by Dorte Rievers Bindslev, Ministry of Social Affairs, Denmark

Report from the seminar on Sexual Exploitation of Children in the Baltic Sea Region - Estonia. Tallinn, 29 and 30 May, 2000

Cooperation with Central and Eastern Europe

Dorte Rievers Bindslev

July 2000

Issues concerned with children at risk have in recent years gained an ever higher priority in activities of the Baltic Sea States. On the political level Heads of Government have pinpointed their concern and agreed to intensify common efforts. At the meeting in Kolding, Denmark, in April this year their concern was again underlined. Background and context for the seminar: ·ð The CBSS Commissioner on Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, Mr. Ole Espersen, in 1997 published a survey on Implementation on Certain Rights of the Child. In the survey the Commissioner also touched upon the widespread problem of sexual abuse of children in the Baltic Sea Region. ·ð In 1997 it was decided at the Meeting of Foreign Ministers within the Council of the Baltic Sea States to start co-operation on the problem, and a special working group under the Council of the Baltic Sea States (WGDI) was directed to prepare a report with recommendations and proposals for co-operation projects between the Council's member states. The working group's recommendations include seminars based on information and knowledge concerning children's rights. The purpose of the seminars is to increase awareness of sexual exploitation among relevant decision-makers, law enforcers and professionals. ·ð At the meeting for Heads of Government in Riga in January 1998 it was agreed to strengthen the efforts against commercial sexual exploitation of children in the Baltic Sea Region. ·ð Further to recommendations based on the aforementioned report the Danish Ministry of Social Affairs offered in 1998 to hold locally based seminars for staff who deal with sexually exploited children in their daily work with a view to contributing Danish experience on interdisciplinary and intersectorial efforts in respect of the child, the family and the abuser. ·ð In October 1998 the Danish Ministry of Social Affairs held a seminar in Riga in co-operation with the Latvian Centre for Children's Rights. In the summer of 1999 a similar seminar was held in Vilnius, Lithuania, in co-operation with the Lithuanian Ministry of Social Security and Labour. ·ð Sweden, Norway and Estonia in September 1998 hosted a conference in Tallinn on commercial sexual exploitation of children. The conference supported a stronger regional collaboration on the issue but it was also argued to broaden the mandate in order to include  children at risk in the regional collaboration. ·ð In January 1999 the Swedish Minister for Social Affairs set up a special group for children at risk in the Baltic Sea Region. Since March 1999 the group -in collaboration with the Norwegian Ministry for Children and Family Affairs - has worked on a project that involves the IT-technology in the development of the existing co-operation concerning children at risk. ·ð Sweden and Norway obtained further support for the project at the meeting for Heads of Governments in Palanga in June 99 and at the meeting of CBBS Council of Senior Officials in Reykjavik i May 99. ·ð Sweden since then has worked to create a still broader understanding for the project. It has now been defined as the creation of a network that will allow all actors in the area to work through an IT network based on the internet and which will provide a virtual meeting place or centre for children´s issues and a forum for dialogue, a database with basic documentation, channels for consultation etc. 7 existing childcentres in the region will be provided with the proper equipment and through that be able to promote the collaboration in the region on children´s issues. The virtual meeting place will also contain special meetingplaces for ngoés, children and parents, the press and citizens who want information on children at risk. ·ð At the meeting in Moscow on February 17, 2000 in the CBSS´ WGDI it was decided that: 1) The issue of the Rights of the Child in the Baltic Sea region was very important. 2) Children at risk constituted the most vulnerable segment of the population, and that WGDI would continue to monitor the state of affairs in this field. 3) National representations would be submitted by all delegations in electronic form and used in the IT network on Children at Risk developed by Sweden and Norway. 