The Government of the Generalitat has inaugurated a new service dedicated to the care of children and adolescents with sexual abuse in El Prat de Llobregat. A multidisciplinary team of professionals from Suara in coordination with the different departments will provide care to children and their families.
The Minister of Social Rights and Inclusion, Mònica Martínez Bravo, and the Minister of Justice and Democratic Quality, Ramon Espadaler, visited the Barnahus in Prat de Llobregat on Wednesday, October 2. The 14th house in the Government strategy that will serve the Baix Llobregat and Hospitalet de Llobregat regions. This, the last house in the government strategy, will be the 3rd to be managed by a team of professionals from Suara, after those in Girona and Tortosa that were inaugurated this same year.
The Minister and the Minister —accompanied, among others, by the Secretary of Childhood, Adolescence and Youth, Teresa Llorens and the Mayor of El Prat, Lluís Mijoler— toured the facilities and met the professional team made up of a coordinator, two social workers, two psychologists and administrative staff. Personnel from the criminal technical team, forensic doctors, victim care professionals from the Department of Justice, as well as police officers, pediatricians, a psychologist and psychiatrist from the Department of Health, among others, will also travel there when necessary.
The councilor and the councilor - accompanied, among others, by the Secretary of Children, Adolescence and Youth, Teresa Llorens and the mayor of El Prat, Lluís Mijoler - have taken a tour of the facilities and met the professional team made up of a coordinator, two social workers, two psychologists and administrative staff. Personnel from the criminal technical team, forensic doctors, victim care professionals from the Department of Justice, as well as police officers, pediatricians, a psychologist and psychiatrist from the Department of Health, among others, will also travel there when necessary.
The new service offers a safe and welcoming space, adapted to the needs of children and adolescents, guaranteeing respectful and empathetic treatment. “The model, and the equipment that we have designed for El Prat, aims to avoid revictimization and provide a place where children feel protected,” highlighted during the visit, Ana Belén Jarillo, coordinator of the service. Regarding the consolidation of the Barnahus model, the minister expressed that it is a “dramatic reality that is emerging, and that shows that the Barnahus model works, both for the detection of cases and for the support of victims”.
The Barnahus strategy and model represent an innovative advance in the protection of the rights and care of children and adolescents who have suffered some type of sexual violence. The main objective of the service is therefore the assessment, care, treatment and monitoring of any child or adolescent and their families in the area who have suffered sexual violence, although the professionals of the center will also collaborate in the prevention and detection of this scourge. A model of comprehensive care for victims where all the departments involved in a case coordinate and work under the same roof, in facilities, far from police stations and hospitals, which allow the creation of a friendly environment for children. It also has a closed circuit television to record the testimony of the child or adolescent which allows the creation of pre-constituted evidence. This avoids the victim having to testify an average of four times in different places and before different people.
In this sense, Laura Peracaula, Co-Director General of Suara Cooperativa stated that “Today, a comprehensive model of care for children and adolescents in situations of mistreatment and abuse is being consolidated in Catalonia”. She also expressed her gratitude to all the professionals at Suara who make this project possible. In addition, she emphasized that the cooperative has “37 years of experience in the field of childhood, and currently our professionals serve more than 4,000 children and young people through 114 services in the Catalan territory". And she wanted to highlight that throughout this trajectory “the cooperative's commitment to vulnerable children has diversified to adapt to new social challenges”.
