Since the beginning of the year, the children’s services in Lviv Region have conducted 456 preventive raids and found 53 children whose parents are not properly fulfilling their responsibilities regarding upbringing.
The purpose of preventive raids is to control parents who improperly fulfill their responsibilities regarding the upbringing and maintenance of children. In particular, the raids are aimed at identifying children without proper parental supervision, as well as those children who have left their place of residence or education for certain reasons.
There are 1,205 children who have found themselves in difficult life circumstances registered with the Children’s Service of Lviv Oblast. Of this number, the parents of 853 children do not properly fulfill their responsibilities, that is, they are at risk. It is about the fact that after a certain period social services can initiate the deprivation of parental rights.
Another 207 children were subjected to domestic violence by their parents (economic, physical and psychological). 132 children are registered as those who have moved from the occupied territories, and 13 children are constantly leaving their place of residence.
“During the raids, employees of the children’s services found 53 children, most of them from the Lviv region (45). Among them, 33 children are students of vocational schools. We surveyed 1,096 families, out of this number, 674 parents were warned about improper performance of duties, of which 86 parents were prosecuted. 30 children were returned to their families, 5 children were placed in a shelter, and another 9 were placed in health care institutions. Since the beginning of the year, 175 children have received the status of a child deprived of parental care or an orphan in Lviv region,” said Volodymyr Lys, head of the children’s department of the Lviv OVA.
During raids, social workers communicate with parents and children and inspect the material and living conditions of families. In case of a threat to the child, it is temporarily removed from the family. There have already been 18 such cases.
“If such a case is recorded in the districts, the child is temporarily placed in a health care facility, handed over to close relatives or to a foster family. If there is no place to put the child, then he is temporarily taken to the children’s shelter of the children’s affairs service until the issue with the parents and living conditions is resolved,” Volodymyr Lys added.
Raids are conducted in crowded places (shopping malls, train stations, public houses), in schools, or in other places where minors gather, about which appeals have been received to the police.
Employees of the juvenile prevention units of the National Police also organize preventive raids. Since the beginning of the year alone, 2,847 such raids have already been carried out. This work continues daily.
As of today, police officers have documented 564 offenses for committing domestic violence. 1,336 administrative protocols were drawn up for improper performance of parental duties.
Juvenile prevention workers have drawn up almost 4,000 administrative offense reports over the past 7 months. A total of 288 minors were brought to administrative responsibility for the purchase and storage of psychotropic substances, petty theft, smoking in public places, drinking alcohol, petty hooliganism, and domestic violence.
In addition, during the current 7 months, law enforcement officers received 353 reports about the disappearance of a child.
“Now all the children have been found and returned to their families. The most common reason is the inattention of the parents themselves, who lost sight of the child while walking, on the playground or in shopping centers. I emphasize that you should not delay contacting the police. In addition, talk to the children and explain to them what to do in case they get lost, for example, to say their name or give a piece of paper with the number of one of their parents,” emphasized Olga Kovalchuk, head of the juvenile prevention department of the Department of Preventive Activities of the State Police of Lviv Region.
As a result of the raids, the employees of the children’s services recorded 13 facts of alcohol sales to minors, six officials (owners of establishments) were brought to justice.
Based on this fact, the National Police officers documented 94 administrative offenses. According to the law, the sale of alcohol to minors is punishable by a fine of 6,800 thousand. In the future, for the commission of this type of crime, the commission can initiate a submission to the Tax Service, the State Fiscal Service, where the final decision on the cancellation of the institution’s license is made.