4) The WGDI welcomed the Swedish initiative to host an ad hoc meeting in Stockholm in March, 2000. The purpose of the meeting would include preparing suggestions regarding priorities for future initiatives on Children at Risk, drawing on the experience gained in the member states. It would also offer an opportunity for national delegations to present their specifik requests for assistance. Organisers of the meeting would report back to the WGDI on its outcome. ·ð At the meeting in Stockholm 16-17 of March 2000 with the participation of all Baltic Sea memberstates it became clear that there was political support from all members to continue the work for children at risk. From most  donor-countries approval was given to support the Child Centre for Children at Risk in the Baltic Sea Region, and all countries supported a Swedish application for the EU STOP-Programme for support of implementation of the Child Centre. ·ð The Danish Ministry of Social Affairs - at the meeting in Stockholm - was asked to chair an ad-hoc working-group that will look at the priorities for the continued work on children´s issues after the Meeting of Heads of Government in Kolding in April. Representatives from Sweden, Norway, Latvia and Denmark met in Copenhagen on May 12, 2000 and prepared this paper. ·ð The paper was confirmed in Oslo in June at a meeting in the Reference Group responsible for children at risk in the Baltic Sea States. ·ð The priorities were submitted to the Council of Baltic Sea States meeting in Oslo in June where consequently the Council instructed the CSO and the WGDI to support the Reference Group in its efforts to enforce a co-ordinated and multidisiplinary approach towards children at risk in the Baltic Sea region. ·ð Furthermore work on the Social Initiative has revealed that sexually exploited children account for a large proportion of the socially threatened and excluded children who are one of the initiative's target groups. It is also against this background that the Danish Ministry of Social Affairs applied to the Social Initiative for funds to accommodate a request from the Estonian Ministry of Social Affairs for a seminar. The Danish seminars in general attract much attention in the various Baltic fora because they - so far - are the only activity that - so to speak - get close to the very important issue of awareness-raising and qualifying the efforts among professionals who in their daily working life meet the abused children. The seminar in Tallinn: The seminar was planned and carried through in co-operation with the Estonian Ministry of Social Affairs and the Child Support Centre in Tartu. The Centre in Tartu is one of two centres in Estonia, where highly committed professionals offer assistance to abused children. Participants The participants in the seminar were selected by the Tartu Centre. The Centre stresses the interdisciplinary approach to the problem and therefore the composition of the participants were made up of teams from 10 regions in Estonia: Tallinn, Narva, Harku, Rakvere, Tartu, Põlva, Parnu, Läänemaa, Kuressaare and Viljandi. Professionally the participants represented general practitioners, primary health nurses, police/juvenile police, teachers, school psychologists, school doctors, child protection specialists, social workers, kindergartens, psychologists/psychiatrists, pediatricians, pedagoques. 60 professionals had been invited - 47 showed up. Present were also representatives from the Estonian Ministry of Social Affairs and The Tartu Child Protection Centre. Denmark was represented by Annette Munch, socialworker and family therapist in Aarhus Municipality, Gjørrild Jacoby, independent family therapist and systemic therapist, Aase Birk Mortensen, primary health nurse specialised in children, Oskar Plougmand, advisory officer with the Children´s and Family Office of the Danish Ministry of Social Affairs, and Dorte Rievers Bindslev, senior adviser with the East European Aid Section of the Danish Ministry of Social Affairs. Content The intention was to create an active seminar, and therefore the programme was a mix between speeches and group-discussions. See enclosure number 1.. The seminar was structured in such a way that the situation in the field as well as definition of the abuse and neglect was presented from both Danish and Estonian side. It had been a particular wish from Estonian side to hear about how professionals can create contact with the abused child and the family and therefore the whole morning of the second day was dedicated to this issue. Annette Munch and Gjoerrild Jacoby made a presentation of a method, which should enable the participants to co-operate more succesfully with families with various major problems. The method is based on concepts from  future-work-shops , from focusing on the positive aspects that are presumed to be in every situation (instead of paying attention entirely to the problem), and on the importance of collegial supervision. The interdisciplinary co-operation is an effective way of working with complicated cases, because it gives each professional a possibility to exchange  presuppositions that - under all circumstances - determines the way the situation is looked upon. The participants were  exposed to a exemplary teaching situation which was supposed to give them a deeper understanding of the model. Evaluation - Feed back from participants The participants were asked to give their feed-back on basis of an evaluation form with 5 questions. 