Children Abused in the Orphanage at Priboieni, Arges County

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Children Abused in the Orphanage at Priboieni, Arges County

The former Social Democratic (PSD) Senator, Constantin Nicolescu, who is now the current president of the county council for Arges County, is accused of protecting the directors of certain orphanages, which are really prisons, where children are sexually abused and forced to work. The "People's Advocate" declared, following the investigation of the orphanage at Priboieni, Arges County, that those responsible for this orphanage trampled on the rights of the children in the institution and this was tolerated by their superiors.

On the other hand, officials from the National Authority for the Protection of the Rights of the Child and Adoption, told us that they had asked for disciplinary measures to be taken against the directors of the orphanage. But the president of the county council, Social Democrat Constantin Nicolescu, supported the directors. According to statements by Nicolescu, "In none of these investigations was there found any instances of abuse, including in the report by the National Authority of the Protection of the Rights of the Child." In spite of these affirmations, Bogdan Panait, head of the National Authority for the Protection of the Rights of the Child maintains, "We have asked Mr. Nicolescu to take disciplinary measures against the director of the Child Protection Services for Arges, Adrian Macovei. Mr. Nicolescu is the only one who is able to take this measure. I have asked him to analyze the managerial capabilities of Mr. Macovei.

"But nothing was done. Consequently, Mr. Panait asked for another review of the case because the county authorities were moving very slowly in this situation. "Last December, I asked that these measures be taken. Because nothing was done I again asked, at the start of this year, for these measures to be taken. As far as I know, this problem was discussed by the local authorities on Wednesday of last week. But I have heard no information on the matter." The head of the Quality Control of the National Authority for the Protection of the Rights of the Child, Nicoleta Curelaru, affirmed, "We have asked the Arges county council to begin an investigation. We have heard that there will be charges filed against Macovei."

The infernal conditions at Priboieni came to light after a group of 20 children, out of the 70 who were institutionalized in this orphanage, demonstrated that they were victims of incredible abuses. They accused their teachers, supervisors and those responsible for the orphanage, that they were forced to work, that they were beaten when they did not carry out orders, and that at least one case of rape was swept under the carpet. The children maintained that they were forced to work at the homes of their teachers and others in cleaning, working in the fields, and harvesting the crops.

The "People's Advocate" confirmed that this institution was like a labor prison. According to authorized sources, there were also many instances of abortions in this orphanage. The "People's Advocate" confirmed that many of the accusations were, in fact, true. Camelia Golescu, the person responsible for the rights of the children from the People's Advocate office, confirmed to us that the problems at Priboieni have been going on for a long time.

Camelia Golescu declared, "The People's Advocate has asked those responsible for this institution to explain the situation at the orphanage. The accusations are extremely serious. I have heard that some measures, like changing the director of the orphanage, have been taken. I heard that Adrian Macovei was to receive professional sanctions against him because he tolerated the problems at the orphanage. There are also other accusations regarding the activities in other orphanages in this county."

A RIDICULOUS SANCTION: 5% OF HIS SALARY
Asked whether he had received any sanctions against him, Adrian Macovei, the director of the Child Protection Services for Arges County, defended himself saying, "The problem of sanctions against me has not been raised." He refused to give any further details regarding the situation at Priboieni. "Things are not as they have been presented. On the 16th of January, a new interim director was named at the orphanage in Priboieni. The previous director, Ion Preoteasa, was fired and was given an executive function with a 5% reduction in salary. I don't have anything else to say."

The new director at Priboieni, is Alexandru Preda. He contradicted his boss from the Child Protection Services. Preda said, "There was a little disorder here. There was a defective circulation of documents. There was no registration of the comings and goings of the documents and it is not known what happened with each one. I don't know if any charges were filed against people who headed this orphanage." Preda maintained that the former directors of the institution were not interested in the program of the students and never sanctioned the students even when they merited it. He did say that the legal responsibilities were ignored by the former directors.

PREDA: "WE ARE RAISING CRIMINALS"
The current director of the orphanage, Alexandru Preda, maintains that it is inadmissible that the young people from the orphanage weren't educated according to a rigorous program, but were rather left to do whatever they wanted without any verification as to whether they went to school or not.

Preda told us, "These children, from 16 to 20 years of age, didn't go to school and no one was concerned. It seems that these children had the impression that they had many rights but no responsibilities. Regulations 21 and 41 of the National Authority for the Protection of the Child's Rights provides sanctions against children who don't go to their classes. But nobody applied these and we've raised a bunch of delinquents. I have told this to the county prosecutor. We have to explain to people that we must respect the law, no matter whether it is a matter of those responsible for this institution or the children who are in it.

"LIVE ON THE SEX CHAT LINE"
In one month, the young people from the orphanage in Priboieni ran up a $500.00 bill to sex chat lines. Preda said, "The young people stole the phone and hid themselves in a room from which they called the sex chat line. We'll have to recoup the money by taking it out of the salaries of the workers here." In spite of these vehement declarations from Mr. Preda, nothing was done as far as the accusations regarding the stealing of food by the workers, the stealing of school supplies bythe workers, and the thievery of material goods sent from the West. Preda agreed that there were problems like these because of the inexistence of a registry of goods which came in to the institution.

Another problem he mentioned is that the children are wetting their beds because they seem to suffer from major affective disorders which haven't been addressed. For as often as bedding and clothing has to be changed in this institution, it's a wonder that no one tried to deal with the problem.

There are currently 68 children registered as being in the institution. However, yesterday when we were there, there were only 42 present. The rest were not to be found. The leaders of the institution said they were "at home with their parents". However we are convinced that their presence "at home" is highly unlikely since these young people are usually found wandering around on the streets, in the train stations, and even on the trains.