perceptions of and opinions on child abuse - UNICEF

1PERCEPTIONS OF AND OPINIONS ON CHILD ABUSEPERCEPTIONS OF AND OPINIONS ON CHILD ABUSE

PERCEPTIONS OF AND PERCEPTIONS OF AND OPINIONS ON CHILD ABUSEOPINIONS ON CHILD ABUSE QUALITATIVE RESEARCH IN 7 MUNICIPALITIESQUALITATIVE RESEARCH IN 7 MUNICIPALITIESWITH 10-19 YEAR-OLD CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLEWITH 10-19 YEAR-OLD CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE

2 PERCEPTIONS OF AND OPINIONS ON CHILD ABUSEPERCEPTIONS OF AND OPINIONS ON CHILD ABUSE

PERCEPTIONS OF AND OPINIONS ON CHILD ABUSEPERCEPTIONS OF AND OPINIONS ON CHILD ABUSE

PERCEPTIONS OF PERCEPTIONS OF AND OPINIONS AND OPINIONS ON CHILD ABUSEON CHILD ABUSE

QUALITATIVE RESEARCH IN 7 MUNICIPALITIES WITH 10-19 YEAR-OLD CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE


Publisher: UNICEF BelgradeFor Publisher: Ann-Lis Svensson, UNICEF Area RepresentativeISBN: 86-82471-69-8

Translation: Marko VucinicProofreading: Daniel Richer and EurologosCover drawing: Denisa Fetahovic Printing: PublikumPrintrun: 500Printed: November 2005

The opinions expressed in this publication do not necessarily refl ect the policies and views of UNICEF. The designations employed in this publication and the presentation of the material do not imply on the part of UNICEF the expression of any opinion whatsoever concerning the legal status of any country or territory, or of its authors, or the delimination of its frontiers.

UNICEF Svetozara Markovica 5811000 BelgradeSerbia and MontenegroTelephone: (+381 11) 36 02 100Fax: (+381 11) 36 02 199E-mail: [email protected]


RESEARCH TEAMRESEARCH TEAM

Qualitative research, using the focus group me-thod, was carried out by the following research team:

Dr Silvia Koso, Head researcher

Ajsela Škrijelj, Assistant researcher

Belkisa Škrijelj, Assistant researcher

Emira Dubarić, Assistant researcher

Filduza Pruščević, Assistant researcher

Seida Hadžić, Assistant researcher

The focus group transcripts were noted by: A. Škrijelj, E. Dubarić, F. Pruščević and S. Hadžić.

The research report was written by S. Koso, taking into consideration the comments of the research team, trainers in foundation training, representatives of non-governmental organisa-tions (NGOs) participating in the designing of the awareness raising campaign and the Child Prote-ction program of the UNICEF offi ce in Belgrade.

At the meeting which took place on September 28 in Sjenica, the draft report was presented to the trainers in foundation training and the repre-sentatives of NGOs from 7 municipalities. The participants of the meeting gave their sugges-tions and comments related to the organisation and the content of the report. This particularly refers to the recommendations for the improve-ment of existing services and involvement of all the key players in solving the problem of child abuse and neglect.

These comments are a valuable complement to the report and strengthen its local and national relevance.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The author of this report would like to acknow-ledge the contribution of:

• Children and young people, participants of the focus groups, to the confi dence they be-stowed on us, their honesty and motivation

• Local organisersa, representatives of institutions and NGOs in the seven municipalities where the research was conducted, to their enthusiasm and huge support in the organisation of the research and the completion of this report

• Members of DamaD for their patience, tole-rance and overall support in the preparation and implementation of the research and the drafting of this report.

• Members of the research team on their dedi-cation, motivation and team spirit during the research

• Prof. Margaret Lynch, for her advice on the preparation of the research.

• Government of Luxembourg for their fi nancial support to the research and the overall pro-ject Protection of children from abuse and neglect in 7 municipalities.

• Child Protection Programme of the UNICEF Offi ce in Belgrade, for their constant support during the preparation and implementation of the research and the subsequent report.

ABBREVIATIONSABBREVIATIONSCAN – Child abuse and neglect

NGO – Non-governmental Organisation

PAR – Participatory Action Research

WHO – World Health Organisation

UNICEF – United Nations Children’s Fund

PERCEPTIONS OF AND OPINIONS PERCEPTIONS OF AND OPINIONS ON CHILD ABUSEON CHILD ABUSE

a Annex 1: Timetable of the focus group meetings and list of local organisers by municipality



RESEARCH TEAM RESEARCH TEAM ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ABBREVIATIONS ABBREVIATIONS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 9 OBJECTIVES AND METHODOLOGY OBJECTIVES AND METHODOLOGY 9 SUMMARY OF FINDINGS SUMMARY OF FINDINGS 9

SUMMARY OF LESSONS LEARNED SUMMARY OF LESSONS LEARNED 10

SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATIONS SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATIONS 10

TABLES TABLES 1111

SITUATION ANALYSIS SITUATION ANALYSIS 18

SOCIAL CARE SYSTEM IN SERBIA SOCIAL CARE SYSTEM IN SERBIA 18

PROJECT BACKGROUND PROJECT BACKGROUND 18

RESEARCH PURPOSE AND OBJECTIVESRESEARCH PURPOSE AND OBJECTIVES 18

DEFINITIONS DEFINITIONS 1919

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 19

FOCUS GROUP AS A RESEARCH METHOD FOCUS GROUP AS A RESEARCH METHOD 19 TARGET POPULATION, TERRITORY AND TIMESPAN OF RESEARCH TARGET POPULATION, TERRITORY AND TIMESPAN OF RESEARCH 2020

ORGANISATION OF RESEARCH ORGANISATION OF RESEARCH 20

FOCUS GROUPS RESULTS ANALYSIS FOCUS GROUPS RESULTS ANALYSIS 20

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONRESULTS AND DISCUSSION 21

FOCUS GROUP FLOW AND BASIC TOPICS FOCUS GROUP FLOW AND BASIC TOPICS 22

PROBLEMS CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE FACE NOWADAYS PROBLEMS CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE FACE NOWADAYS 22

