and even a grenade launched from the street appeared.

Faced with this situation, experts insist on working on prevention so that "children are not separated from their families

."

Almudena Escorial, head of Political Incidence of the Children's Platform, maintains that if families

and criticizes that as soon as the minor enters the centers, not enough effort is made to reintegrate them again. with their relatives.

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