A stay at the house on the outskirts of Vienna can last up to twelve weeks. The scheme is intended for children who have repeatedly committed serious offences. The shared accommodation is designed to provide care for children aged between 11 and 13. They have committed offences such as robbery or burglary. “The aim is to show the children ways out of their current criminal behaviour and, through intensive educational support, to guide them back onto a positive path of development,” emphasised City Councillor Bettina Emmerling.
Achitz: The final step is being taken before the first
The Ombudsman’s Office has criticised the idea of the ‘time-out’ shared accommodation from the outset. “Here, the final step is being taken before the previous steps have been taken,” says Ombudsman Bernhard Achitz. Before such a measure is taken, all educational resources must first be exhausted – such as more care places, better psychiatric care and additional services for children with complex support needs. Too little of this has been done so far.
“Optimal standards in child and youth welfare are not being met because, as a society, we are not prepared to invest more money,” said Achitz in an interview with the Kronen Zeitung. The Ombudsman’s Office recently assessed child and youth care facilities to determine whether they were safe places. The result: only 16 per cent of residential care facilities were deemed ‘very safe’, whilst the rest exhibited significant shortcomings.
“Everything we know so far about the ‘Auszeit-WG’ scheme does little to dispel our fundamental criticism – quite the opposite, in fact. The Ombudsman’s Office will be keeping a close eye on its practical implementation as part of itspreventive human rights monitoring.”
Criticism from a renowned child psychiatrist
Criticism of the ‘Auszeit-WG’ has come from experts. The renowned forensic child and adolescent psychiatrist Patrick Frottier sees “serious professional shortcomings” in a concept paper produced by the organising association. It “does not even begin to constitute a concept for a facility of this magnitude”, said Frottier, who scrutinised the paper in response to an enquiry/request from the Austria Press Agency (APA). The Austrian Professional Association for Social Work (OBDS) reached a similar conclusion. And according to the APA, there is also criticism coming from within MA 11 itself, spoken in hushed tones: it is questionable whether a stay of up to twelve weeks in the secure shared accommodation could already bring about a lasting improvement for a child.
Details of the criticism of the ‘Auszeit-WG’ concept:https://wien.orf.at/stories/3364831/
“Everything we know so far about the concept of the ‘time-out’ shared flat does little to dispel our fundamental criticism – quite the opposite, in fact.” (Ombudsman Bernhard Achitz)