IDENTIFICATION OF ABUSE IDENTIFICATION OF ABUSE 23

PEER VIOLENCE 23

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE 25

SEXUAL ABUSE 26

DEFINITION AND TYPES OF ABUSE DEFINITION AND TYPES OF ABUSE 28

DEFINITION 28

TYPES OF ABUSE 28

ABUSE VS. VIOLENCE 30

FREQUENCY OF CHILD ABUSE FREQUENCY OF CHILD ABUSE 32

DENIAL OF ABUSE 32

CAUSES OF VIOLENCE CAUSES OF VIOLENCE 33 3

PEER VIOLENCE 33

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE 34

SEXUAL ABUSE 34

GENERAL CAUSES OF ABUSE 35

JUSTIFICATION OF ABUSE 35

SIGNS AND CONSEQUENCES OF ABUSE SIGNS AND CONSEQUENCES OF ABUSE 36

SIGNS 36

CONSEQUENCES 37 WHO ARE THE ABUSERS WHO ARE THE ABUSERS 39

PARENTS AS ABUSERS 39

TEACHERS AS ABUSERS 39

CONTENTCONTENT


RISK FACTORS RISK FACTORS 4040

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE VICTIM 41

CHARACTERISTICS OF ABUSERS 42

FAMILY CHARACTERISTICS 42

CHARACTERISTICS OF ENVIRONMENT 43

GENDER ROLES 44

ATTITUDES OF SOCIETY TOWARDS CHILDREN 46

TAKING ACTION TAKING ACTION 48

REALITY 48

FUTURE 54

MESSAGES 57

CONCLUSIONSCONCLUSIONS 58

EVALUATION OF THE RESEARCH PROCESS AND LESSONS LEARNEDEVALUATION OF THE RESEARCH PROCESS AND LESSONS LEARNED 6161

EVALUATION EVALUATION 6262

PARTICIPANTS’ EXPERIENCE 62

RESEARCH TEAM’S EXPERIENCE 62

LESSONS LEARNED LESSONS LEARNED 6363

FOCUS GROUP SCENARIO 63

RESEARCH TEAM 63

SELECTION OF PARTICIPANTS AND COMPOSITION OF GROUPS 64

THE FLOW OF THE DISCUSSION 64

IS THIS AN APPROPRIATE RESEARCH METHOD? 65

DILEMMAS OF THE RESEARCH TEAM 66

IMPORTANCE OF THIS RESEARCH FOR UNICEFIMPORTANCE OF THIS RESEARCH FOR UNICEF 6767

RECOMMENDATIONSRECOMMENDATIONS 6868

SERVICES WORKING WITH CHILDREN SERVICES WORKING WITH CHILDREN 6969

IMPROVEMENT OF EXISTING CHILD PROTECTION SERVICES IMPROVEMENT OF EXISTING CHILD PROTECTION SERVICES 6969

ROLE OF SCHOOL IN PROTECTION FROM ABUSE 70

FOR NGOS FOR NGOS 7171

FOR THE LOCAL AUTHORITIES FOR THE LOCAL AUTHORITIES 7171

FOR UNICEF FOR UNICEF 7272

AWARENESS RAISING CAMPAIGN AWARENESS RAISING CAMPAIGN 7373

LIST OF ANNEXESLIST OF ANNEXES 7474

REFERENCESREFERENCES 7474

ANNEXESANNEXES 7575

ANNEX 1: AGENDA OF THE FOCUS GROUP DISCUSSIONS AND LIST OF LOCAL ORGANISERS 76

ANNEX 2: FOCUS GROUP SCENARIO (SAMPLE CASES AND QUESTIONS) 77

ANNEX 3: FOCUS GROUP DISCUSSION GROUND RULES 80


EXECUTIVE SUMMARYEXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This research was organised in order to provide information for the awareness raising campaign, as well as for improvement of services working on protection of children from abuse, through the activities undertaken within the project “Addressing child abuse and neglect in 7 municipalities“, realised jointly by the UNICEF offi ce in Belgrade, the Institute for Mental Health of the Republic of Serbia and the NGO DamaD from Novi Pazar. The results of the research, however, will serve as the resource of information not only for the improvement of service delivery within the project, but also for the development of the national protocol on protection of children from abuse and neglect.

OBJECTIVES AND METHODOLOGYOBJECTIVES AND METHODOLOGY

The objectives of the research were to determine perceptions and opinions of children and young peo-ple on the nature, types and frequency of child abuse, its causes and consequences, factors that infl uence child abuse, the characteristics of the perpetrators; determine services that should protect children and young people from abuse; and to identify commu-nication strategies of children and young people towards general public and professionals involved in protection of children from abuse and neglect.

Qualitative research was undertaken through focus group discussions. The focus group scenario con-sisted of 3 case studies to be discussed and additional questions about child abuse in general. Obtained results were processed using the descriptive statistical method.

The research team consisted of one lead researcher who participated in all the discussions and fi ve re-search assistants, two of whom always participated in the discussions, one as co-facilitator and the other as recorder. The research team was selected following the training and the pilot discussions. The selec tion criteria were: personal motivation, similar age group to the population under research and experience in group work facilitation.

The research was carried out from 9 to 16 August 2004. A total of 15 focus groups were held in 7 mu-nicipalities included in UNICEF’s project: Nova Varoš, Novi Pazar, Priboj, Prijepolje, Raška, Sjenica, Tutin. The population under research consisted of 131 children and young people (there were 83 girls and 48 boys) from 10 to 19 years old. Younger groups consisted of children from 10 to 15 years old, older groups of young people from 16 to 19 years old.

The participants were selected using the “snowball effect”. Participation in the research was anonymous and there were no questions on the personal experi-ences of participants with abuse.

SUMMARY OF FINDINGSSUMMARY OF FINDINGS

The problems children and young people have are uni-versal. The greatest attention was devoted to the pro-blem of communication with parents. Abuse was rarely mentioned as a problem of children and young people today.

The participants spontaneously identifi ed the three types of abuse: physical, mental and sexual. Several times they emphasised that physical and mental abuse could not be separated.

They fully identifi ed themselves with peer violence. This is something they witnessed or participated in eve-ry day, and was more frequent in primary than in high school. Such violence was partly justifi ed by a diffi cult family situation or possible previous experience with abuse. The situation is different in regard to domestic violence. A number of respondents resisted accepting that such things were happening in their milieu. On sexual abuse, a large number of participants were not completely certain what constituted it and what did not.

The participants defi ned child abuse as the violation of children’s rights and coercion to make the child do something that it did not want to do. Child rights were frequently mentioned in the discussions.

The participants thought that every child had at least once been a victim of abuse. The majority believed that 50% of children were going through some type of abuse and that 10% went through serious types of physical or sexual abuse.

The most frequent abusers were cited as parents, adults in general, more frequently men, teachers and older boys. Although they correctly identifi ed those who had superiority in the family or society, they did not fully understand the causes of abuse. The concept of abuse of the power one has over a child was not im-mediately clear to the majority. On the other hand, the participants clearly understood the impact abuse had on the victim and the consequences that it produced.

The attitude of the society (adults) towards children was the most signifi cant contributor to the abuse of children by parents and adults in general. The patriar-chal upbringing and traditional gender roles were the second risk factor for abuse, placing girls at greater risk in the house and in society in general. Among other risk factors, it is a matter of concern that the respondents listed many characteristics of the victim - many aspects of diversity: religious, national, poverty, rural origins,


physical characteristics or defi ciencies, etc. Such an outlook in the society moves the focus from the abuser to the victim, as if pointing out that the victim should change her/himself diversity in order to avoid abuse.

