11-year-old girl raped outside the hospital where she was staying due to a lack of space in youth assistance, parquet criticizes « Institutional abuse » (Brussels)

The Brussels public prosecutor was contacted on Friday 2 May by the local police following the rape of a minor of 11 years while she was placed in a hospital by the juvenile judge.

« This decision to place her in the hospital was taken in the absence of available places in the Youth Care Network and pending a more permanent placement, » is the Wednesday afternoon in a press release from the public prosecutor’s office. « The family context in which the child grew up and her suicide tendencies made a return to her family impossible. »

“Totally unsuitable hospital department”

The young girl has been housed for more than a month in a hospital department that, according to the public prosecutor’s office, « is totally unsuitable for her problems and where there is not the necessary guidance to adequately meet her most essential needs ». The facts were committed while the 11-year-old was outside the hospital, it is further.

The public prosecutor indicates that it is confronted daily with the need to put children in the hospital urgently to guarantee their minimal physical safety. « These placements have a significant impact on the already overburdened Brussels hospital system, » it sounds.

« Institutional abuse »

According to the public prosecutor, there is not only a shortage of staff, « so that these children who are in an extremely vulnerable situation cannot get the right care and guidance », but « the entire pediatric medical chain is also destabilized ». This in turn leads « to postponing surgical procedures and even to refusals to include other children who urgently need medical help in the hospital ».

The public prosecutor says it regrets that due to the structural shortage of places in youth care institutions, the most vulnerable young people cannot be adequately taken care of within a reasonable period of time. « Also that the lack of investments in the sector can have consequences that extend much further than the cases in question, » it is further.

Read too. Stepfather immediately arrested after conviction for rape of a 14-year-old Plusdochter: « Must be confronted with the consequences of his actions with a hard hand »

The public prosecutor describes the situation as « institutional abuse » experienced by certain children, « a mistreatment that forms the subject of a criminal investigation into guilty absenteeism ».

Anyone who has questions about suicide can go to the suicide line on the free number 1813 and on the website www.elfmoord1813.be.