Now that we’ve clarified that it’s cats that meow on rooftops and adults (sometimes even the elderly) who spend nights in hotel rooms with underage girls—not to exchange stamps for their collections as in the old days—let’s try to untangle what’s happening in so-called Children’s Homes, where state services house children removed from their families for protection.
These homes shouldn’t just be warehouses for children, where minors find refuge until they reach adulthood and follow whichever path they choose, or whichever seems the closest and most easily paved with euros.
The conditions are tough. We know that. Even as parents, we often struggle to cope with one or two teenage children. So, how much harder must it be to manage many more children, each carrying their own traumas, who certainly wouldn’t want to be there?
That is precisely why it’s necessary to create the right conditions and, most importantly, to staff these homes with specialists who can bridge the family gap as much as possible—reading the signs, preventing issues, offering incentives, instilling hope, nurturing ambitions, and helping shape characters who won’t easily become either victims or perpetrators.
These homes shouldn’t just be homes in name.
The girls involved in the case with the 64-year-old man are reportedly under state guardianship. The state, as their guardian, has failed.
And this isn’t the first time. How can the state convince us that it is capable of offering better conditions and raising some children better than their families, who have been proven unable to do so?
When children are removed from their parents and families, or for any reason end up under state protection, the state has a responsibility. It assumes the role of the parent, which is no small duty.
Frequently, police issue announcements about minors missing from their places of residence. In most cases, these places are state-run facilities.
We never learn (and don’t need to learn) where they went and what they did. But the authorities should know and be concerned. This isn’t just another public service carrying out routine work. They are raising people. People who are inherently vulnerable.
If a 15- or 16-year-old girl were involved in a robbery and at the same time found in a hotel room with a 64-year-old, the state would be obliged to ensure that parental custody is removed.
In this particular case, where the state itself played the role of the parent, what should be done?