The lack of respect that adults have for children is not only a risk factor for abuse, but also a factor that contributes to children keeping silent about violence. The children hesitated to approach parents and service providers because they did not expect anybody would believe them.

The police, centres for social care and schools were primarily mentioned as services that should protect chil-dren from abuse. At the same time, fear was expressed that these services were not child and youth friendly. Numerous proposals were made by children on what kind of services should exist, what they should look like and how the employees should behave in order for chil-dren to gain the confi dence and courage to use them.

Children expected parents to devote more attention to them, to listen and resolve problems by talking to them and not beating them. The role of peers was to listen, maintain confi dentiality and render support. They could also work in the services for prevention of child abuse as peer-counsellors.

SUMMARY OF LESSONS LEARNEDSUMMARY OF LESSONS LEARNEDEvaluation of the research process was carried out by the participants, the research team and the lead re-searcher. The major lessons learned follow.

The focus group scenario could have been less struc-tured. There were too many questions in the allocated time. Answers were obtained to all the questions but the structuring and the consequent time limitation restricted the depth of the discussions.

Proper training of the research team is necessary prior to a pilot exercise in order to prepare the researchers to facilitate the discussions and take minutes. The imperfections in the facilitation of the discussions mentioned in the evaluation were partly a consequence of lack of preparation and experience in facilitating focus groups. Prior experience of team members in, working with children and group work facilitation, greatly contributed to the success of the discussions.

The “snowball” selection method proved to be good in most settings. Their gathering was more successful in those locations where more than one key “infor-mer” had been engaged and where the local coordi-nators had at least once checked, either by telephone or in person, the participation of individual attendees.

The children must be informed at least several days in advance and prepared for group work. Ad hoc

gatherings create resistance among children, espe-cially if that interfered with some other activity they had planned previously. In case some of the parti-cipants cancel their arrival or do not show up, the group should be cancelled rather than work on an ad hoc basis with the gathered participants.

In the selection of participants, care should be taken that the majority of those invited are not members or benefi ciaries of the NGO’s programmes involved in activities against violence. The knowledge and perceptions such children have differ from those of the general peer population.

Respect for the children and young people, the attempt to conform to their way of speaking and behaviour and giving attention to their perceptions and opinions triggered their frankness and sincerity, and evoked their interest to participate in solving the problem.

SUMMARY OF SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATIONSRECOMMENDATIONS

Recommendations are made to child protection ser-vices, schools, non-governmental organisations, local authorities and UNICEF.

Recommendations to service providers include deve-lopment and adoption of protocols on roles and re-sponsibilities in discovering, reporting and managing cases of child abuse. A group of recommendations refers to adherence to principles of child and youth friendly services, including in-service training, self-evaluation, inclusion of peer methodologies and pro-motion of services. Additional recommendations to NGOs pertain to training of professionals and children on child abuse issues and maintaining services such as telephone hotlines and shelters for child victims of violence. Recommendations to local authorities emphasise their role in coordination of exiting ser-vices in the municipality and forming the institution of child’s advocate or ombudsperson on a municipal level. Summary of recommendations can be found in Table 1: Recommendations matrix.

Recommendations to UNICEF encourage continuation of support and bringing technical expertise into fur-ther research, capacity building of services, national policy reform and ensuring participation of children and young people.

Specifi c recommendations related to the awareness raising campaign include stratifi ed campaign, address-ing several population groups (children and young people, parents, teachers, general public) with speci-fi c information.


TABLES


CH

AN

GE

OF

ATTIT

UD

ES

AN

D P

RO

FESSIO

NA

L C

ON

DU

CT

ORG

AN

IZA

TIO

NA

L/STRU

CTU

RA

L IM

PRO

VEM

ENTS

SEN

SIT

IZA

TIO

N A

ND

TRA

ININ

GEX

PEC

TED

RES

ULT

S

CH

ILD

PRO

TEC

TIO

N S

ERV

ICES

b

IMM

EDIA

T

• D

evel

op in

tern

al p

roto

col t

hat

defi n

es r

oles

and

res

pons

ibili

ties

in c

ase

of r

epor

ted

child

abu

se,

incl

udin

g w

ith w

hom

, in

whi

ch c

a-se

s an

d w

hich

info

rmat

ion

can

be

shar

ed w

ith c

olle

ague

s in

or

out

of

the

inst

itutio

n. It

als

o in

clud

es s

anc-

tions

in c

ase

of f

ailu

re t

o pr

ovid

e se

rvic

e or

in c

ase

of d

iscl

osur

e of

co

nfi d

entia

l inf

orm

atio

n.

• A

ppoi

nt a

chi

ld p

rote

ctio

n co

ntac

t pe

rson

, w

ho w

ill d

eal w

ith c

ases

of

child

abu

se a

nd n

egle

ct a

nd c

onta

ct

othe

r se

rvic

es in

sol

ving

the

pro

b-le

m.

• O

rgan

ise

prem

ises

acc

ordi

ng t

o th

e C

YFP

c :

-

A

lloca

te p

rem

ises

for

chi

ldre

n an

d yo

ung

peop

le o

nly,

with

sep

a-ra

te e

ntra

nce.

-

M

ake

the

wai

ting

and

coun

se-

ling

room

s ag

reea

ble

to c

hild

ren

(toy

s, s

ocia

l gam

es,

child

ren’

s dr

a-w

ings

) an

d yo

ung

peop

le (

post

ers,

co

mpu

ters

...)

.

• In

-ser

vice

tra

inin

g of

chi

ld p

rote

ctio

n pr

ofes

sion

alsd

in:

- C

hild

’s r

ight

s.

- Pr

inci

ples

of

child

/you

th

frie

ndly

ser

vice

s an

d co

nduc

t.

- C

omm

unic

atio

n sk

ills.

- Tre

atm

ent

and

supp

ort

to v

ictim

s of

chi

ld a

bu-

se.

• C

hild

pro

tect

ion

prof

es-

sion

als

trai

n ot

her st

aff

in t

heir

serv

ices

(ad

mi-

nist

ratio

n st

aff,

cle

a-ne

rs, se

curit

y pe

rson

-ne

l, et

c.) ab

out

CY

FP,

pr

imar

ily r

egar

ding

co

nfi d

entia

lity.

• C

hild

pro

tect

ion

pro-

fess

iona

ls t

rain

you

th

volu

ntee

rs f

or p

eer

in-

form

atio

n sh

arin

g an

d pe

er c

ouns

elin

g.

• Pr

ofes

sion

als

wor

king

with

ch

ildre

n em

pow

ered

to

reco

gniz

e ch

ild a

buse

and

re

act

prop

erly

.

