CPS in Portugal - Foster Institution in Viseu, Portugal - CAT from Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Viseu

fight4truth (56)in #familyprotection • 7 years ago (edited)

There is a foster institution in Viseu, Portugal(CAT from Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Viseu
), in which there were repeated reports of mistreated and neglected children.

There was a child who lived in the institution since he was 23 days old, was adopted with 5 years old and didn't even know what clouds were, at the time. There was a report from an external part stating this delay happened due to poor stimulation of the child in the institution.
The young boy had a lot of delays, and was malnourished.(he was 5 but he had the weight of a 3 years old) The reports from the institution were telling that was because the child didn't want to eat and it was very difficult to feed him. But when he was adopted, adoptive mother told the journalists he used to eat EVERYTHING and A LOT. The lady said that once, a lot of dog food had disappeared and she looked for it around all the house and she found it in the boy's closet.
He was eating it.

"I couldn't shut my mouth this time.....everything in CAT is coming from donations(clothes, food, toys). CAT receives a lot of money from the government that is used for everything but for what it should be(the children). In these institutions, it's never the child's interest that matters. These children have nothing that belongs to them"
-anonymous worker who doesn't identify herself with fear

Other thing reported: children used to stay all afternoon in a chair, they weren't allow to stand up.
A former volunteer told she wanted to take the children to walk on the street but they didn't allow it because they were already in pijama at 4 p.m.
Other volunteer used to take 4 or 5 children home at weekends. They told her: "Everything you give to the child will be the child's property when she leaves the institution." But that didn't happen. The things she gave them just disappeared from CAT.
After volunteers had complained a lot about bad practices, the institution created rules according to which they would not be allowed to access the kitchen or rooms.

A psychologist that is also a martial arts teacher delivered some toys to the institution that were for the kids.
Later he came to know that the toys were locked in a room and children had never access to it.

Journalists from "Sexta às 11", a Portuguese TV show, went to investigate more the institution.
The actual director(Sofia Simões) had already been director of the institution some years ago but when a baby died in strange conditions in the institution,
social security requested the criminal record of the director and all the CAT employees and she was fired. After some years, she returned to the institution.

Sources(Portuguese):

I found out that there is a lot of material on youtube about Portuguese parents in UK that don't speak well English , don't know the rules of the system and so, they are easy preys to the adoption business. I also found a lot of material about things done by the Portuguese CPS, that is becoming similar to the ones from anglo-saxon countries in what regards to wrongly removing children from families. The material is in Portuguese and I want to add English subtitles and that is a lot of work so please keep curating my videos to give me motivation to do that. Follow me and feel free to give me suggestions to improve my articles.

Stay safe people and I hope you found my article interesting to read!!!!!!!!

NEW - Interesting posts I had read recently:

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https://steemit.com/familyprotection/@markwhittam/what-is-familyprotection-what-are-the-rules-how-do-i-donate - About what is family protection

About the author: My life until now has been a crazy one. When I was younger I wanted to study math or engineering but the social pressure made me attend medical school.
In Portugal, medical college is a 6 years degree and you start it after you finish high school. Tuition fees are symbolical and your entrance is only based on the high school marks. You need a very high average mark to enter.
Many people with high average marks, although they didn't think about attending medical school, are pressed by their parents to attend it.
I didn't like medical school. It was not what I wanted so I had a profound depression and I left it.
I love to write, and although English is not my native language, I will try my best to offer you interesting articles.
Apart from that, I am a Christian, I love God and I love Christ deeply with all my heart and all my soul.