37 out of 47 turned in their evaluation forms. Please see enclosure number 2. One of the participants gave this further feed-back:  My opinion about the seminar: At first when we got the introductory information about the seminar we were told that it would be good. The stuff would be highly specialised and previously the organisatorial side has been great. I have to say that it was true. The time was very rationally planned and a lot of work had been done with the performances. The course had its purpose, which was achieved. There is a lot of information about Estonia in our speciality. But it was good to get some about Denmark. Then we could compare the two countries: Estonia and Denmark. I also liked that there were representatives from different parts of the country. We could get more comparative information. In Estonia they talk a lot about co-operation but I wonder how it really works in different areas. Solving problems in the workshops gave a lot of practical experience. I reached to the conclusion that we actually do not know much about each others work. The negative thing in workshops was that there should have been someone as a leader to lead the conversation and the activity. On the ohter hand it was good without a leader, because then we had to make our own decisions. This may have even put a little conservative Estonian people to act and find solutions to the problems on their own. I myself got many ideas that I might realise. When I have them in written form I will send them to you. Statement from the Child Centre in Tartu, by Dr. Ruth Soonets:  Owing to Ministry of Social Affairs of Estonia and Ministry of Social Affairs of Denmark there was held a seminary on May, 29th  30th, in Laulasmaa Training and Recreation Centre. There were 56 specialists, involved in child abuse issues, coming from 10 different counties, that took part in the seminar  Sexual Exploitation of Children in Estonia . As a conclusion it might be said that the seminar was a successful one and reached its aims. The papers of both Estonian and Danish specialists were highly valued and the treated topics were considered to be very important and useful. As a positive feature there should be mentioned the high motivation of participants to get knowledge about the issues of child abuse and to apply these in their daily practice. The participants concluded that in order to provide efficient help to children better collaboration has to be carried out and they showed that they are most ready for this. It was decided that emphasis has to be put on preventive work. For that purpose primary level medical nurses have to be educated. The topic of abuse should be included to training and retraining schedule of medical practitioners, pedagogues, social workers, and the public awareness should be raised and information concerning the abuse issues have to be spread. In seminar a memorandum was composed to the Ministry of Social Affairs as well as to that of Education, in which several questions were asked, concerning the number of abused children in Estonia, and who is responsible for co-ordinating the work against abuse etc., a proposal was made to establish a state training system in the child abuse topic, work of multidisciplinary team has to be co-ordinated with local authorities, in order interfere in time and to provide help for families at risk. All participants acknowledged the importance of continuing the joint training for team members about organising team work. Other topics that we consider necessary to be handled in the future: ·ð  How to recognise the abused child and how to provide him/her with help for primary level nurses. ·ð Interviewing a child. ·ð Team work and case analysis. ·ð School bullying. The Danish Ministry of Social Affairs has the following conclusions: The seminar absolutely had its greatest value in bringing professionals together. Not only people from different regions in Estonia but from the same local communities. The effect on the participants when they discovered that they were not individually responsible for finding solutions to the very complex problems of sexual abused children was extremely possitive. Furthermore the seminar ·ð gave an exposition of basic facts related to the work children and sexual abuse (signals, consequenses .......) ·ð gave an insight into the work of a primary health and school nurse in Denmark ·ð made the participants aquainted to a working-method (positive communication), that stresses the possibilities around problemsolving. A method that can be used i general work with families but it is also useful as a new way of thinking about problems. ·ð set the frame for forming several small network-groups, and plans were made to form interdiciplinary groups within the various regions. Follow-up The most obvious outcome of such a seminar would be to offer follow-up in the form of training and supervision for all staff who have direct contact with abused children. In this respect there is a great shortage of educators and psychologists on a local level in Estonia, and those there are have not been trained to provide victims with more far-reaching help. They can ascertain that there are problems, but they cannot prevent or treat. The Estonians themselves are very focussed on training in talking to/interviewing children who have been the victims of assaults, and as it is particularly important that abused children are given the words to describe their experiences, this seems to be a very relevant area in which to offer follow-up. There is a need for education or training in crisis intervention vis-à-vis the child and the non-offending parent so that action can be taken quickly. And