• C

hild

pro

tect

ion

serv

ices

ta

ilore

d to

chi

ldre

n’s

need

s

prov

ide

bett

er t

reat

men

t an

d su

ppor

t to

vic

tims

of

child

abu

se.

• M

ore

child

ren

know

whe

re

and

whi

ch c

hild

frie

ndly

and

ch

ild p

rote

ctio

n se

rvic

es a

re

and

how

the

y w

ork.

• M

ore

abus

ed c

hild

ren

repo

rt

abus

e to

chi

ld f

riend

ly

serv

ices

.

Tab

le 1

: Rec

com

enda

tion

s m

atrix

Tab

le 1

: Rec

com

enda

tion

s m

atrix

b

Soc

ial c

are

cent

ers,

pol

ice,

hea

lth c

are

cent

ers,

NG

Os

c

CY

FP:

Chi

ld a

nd y

outh

frie

ndly

prin

cipl

es (

Prin

cipl

es o

f ch

ild a

nd y

outh

frie

ndly

ser

vice

s as

defi

ned

by

child

ren

in t

he r

esea

rch)

d

Soc

ial c

are

wor

kers

, ps

ycho

logi

sts,

chi

ld p

rote

ctio

n po

lice

offi c

ers,

pae

diat

ricia

ns e

tc.

– t

hose

dire

ctly

invo

lved

in w

orki

ng w

ith v

ictim

s


LO

NG

TER

M•

Prof

essi

onal

s co

nduc

t th

emse

lves

acc

ordi

ng t

o th

e C

YFP

: co

nfi d

entia

lity,

co

mm

unic

atio

n sk

ills,

tru

st,

unde

rsta

ndin

g &

sup

port

, pr

ompt

rea

ctio

n, k

indn

ess,

ex

pert

ise,

pro

mot

ion

of

serv

ices

.

• O

nly

one

pers

on r

emai

ns in

a

room

to

inte

rvie

w t

he c

hild

.

• Pr

ofes

sion

als

cons

tant

ly

wor

k on

sel

f- e

valu

atio

n an

d se

lf-de

velo

pmen

t

• Pr

ofes

sion

als

rais

e aw

aren

ess

amon

g co

lleag

ues

and

the

gene

ral p

ublic

abo

ut t

he

exis

tenc

e of

thi

s pr

oble

m, th

e w

ay it

is m

anife

sted

and

the

po

ssib

ilitie

s to

res

olve

it.

• Pe

rman

ent

coop

erat

ion,

m

utua

l sup

port

, di

visi

on

of t

asks

and

exc

hang

e of

in

form

atio

n am

ong

the

inst

itutio

ns,

NG

Os

and

loca

l au

thor

ities

. Thi

s in

clud

es a

m

utua

l pro

mot

ion

of s

ervi

ces

and

mut

ual e

valu

atio

n an

d ad

voca

cy t

o up

hold

the

ad

opte

d C

YFP

prin

cipl

es a

nd

prot

ocol

s.

• O

rgan

ize

supe

rvis

ion

sess

ions

with

pr

ofes

sion

al c

ouns

elor

s to

ena

ble

eval

uatio

n, r

esol

utio

n of

eth

ic a

nd

emot

iona

l dile

mm

as a

nd m

utua

l su

ppor

t.

• C

ondu

ct p

erio

dic

(sur

veys

) or

pe

rman

ent

(mes

sage

box

, “a

boo

k fo

r co

mpl

aint

s or

com

men

datio

n”)

eval

uatio

ns w

ith c

lient

s.

• In

volv

e tr

aine

d yo

ung

peop

le

– v

olun

teer

s in

ser

vice

pro

visi

on

for

wel

com

ing

clie

nts,

info

rmat

ion

shar

ing

and

as p

eer

coun

selo

rs.

• A

dver

tise

serv

ices

thr

ough

loca

l m

edia

(e.

g. b

y pu

blis

hing

its

annu

al r

epor

t), po

ster

s an

d le

afl e

ts

dist

ribut

ed in

sch

ools

and

at

plac

es w

here

chi

ldre

n an

d yo

ung

peop

le g

athe

r (s

port

s cl

ubs,

caf

es).

Ever

ythi

ng t

hat

it an

noun

ces

that

it

prov

ides

it s

houl

d pr

ovid

e it

at a

ll tim

es.

• Ser

vice

pro

mot

ion

thro

ugh

visi

ts o

f sc

hool

chi

ldre

n an

d yo

uth

to t

heir

prem

ises

, so

the

y ca

n ge

t fa

mili

ar

with

the

wor

k of

the

ser

vice

s an

d its

am

bian

ce. Rep

rese

ntat

ives

of

serv

ices

(e

.g. ce

nter

s fo

r so

cial

wor

k, p

olic

e),

can

prom

ote

thei

r se

rvic

es a

t sc

hool

cl

asse

s

• C

hild

pro

tect

ion

prof

es si

onal

s tr

ain

othe

r pr

ofes

sion

als

who

wor

k w

ith c

hild

ren

(pre

-sch

o-ol

, sc

hool

, he

alth

car

e,

spor

ts c

lubs

etc

) to

reco

gniz

e, r

eact

, re

port

an

d re

fer

child

abu

se

case

s


IMM

EDIA

TE

•

Ado

pt C

ode

of c

ondu

ct f

or t

each

ers

tow

ards

stu

dent

s, s

tude

nts

tow

ards

te

ache

rs a

nd s

tude

nts

amon

g th

emse

lves

, fo

llow

ed b

y a

prot

ocol

in

clud

ing

repo

rtin

g m

echa

nism

s an

d sa

nctio

ns in

cas

es o

f ab

use

and

othe

r vi

olat

ions

of

the

code

.

• O

rgan

ise

trai

ning

of

man

agem

ent,

tea

cher

s an

d as

sist

ing

pers

onne

l on

impl

emen

tatio

n of

the

ad

opte

d C

ode

of c

ondu

ct

incl

udin

g pr

inci

ples

of

the

best

inte

rest

of

the

child

.

• O

rgan

ize,

in c

olla

bora

tion

with

chi

ld p

rote

ctio

n pr

ofes

sion

als

from

the

loca

l co

mm

unity

, tr

aini

ng o

f

teac

hers

to

reco

gniz

e, r

eact

, re

port

and

ref

er t

he c

hild

in

case

of

abus

e

• O

rgan

ise

in –

ser

vice

tra

inin

g of

sch

ool p

sych

olog

ists

(p

edag

ogue

s w

here

the

re

is n

o ps

ycho

logi

st)

for

coun

selin

g an

d re

ferr

al in

ca

se o

f ab

use,

esp

ecia

lly f

or

type

s of

abu

se f

requ

ent

in

scho

ols

(pee

r vi

olen

ce,

abus

e by

tea

cher

s).

