On February 20, 2017 at 14.00. in a conference room VENUS Social Institute for Activities and Practices will hold a Public Support Council with subject: "Better interaction - an integrated approach to protect the rights and support for victims of crime" with the participation of independent international expert and researcher - Dayya Wenke from Germany.
During the meeting SAPI will present results from an ongoing study conducted in 28 regional cities in implementing the requirements of adapting to the needs of children justice and the implementation of the Coordination Mechanism for territorial cooperation in cases of crimes against children in Bulgaria.
Dr. Nadia Stoykova, director of programs "Children and justice. Prevention of violence " justified the decision to invite Daya Wenke by saying that it is better to track where we can get the development of integrated support services for children and families."
During her presentation Ms. Wenke introduced the model Barnahus created in Iceland in 1998. Its characteristics are:
- Multi-disciplinary and interagency cooperation model
- All services under one roof
- Investigate (suspected) cases of violence against children
- Provide support for child victims
- Collect and document evidence for court proceedings
- Child-friendly environment
- Nordic Barnahus: Integrated into child protection and justice systems
- Flexible model: Specifics differ from country to country
Today there are over 50 services in the Nordic countries. Along with other services, the model Barnahus provide therapy for the family and the child, and some places also provide technical support. At present specialists are working with child victims of crimes and with victims of domestic violence, children - refugees and children with disabilities.
In conclusion, Ms. Wenke highlighted one of the main features of the integrated service: children can testify, but for this to happen, they should be given the right environment, which has a positive impact on the credibility of their testimony.
Public Support Council and the press conference that preceded it, are realized within the project "Justice, a friend of the child - training of professionals for better cooperation", financed under the "Rights, equality and citizenship" Programme of the European Union, contract JUST/2014/JACC/AG/VICT/7465.