there is a need for knowledge about work with parents so that a child who has been removed from the home can return. Since resources in this field will always feel limited, projects such as the recent seminar are a good way of bringing people together with a view to creating networks and providing the opportunity for an exchange of ideas on how existing provisions and options can be exploited. This seminar covered only 10 municipalities. It would therefore be a good idea to extend the introduction to the interdisciplinary approach to as many of the remaining municipalities as possible. In addition to the training of professionals, there is an also a need for general public information on sexual exploitation and more specific information for families and children on children's rights for preventive reasons. Enclosure # 1: Programme for the seminar. Ministry of Social Affairs Ministry of Social Affairs Denmark Estonia Seminar on Sexual Exploitation of Children in Estonia May 29th and 30th, 2000 Monday, 29 May, 2000: 11.00 - 11.15: Opening of the seminar by Ms. Dorte Rievers Bindslev, Special Adviser Ministry of Social Affairs, Denmark Mr. Riho Rahuoja, Ministry of Social Affairs, Estonia 11.15 - 11.45: The situation in Denmark concerning abuse - especially sexual abuse Number of cases - legislation - main problems Mr. Oskar Plougmand, consultant in Ministry of Social Affairs, Department for Family and Childrens Issues, Denmark The situation in Estonia Ms. Signe Riisalo, Head specialist of Welfare Department of Ministry of Social Affairs, Estonia 11.45 - 12.30: Neglect in general Kinds of neglect and abuse. Signals, symptoms, consequenses. What to do about it ? Primary health nurse Ms. Aase Birk Mortensen, the Municipality of Lyngby-Taarbaek (suburb to Copenhagen) M.D. Ms. Ruth Soonets, Head of Tartu Support Centre 12.30 - 13.30: Lunch 13.30 - 14.30: Sexual abuse What is sexual abuse ? What are the signals ? How to read them ? Who can read them ? What impact does sexual abuse have on a child - and on the family? Primary health nurse Aase Birk Mortensen. 14.30 - 16.00: Work-shops (participants divided into professional groups) 16.00 - 16.30: Coffee and tea 16.30 - 17.30: Plenum - 5 minutes reports from each workshop. Questions to experts Discussion 18.30 Dinner Tuesday 30 May, 2000: 09.00 - 12:00: How to contact and communicate with the abused child and the family ? Demonstration Workshop: Practise - feed-bach Annette Munk, the Municipality of Aarhus and Gjørrild Jacobi, social workers and family therapists. (Aarhus is the second largest city in Denmark). 12.00 - 13.00: Lunch 13.00 - 14.00: The way through the system in Denmark - from signal to treatment. And after - when the system leaves the victim. Punishment / rehabilitation of the offender. Barriers and responsibilities. Annette Munch Kristel Altosaar, Tartu Centre 14.00 - 15.00: Workshop about intersectorial and interdiciplinary co- operation. 15.00 - 15.30: How to apply thoughts about teamwork and other information on future daily work in Estonia. What are the possibilities ? How can we create networks ? What can we use from the Danish system ? Ms. Anni Vaher, Tallinn Child Protection Centre. 15.30 - 16.00: Questions and conclusions. Closing of the seminar by Oskar Plougmand and Ruth Soonets. Enclosure # 2: 1: Your opinion of the seminar as a whole: Very good Of medium quality Bad -------- 2: What did you think of the professional contents of the seminar - in general: -------- Very good Of medium quality Bad 3: Did you hear/ learn something at the seminar, that you kan use in your daily work? Yes Maybe No 4: If you were satisfied about the seminar, what then did you like the most ? 5: What did you miss hearing about ? 6: Anything else you would like to express: Answers to question 1: On a scale from 10 to 0 - (10 being best) 1 gave a 6 6 gave a 7 13 gave an 8 13 gave a 9 4 gave a 10 Answers to question 2: On a scale from 10 to 0 (10 being best) 2 gave a 6 9 gave a 7 11 gave an 8 11 gave a 9 4 gave a 10 Answers to question 3: On a scale from 10 to 0 (10 being best) 3 gave a 6 11 gave a 7 11 gave an 8 8 gave a 9 4 gave a 10 Answers to question 4: The group-work (mentioned by all replicants) The possibility to meet other professionals The dialoque between Danes and Estonians That material was distributed in paper The contacts that were made among professionals The new approach Answers to question 5: More concrete knowledge about how to contact and communicate with the abused child and the family. How the work with abused children is divided between NGO´s and central/decentral structures. More concrete solutions and examples from real life. Something about the attitude towards abused children i Denmark. How it has developed ovr time. Concrete questionaires or work-methods. Concrete interviewing techniques. Answers to question 6: Let´s meet again It is very good that specialists from different professional groups had the opportunity to get together to share experiences and to get new informations. There should have been more examples from real life. I wish for more seminars like this. It is very necessary to be aware of the problem. It is easier to prevent the problem than to eliminate the consequenses.