• O

rgan

ise,

in c

olla

bora

tion

with

chi

ld p

rote

ctio

n pr

ofes

sion

als

(gov

.,

NG

O)

trai

ning

for

pup

ils,

peer

lead

ers,

in p

eer

met

hodo

logi

es (

educ

atio

n,

med

iatio

n, c

ouns

elin

g).

Tra

ined

chi

ldre

n an

d yo

ung

peop

le w

ould

als

o ha

ve a

rol

e in

the

info

rmal

tra

nsm

issi

on

of a

cqui

red

know

ledg

e an

d sk

ills

to t

heir

peer

s.

• Pu

pils

hav

e kn

owle

dge

of c

hild

’s r

ight

s in

clud

ing

free

dom

fro

m

abus

e an

d ne

glec

t.

• Pu

pils

rec

ogni

ze a

buse

.

• Pu

pils

em

pow

ered

w

ith s

kills

to

reac

t to

ab

use

at e

arly

sta

ges

and

seek

hel

p fr

om

peer

s, t

each

ers,

sch

ool

psyc

holo

gist

.

• Sch

ool p

rofe

ssio

nals

em

pow

ered

to

reco

gniz

e ch

ild a

buse

and

rea

ct

prop

erly

• Sch

ool p

sych

olog

ists

an

d pe

dago

gue’

s ro

les

in p

rote

ctio

n of

ch

ildre

n fr

om a

buse

st

reng

then

ed.

• M

ore

abus

ed c

hild

ren

repo

rt a

buse

to

the

scho

ol p

sych

olog

ist.

SC

HO

OL


LON

G T

ERM

• Tea

cher

s re

cogn

ize,

rea

ct,

repo

rt

and

refe

r th

e ch

ild in

cas

e of

ab

use,

res

pect

ing

the

prin

cipl

es

of c

onfi d

entia

lity

and

the

best

in

tere

sts

of t

he c

hild

.

• The

rol

e of

Psy

chol

ogis

t pe

dago

gue

serv

ice

chan

ges

from

pun

itive

to

coun

selin

g.

Thi

s se

rvic

e be

com

es t

he fi rst

sa

fe h

aven

for

chi

ldre

n re

port

ing

abus

e.

• A

ll th

e sc

hool

per

sonn

el in

volv

ed

resp

ect

the

prin

cipl

es o

f ch

ildre

n/yo

uth

frie

ndly

ser

vice

s

• Pe

rman

ent

coop

erat

ion,

mut

ual

supp

ort,

div

isio

n of

tas

ks a

nd

exch

ange

of

info

rmat

ion

amon

g th

e in

stitu

tions

, N

GO

s an

d lo

cal

auth

oriti

es.

Thi

s in

clud

es a

m

utua

l pro

mot

ion

of s

ervi

ces.

M

utua

l eva

luat

ion

and

advo

cacy

to

uph

old

the

adop

ted

CY

FP

prin

cipl

es a

nd p

roto

cols

.

• Sup

port

of

the

scho

ol m

anag

emen

t an

d pr

omot

ion

of t

he r

ole

of s

choo

l ps

ycho

logi

st a

s a

coun

selo

r (a

s op

pose

d to

his

rol

e of

pun

ishi

ng

“str

ay”

stud

ents

).

• In

clud

e in

pro

gram

s of

civ

ic

educ

atio

n, c

atec

hism

, ps

ycho

logy

, sp

orts

, he

alth

edu

catio

n an

d cl

ass-

mas

ter’

s cl

asse

s th

e ed

ucat

ion

of

and

disc

ussi

on w

ith p

upils

abo

ut:

- C

hild

’ rig

hts

- Typ

es o

f ch

ild a

buse

, ris

k fa

ctor

s,

right

s of

the

vic

tim a

nd p

ossi

ble

inte

rven

tions

, in

clud

ing

info

rmat

ion

on e

xist

ing

serv

ices

.

- Li

fe s

kills

bas

ed e

duca

tion,

incl

udin

g co

mm

unic

atio

n sk

ills

(ass

ertiv

enes

s et

c)

- G

ende

r eq

ualit

y, in

clud

ing

capa

city

bu

ildin

g of

girl

s fo

r se

lf-es

teem

and

bo

ys f

or t

akin

g re

spon

sibi

lity

for

thei

r ac

tions

.

N

ON

-GO

VER

NM

ENTA

L O

RG

AN

IZA

TIO

NS

IMM

EDIA

TE•

Org

aniz

e se

rvic

es f

or p

rote

ctio

n of

ch

ildre

n fr

om a

buse

and

ass

ista

nce

to v

ictim

s of

vio

lenc

e: S

OS h

otlin

e,

coun

selin

g s

ervi

ce, se

lf-he

lp g

roup

s

• A

s N

GO

s ar

e fr

eque

ntly

the

ser

vice

pr

ovid

ers

child

ren

appr

oach

fi rst

, N

GO

rep

rese

ntat

ives

cou

ld t

ake

the

role

of

repr

esen

tatio

n an

d ac

com

pany

ing

child

ren

thro

ugh

inst

itutio

ns w

hen

child

ren

cann

ot g

o al

one.

• C

hild

pro

tect

ion

serv

ices

ta

ilore

d to

chi

ldre

n’s

need

s pr

ovid

e be

tter

tr

eatm

ent

and

supp

ort

to

vict

ims

of c

hild

abu

se

• M

ore

child

ren

know

w

here

and

whi

ch c

hild

fr

iend

ly N

GO

se

rvic

es

are

and

how

the

y w

ork


LON

G T

ERM

• Pe

rman

ent

coop

erat

ion,

mut

ual

supp

ort,

div

isio

n of

tas

ks a

nd

exch

ange

of

info

rmat

ion

amon

g th

e in

stitu

tions

, N

GO

s an

d lo

cal

auth

oriti

es. Thi

s in

clud

es a

mut

ual

prom

otio

n of

ser

vice

s. M

utua

l ev

alua

tion

and

advo

cacy

to

upho

ld

the

adop

ted

CY

FP p

rinci

ples

and

pr

otoc

ols.

• A

dequ

atel

y ad

vert

ise

serv

ices

and

m

ake

them

acc

essi

ble

to c

hild

ren

and

youn

g pe

ople

• Pr

ovid

e in

form

atio

n to

chi

ldre

n an

d yo

uth

and

prom

ote

othe

r se

rvic

es

in t

he in

stitu

tions

with

whi

ch t

hey

coop

erat

e (c

ente

r fo

r so

cial

wor

k,

heal

th c

are,

cou

nsel

ing,

pol

ice)

.

