In the last speech of his second government, former President Sebastián Piñera indicated that in his administration they put children “first in line.” However, workers dependent on the Better Childhood Service (successor of Sename) have expressed harsh criticism against the Family Residences, which emerged after the closure of the Specialized Repair Centers of Direct Administration (Cread).
A particular case is that of the Puma Family Residence, located in Recoleta. Officials of the enclosure issued a letter – dated February 22, 2022 – to the metropolitan director of the Better Childhood Service, Bárbara Soto, in which they denounced shortcomings in protection, protection and security, both for the young people who reside in Puma and for the teams that work in that place.
Among the shortcomings of protection, it is noted that minors in this center face two situations that appear to be particularly serious: commercial sexual exploitation of children and adolescents, and drug trafficking.
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Investigation into child sexual exploitation
A few days ago, a crude report by the Investigative Commission of the Chamber of Deputies stressed that situations of sexual abuse and exploitation against children and adolescents (NNA) under the protection of the State have been “repeated and long-standing in the system.” They also point out that this institutional weakness has been identified by networks of commercial sexual exploitation of children and adolescents (ESCNNA).
“They see in the protection centers an easy target for their action, which transforms the protection residences into spaces of risk of more serious violations, and not safe spaces of protection as they should be,” the document details.
On the networks of commercial sexual exploitation of children and adolescents, the aforementioned commission of the Chamber of Deputies found that this is not resolved with the closure of the Cread. And he pointed out that “the complaint of capture of a family residence” was what triggered the formation of the commission.
The situation of the Puma center, in Recoleta, is a clear example of a daily hell.
The enclosure began operating from mid-September 2021, after the closure of Cread Pudahuel. At least 10 children and adolescents live in the building.
For some months now, an official of this precinct has been under investigation for commercial sexual exploitation of children, that is, he allegedly sexually abused adolescents in exchange for remuneration for the victims.
The official was removed from his duties by the Better Childhood Service, and the Mi Abogado program, of the Legal Assistance Corporation (CAJ), filed a complaint against him.
The case of that worker triggered, among other reasons, the departure of the director of the enclosure, for notable abandonment of duties, so he currently exercises a deputy director.
But there is not only one case, since new antecedents confirmed by the Defender of Children, Patricia Muñoz, show that there is another official more involved and a person outside the property, on whom the initial complaint was extended, for actions constituting sexual assault.
Despite the fact that the vulnerability of minors’ exposure to these networks requires a sense of urgency, the Prosecutor’s Office maintains the investigation with a deformalized character, a situation that is criticized by the Office of the Ombudsman for Children.
“It seems very serious to us that the Prosecutor’s Office to date has not made any formalization of charges against these people, particularly knowing the versions of those who have been victims of these events,” said Patricia Muñoz.
Complaint by Daniel Jadue
Faced with the situation of the Puma residence, the mayor of Recoleta, Daniel Jadue, filed a complaint a couple of weeks ago before the Third Court of Guarantee of Santiago.
“The complaint we filed in court is for the alleged commission of the crimes of production of pornographic material using children under 18 years of age; of an alleged illicit association and of any other crime that will be determined during the course of the investigation,” said the communal chief.
“We received the complaint from the staff who work there. Then, we sent municipal officials to learn the facts and they confirmed to us, based on these testimonies, the seriousness of the facts that we later denounced to the courts,” added the mayor of Recoleta.
High inyou are a public third
This media tried to contact the metropolitan director of Mejor Niñez, Bárbara Soto, but she declined to respond alluding to judicial reasons and the reservation of the case of the Puma residence.
Indeed, at the request of the Mi Abogado program, the Family Court of Pudahuel prevented – in a resolution dated March 11, 2022 – “any circulation of information about minors subject to protection, residents of the Puma family space” and ordered the elimination of all published information related to the enclosure in the media.
This resolution was based on the decision of the judge of the Center for Precautionary Measures Lorena Bruna, on February 9, 2022, when she ruled for a period of 90 days – from the aforementioned date – “the prohibition of publications and dissemination of the image of the adolescent of cars and as well as of any audiovisual content or personal identification data, in which the adolescent and/or any other child and adolescent is exposed”.