• N

GO

pro

fess

iona

ls

expe

rienc

ed in

abu

se

prev

entio

n an

d vi

ctim

s pr

otec

tion

trai

n pr

ofes

sion

als

wor

king

with

ch

ildre

n to

:

- re

cogn

ize,

rea

ct, re

port

and

re

fer

child

abu

se

- ed

ucat

e ch

ildre

n ab

out

prev

entio

n of

and

pr

otec

tion

from

abu

se

• In

col

labo

ratio

n w

ith

resp

ectiv

e m

anag

emen

t,

NG

O p

rofe

ssio

nals

tra

in

yout

h vo

lunt

eers

for

pee

r ed

ucat

ion,

med

iatio

n an

d co

unse

ling

in s

choo

ls,

spor

ts c

lubs

etc

... Tra

ined

ch

ildre

n an

d yo

ung

peop

le

wou

ld a

lso

have

a r

ole

in

the

info

rmal

tra

nsm

issi

on

of a

cqui

red

know

ledg

e an

d sk

ills

to t

heir

peer

s.

• M

ore

abus

ed c

hild

ren

rece

ive

serv

ices

fro

m N

GO

s an

d ar

e re

pres

ente

d by

th

em a

t th

e in

stitu

tions

.

LOC

AL

AU

TH

ORIT

IES

IMM

EDIA

TE

• C

oord

inat

ion:

est

ablis

hing

and

m

aint

aini

ng a

coo

rdin

atin

g bo

dy

at m

unic

ipal

ity le

vel w

hich

wou

ld

incl

ude

repr

esen

tativ

es fro

m a

ll th

e in

stitu

tions

and

NG

Os

deal

ing

with

th

e pr

otec

tion

of c

hild

ren,

or pr

ovid

e su

ppor

t to

suc

h a

body

if it

alre

ady

exis

ts

• W

ith s

uppo

rt o

f th

e co

mm

unity

, es

tabl

ish

the

inst

itute

of C

hild

ren’

s ad

voca

te, o

r O

mbu

dspe

rson

, as

an in

depe

nden

t se

rvic

e at

the

m

unic

ipal

ity le

vel.

It is

impo

rtan

t th

at s

uch

a pe

rson

is e

lect

ed b

y th

e ch

ildre

n th

emse

lves

, as

an in

divi

dual

w

ho e

njoy

s th

e cr

edib

ility

and

co

nfi d

ence

of ch

ildre

n.

• C

hild

pro

tect

ion

serv

ices

(g

ov., N

GO

) ha

ve b

ette

r w

orki

ng c

ondi

tions

, in

cl.

capa

city

to

adhe

re t

o C

YFP

.•

Chi

ld p

rote

ctio

n se

rvic

es

have

str

ong

and

cont

inuo

us

colla

bora

tion

in c

ase

solv

ing.

• N

ew s

ervi

ces

and

bodi

es

play

a r

ole

in a

buse

pr

even

tion

and

trea

tmen

t.


LON

G T

ERM

• P

rom

otio

n, p

rovi

sion

of

supp

ort

and

mai

ntai

ning

of

coop

erat

ion,

ho

norin

g of

com

plem

enta

ritie

s an

d ex

chan

ge o

f in

form

atio

n of

al

l chi

ld p

rote

ctio

n se

rvic

es.

• C

ontin

uous

sup

port

to

exis

ting

gove

rnm

enta

l and

NG

O lo

cal

serv

ices

wor

king

on

child

pr

otec

tion

activ

ities

:

- F

orm

al a

nd le

gal:

Prop

osal

and

ad

optio

n of

for

mal

dec

isio

ns

nece

ssar

y fo

r es

tabl

ishm

ent

and

runn

ing

of c

erta

in s

ervi

ces

or

coor

dina

tion

bodi

es.

- O

rgan

izat

iona

l, lo

gist

ical

, fi n

anci

al:

whe

neve

r an

d w

here

ver

poss

ible

al

loca

te f

unds

or

assi

st in

som

e ot

her

way

, e.

g. b

y pr

ovis

ion

of

time

in lo

cal m

edia

, en

gage

men

t of

vol

unte

ers

or e

mpl

oyee

s,

trai

ning

, pr

ovis

ion

of p

rem

ises

,

free

-of-

char

ge li

ne f

or t

he S

OS

tele

phon

e, p

urch

ase/

acqu

isiti

on

of e

quip

men

t, c

over

ing

of r

unni

ng

cost

s, e

tc).

• Pr

ovid

e su

ppor

t (f

orm

al,

orga

niza

tiona

l, lo

gist

ical

) to

the

es

tabl

ishm

ent

and

runn

ing

of n

ew

serv

ices

whi

ch a

re n

ot y

et p

rese

nt

in t

he c

omm

unity

:

- Im

plem

enta

tion

of p

eer

met

hodo

logi

es a

t th

e lo

catio

ns

whe

re y

oung

peo

ple

gath

er

outs

ide

of s

choo

l (sp

orts

clu

bs,

cultu

ral-a

rtis

tic s

ocie

ties,

NG

Os,

ca

fes)

.

- E

stab

lishm

ent

of s

helte

r(s)

for

ch

ild v

ictim

s of

vio

lenc

e.


SITUATION ANALYSISSITUATION ANALYSIS

SOCIAL CARE SYSTEM IN SERBIASOCIAL CARE SYSTEM IN SERBIADrastic changes of a social and economic context in Serbia over the last decade have had a negative impact on the whole system of social care. Fur-thermore, the family itself has suffered exposure to war atrocities, poverty, overall decline in the society and this has put a signifi cant stress on their child rearing capacities. Many parents have not been able to deal with the new stressful cir-cumstances and domestic violence has become a frequent occurrence, giving rise to accumulated personal and common losses.

Providing children in need with stimulating, family-based environments and community-based alternative forms of care proved to be in the last decade, too demanding a task for the war and sanctions-ridden country.

The result of this situation was a sizable number of children and families in which domestic violence occurred, leading to the abuse and neglect of chil-dren who very often had to deal with these serious issues by themselves. Not only was social welfare unable to assist; the lack of clarity in the existing laws and weak legal solutions often left the im-pression that the aggressor was protected whereas the victims of violence were marred and punished. Very often, not being able to remove the aggressor from the household, social workers had to place children in institutions to protect them from vio-lence within the household. Without regular work for the violent member of the family, children returned to their homes often met with even more intense physical and mental abuse and neglect, having a deep impact on the most vulnerable mem-ber(s) of the family.

This situation is further aggravated in the 7 muni-cipalities where the research has been conducted. Due to remoteness, occasional ethnic clashes, very traditional paternalistic lifestyle and hesitation, even refusal, to confi de in the system and its ser-vices, extra efforts were needed regarding reform to the social protection sector. The organization of the family, especially in rural areas, still refl ects traditional values and attitudes which very often prevent children from participating and denies them the right to their own views and opinions.

PROJECT BACKGROUNDPROJECT BACKGROUNDThe project Addressing Child Abuse and Neglect in 7 municipalities was jointly organised by the

Child Protection program of the UNICEF Offi ce in Belgrade, the Belgrade Institute of Mental Health and the NGO DamaD from Novi Pazar. Seven municipalities participated in the project: Nova Varoš, Novi Pazar, Priboj, Prijepolje, Raška, Sjenica, and Tutin. The ultimate goal of the pro-ject was to recognize, identify, investigate and appropriately address cases of child abuse and neglect (CAN) in 7 municipalities by systemati-cally applying the principle of the best interest of the child.

The achievement of the goal was established through enabling professionals, primarily from the Centres for Social Work, along with their colleagues from other sectors (health, education, police, judiciary) by means of training, supervi-sion and exchange of good practice examples, to come to a common understanding of the reality of CAN from a child rights perspective, to have CAN high on their agenda, to help raise the awareness of the general public on this issue, and to acquire minimum skills and knowledge to actively develop/strengthen a system to appropriately address CAN in their municipality.

In order to better understand the opinions and views of children and young people about the nature and scope of CAN, as well as their ide-as of how to raise awareness about this issue among the general public, it was decided to organise qualitative research with children and young people in 7 municipalities.

RESEARCH PURPOSE RESEARCH PURPOSE AND OBJECTIVESAND OBJECTIVES

The purpose of the qualitative research on per-ceptions and opinions of children on child abuse was to help the improvement of service delivery and design of an awareness raising campaign in the 7 municipalities, but also to inform the development of the National protocol on pro-tection of children from abuse and neglect.

The research had the following objectives:

• Determining perceptions and opinions of children towards defi nition, types and per-petrators of child abuse.

• Determining factors that infl uence child a buse.

• Identifi cation of communication strategies of children towards general public and pro-fessionals involved in protection of children from abuse and neglect.


DEFINITIONSDEFINITIONS

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO - Report of the Consultation on Child Abuse Prevention, 29-31 March 1999, WHO, Geneva. World Health Organisation, Geneva, 1999.), “child abuse or maltreatment cons-titutes all forms of physical and/or emotional ill-treatment, sexual abuse, neglect or negligent treatment or commercial or other exploitation, resulting in actual or potential harm to the child’s health, survival, development or dignity in the context of a relationship of responsibility, trust or power”. Child abuse is a wilful act causing direct damage to the child, while child neglect is the failing to provide what is necessary for the child or lack of protection of the child from harm. Table 2 shows types of CAN.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGYRESEARCH METHODOLOGY

FOCUS GROUP AS A RESEARCH METHOD

A focus group is one of the qualitative research methods. It is a loosely structured and informal dis cussion among several individuals with the aim of obtaining information about a certain research topic, a skill-building guide for making focus groups work. HealthCom project, Academy for educational development, Washington USA, march 1995. Such a discussion presents attitudes, beliefs, motives and behaviour of the target group.

The discussion is led according to a pre-determined scenario - a list of topics that should be covered during the discussion. The scenario does not represent a rigid structure carried out from the beginning to end, but a fl exible reminder to lead the discus sion towards the goal.

When selecting the participants of a focus group, it should be ensured that all of them have a similar socio-economic status, social and family roles, level of knowledge and are of similar age. Possible cultural differences among the participants should

also be taken into consideration. Gender parity should be maintained or, depending on the topic of research, single-gender groups organised. Depending on specifi c goals of the research, the composition of the group will be “in the service” of what we wish to fi nd out.

Focus groups are most frequently used for the following purposes:

• To acquire ideas for the creation of programmes, campaigns or material.

• To test educational or promotional concepts, messages or material.

• To improve a certain product or service through understanding of the needs and views of the users.

• To identify topics for additional quantitative research or for more in-depth research of results obtained by quantitative methods.

One advantage of the application of focus groups is the obtaining of diverse opinions by the use of group interaction. A second advantage is the fl exibility of methodology which can be changed and adapted during the research. Focus groups save money and time and can be done under modest technical conditions.

The advantages of applying this method in the research of perceptions and opinions on abuse are:

1) to obtain more in-depth and heterogeneous answers.

2) exchange of opinions and mutual support empowers the participants and encourages them to express their opinion even if it is different from the opinion of the majority.

3) possibility to jointly identify proposals to overcome the problem.

Focus groups also have their limitations. The basic limitation is subjectivity, both in leading the discussion and in drawing up the conclusions. Furthermore, a relatively small sample does not ensure a basis for the extrapolation of conclusions

CHILD ABUSE CHILD NEGLECT

Physical Physical

Emotional (psychological) Emotional (psychological)

Sexual Sexual

Exploitation Medical

Abandoning the child

Table 2: Types of CAN


for the entire population. Finally, a discussion in a focus group cannot produce data on the size of the occurrence, i.e., the occurrence cannot be «measured». The results of the focus group research can therefore be supported and quantifi ed by using quantitative research methods.

TARGET POPULATION, TERRITORY AND TIMESPAN OF RESEARCH

The research was carried out from 9 to 16 August 2004. The focus groups were organised in 7 municipalities included in UNICEF’s project Addressing child abuse and neglect in 7 municipalities: Nova Varoš, Novi Pazar, Priboj, Prijepolje, Raška, Sjenica, and Tutin. The population under research consisted of 131 male and female children and young people from 10 to 19 years old.

ORGANISATION OF RESEARCH

The applied methodology was based on the general rules of focus group organisation and the methodology of the multi-country qualitative research of WHO on elder abuse. - (Perel Levin S. Focus groups as a tool for assesing perceptions on elder abuse amongolder people and primary health care workers. Draft. WHO 2001.)

Through the focus group discussions, we wanted to fi nd out about the perceptions and opinions that children and young people have about abuse and not to search for individual testimonies of those who might have been victims of abuse. The goal of the discussion was to learn about the perceptions and opinions of children and young people on the following issues:

• What is child abuse, what types of abuse exist.

• The context in which abuse happens, its causes and risk factors.

• Signs and consequences of abuse.

• The frequency of child abuse in their setting and who are the perpetrators.

• Identifi cation of existing and potential services that should protect children and young people from abuse.

• Identifi cation of defi ciencies, needs and proposals for a future response to the abuse of children and young people.

• Messages that children and young people would send to professionals, parents, peers and through media on protection from child abuse.

Another goal was to become acquainted with the terminology used by children and young people when

they speak about abuse, different types of abuse, etc.

The selection of participants was carried out by local organisers in each municipality. The majority of focus groups were formed by the «snowball effect» method: one or two children were informed about the group meeting and they were asked to inform and bring along two to three peers (friends from school or neighbourhood) to the meeting. These children or young people then inform their friends, etc. Thus, by direct informing of one child a group of 5 to 10 participants was created. Six focus groups were formed by NGOs who directly invited the participants of their own programmes (see Evaluation and Lessons Learned). It is important to emphasise that the selection of participants was not carried out on the basis of exposure to abuse.