The ruling also considers “any other information regarding the present case, in the mass media and social networks.”
The Better Childhood Service issued a statement last week, regarding the complaint filed by Jadue, in which they claimed to have had knowledge of the alleged case of ESCNNA in January “and as soon as we were aware we took all the actions to protect the adolescents of said residence.”
From Recoleta, they explained that “the alleged perpetrators were immediately suspended from their positions, we made the complaints in the Public Ministry and in the Family Courts, we initiated the corresponding summaries, and most importantly, we installed a robust plan of accompaniment and permanent supervision to ensure the non-revictimization and protection of adolescents.”
In addition, they pointed out that the residence was inaugurated under the Sename, and not for Better Childhood, so they had no responsibility for the location in a place that has become an epicenter of drug trafficking.
“(The campus) was selected by Sename, not by those who are currently in the administration of the Better Childhood (Service), but in the case of the lives of the adolescents residing there, it does not matter, it cannot be that the State begins to try to demarcate its responsibility from Better Childhood to Sename, and from Sename to Better Childhood,” Patricia Muñoz stressed.
“The point is that the State of Chile through its institutionality is responsible for whether it is going to transfer children from the Cread (…) to family residences, which, according to what was predicted and announced by the Executive, did correspond to a different intervention model, satisfy precisely these requirements, and in this case in the Puma residence this was not done, “added the Ombudsman for Children.
Drug trafficking
What Muñoz said has full correspondence with a letter from officials – to which El Mostrador had access – in which they pointed out that the sector where the residence is located has “a strong drug trafficking” and expressed doubts about whether “studies were carried out prior to the location of RF Puma in its current location.”
“From the first week that the residence is opened, it is observed how some neighbors openly offer drugs to young people, even from the main door of the house,” the workers said.
“Although dialogue strategies are adopted with neighbors and alcohol sales premises, the sector allows easy access to drugs, not being able to interrupt their consumption with such efforts,” they added.
“In addition, there are two ‘squat houses’ nearby, where several young people are headed, which represents an important focus of consumption and alleged drug trafficking,” the officials continued in the text.
Another aspect linked to drug use highlighted by the issuers of the letter, “is that young people have begun to relate to adults at risk, receiving threats and even presenting themselves to the Residence with firearms in search of a young person.”
In turn, they pointed to deficiencies in the infrastructure of the residence. In this sense, they commented that the perimeter closure of the property “lacks any element of security and protection”, which allows the entry of third parties.
They also mentioned problems with the sewage chamber, which is usually overflowing and from which emanates “a strong smell of rotten”. They also denounced that the electrical installation is not certified: “A large part of the plugs are in poor condition or rightly not useful.”
The Ombudsman for Children, Patricia Muñoz, told this media that a team from the institution visited the Puma residence and verified the conditions that the officials related in the document.
Muñoz described it as “grasee” that, “in the case of a new residence, situations are faced in which the necessary actions were not actually carried out so that the place and the property to which the adolescents were transferred from the Cread Pudahuel, had those conditions required to be able to make habitability in that place without being exposed to situations of risk”.
Lack of staff and assaults
However, the workers not only accused an environment with a focus on drug trafficking and deficiencies in infrastructure. They also stated that in the Puma residence there is a lack of personnel.
The team, they explained, is organized in three shifts, in which there should be at least five monitors or tutors, in addition to a higher level nursing technician (TENS). However, in practice there are only two officials per shift, and no TENS.
“Due to the critical situations that this team has experienced, in at least three months, as a result of medical leave, we have had to assume shifts, with two officials, not having logistical and human support to be able to develop a function according to what is required by the service,” they said.
Given the lack of personnel, the deficiencies in infrastructure and the environment in which Puma is located – and its consequent impact on residents, such as problematic drug use – officials have been exposed to physical and verbal aggression by young people, including beatings, pushes and impacts by thrown objects.
An official of the Better Childhood Service, external to Puma and who asked for their identity to be withheld, told El Mostrador that the lack of personnel is transversal in the premises dependent on Mejor Niñez, but that the situations of aggression are exclusive to this residence.