A total of 15e focus groups were held. In each of the seven municipalities one group consisted of children from 10 to 15 years old (primary school children) and another group of young people from 16 to 19 years old (high school). There were 9 groups mix ed by gender, in four groups there were only girls, and in 2 there were only boys. Out of total 131 participants, there were 83 girls and 48 boys.

The majority of groups consisted of 9-11 persons. The minimum number or participants per group was 4 persons (one group), while the maximum number was 12 (one group). After learning about the topic and planned work of the group, each individual who participated in the focus groups gave consent to voluntary participation in the focus group discus-sions and their audio recording. All participants were guaranteed anonymity – their names cannot be cit ed in the processing and presentation of the results of the research.

The work of each group lasted from 1.5 to 2 hours. In order to ensure consistency and impartiality, each focus group was facilitated or co-facilitated by the same person on the basis of a previously prepared scenario (Annex 2). In addition to the main facilitator, another two members of the research team participated in the work of the focus groups – alternately facilitating the discussion or taking minutes (co-facilitator and recorder). The focus group dis cussions were recorded both on audio tape and in writing, while non-verbal types of expression were noted down.

FOCUS GROUPS RESULTS ANALYSISThe obtained results were processed by the descrip-tive statistical method. Subsequently, the results were compared and similarities and differences were identifi ed between answers given in the groups in different municipalities, between different age groups or between male and female groups, where possible.

e In one of the municipalities, a large number of children from 10 to 15 years old turned out prior to the discussion, so they were divided into two groups and discussions were held with them. For this reason the total number of groups is 15, instead of the initially planned 14.


RESULTS AND DISCUSSION


FOCUS GROUP FLOW AND BASIC TOPICS

At the start of the session, the research team members introduced themselves and explained the goals of the research and the method of work of the focus group. Each participant gave oral consent to his/her participation in the group. Basic ground rules were then intoduced (Annex 3): all participate equally, everybody’s opinion is equally valuable, the participants speak one by one, when one speaks there are no interrupti-ons, if something is not clear it should be clari-fi ed, if an individual feels uncomfortable he/she does not have to answer a question and can leave the group at any point. There will be no questions linked to personal experience. Partici-pation in the group is anonymous; discussions are confi dential and will not be relayed outside the group in their original form.

The group and the facilitator then agreed how they wish to be called as a group. In most ca-ses, younger groups considered themselves chil-dren, while older groups considered themselves young people. Such addressing of younger and older groups was respected in this report, as well as in the focus groups transcripts.

Participants then introduced themselves and expressed their motivation to participate in the discussion. The recording and keeping of mi-nutes began after their introduction (the names of the participants are not recorded or written down). Then, introductory questions related to the everyday life of children and young people were asked.

Thereupon, the 3 prepared stories were read: one about peer violence, one about domestic vi-olence and one about sexual abuse. The general discussion followed.

Finally, the participants fi lled out a brief anony-mous questionnaire through which basic demo-graphic data was obtained (gender, age, educati-on, household members)

PROBLEMS CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE FACE NOWADAYS

The differences are not signifi cant between the towns or between the age groups, when identify-ing the biggest problems that children and young people face today.

A large number of problems that children and young people have are related to and are a conse-quence of bad relations with parents. Almost all the groups presented problems related to a lack of understanding by parents; the making of decisions without consultation, restrictions on going out and various bans. One group believed that politics have a signifi cant infl uence on parents’ neglect of chil-dren.

A restriction on going out was presented as one of the greatest problems in nine groups. Both chil-dren and young people have equal problems with the ‘going out’ issue, although the older groups mentioned this problem more frequently. Several groups (older groups in Sjenica, Prijepolje and Pri-boj) suggested, that girls had more problems with restrictions on going out and general control of their behaviour, than boys.

Financial problems were also frequently mentioned, somewhat more frequently in the groups of young people. One group believed that the problem was that their peers were forced to work due to lack of money. Both children and young people believed that these problems caused other problems in fami-lies, school and society, including child abuse.

Children and young people believed the huge pro-blems today to be the proliferation of narcotics in the streets and the pressure from peers to smoke cigarettes and try alcohol and drugs. Boys and girls were equally afraid of these occurrences. They be-lieved that there were more and more drugs in their neighbourhood, while alcoholism was a «tradition-al» problem. They believed that many adolescents succumbed to vices and delinquency, running away from home and school, keeping the company of «riffraff» (“ološi”).

A number of groups mentioned hostilities among peers, insults and threats to those who were weak-er, fi st fi ghts between peers in school and in the evening in town. Not once were these clashes spontaneously characterised as violence or abuse of the weak by the strong.

A smaller number of groups mentioned problems with school, fear of failed grades, mainly because of punishment by parents, which is closely linked with the above problems – lack of understanding and banning by parents. Failed grades in school are one of the most frequent reasons for punishment and bans by parents. The youths believed that there was no point in punishment and that conversation with children could achieve much more than a ban. A ban frequently only produces obstinacy.


Problems linked to the above are problems with teachers or professors. Unequal treatment of stu-dents, belittling and insults by teachers or profes-sors were spontaneously mentioned only in three groups. However, later, when directly asked about abuse by teachers, the participants disclosed that such occurrences were almost «a regular thing» in all the areas of research, both in primary and in high schools.

Abuse as a problem for children and young people, was spontaneously mentioned in only three groups. One group mentioned child abuse by parents and parents forcing children to do what they did not want to do. The other two groups mentioned abuse in general. One of these two groups mentioned fear of sexual abuse, one event from their setting and danger of death in traffi c.

IDENTIFICATION OF ABUSEIDENTIFICATION OF ABUSE

PEER VIOLENCE

After reading the fi rst story about peer violence, the following question was raised: What is bad there?

In the majority of groups such behaviour was spontaneously called mistreatment (most fre-quently), humiliation and/or abuse (less frequently):

• Dino is treating Elvis badly.

• Elvis is not left alone.

• Elvis is humiliated because the other boy keeps harassing him, pushing him and rap-ping him with a fi nger on the head (“udara mu čvrge”).

• Dino mistreats him without any reason whatsoever.

• Dino abuses Elvis in various ways.

“Dino attacks Elvis without any re-ason despite the fact that Elvis had done him no wrong.”

In this part of the discussion, in one group there was already a mention of the violation of children’s rights as the bad thing that was happen ing. This answer will later become more fre quent in attempts to defi ne abuse.

The younger groups usually described the bad things that were happening, less frequently naming it as mistreatment, humiliation or abuse.

It is interesting that a large number of answers, especially in the younger groups, were immediately related to explaining the causes of bad behaviour by the bully and fi nding eventual justifi cations, than identifying that one individual was abusing another:

• Dino is jealous because Elvis is a good stu-dent, popular in the crowd (this was not mentioned in the story but the participants pre-sumed that Elvis was like that because he was the target of abuse)

• Dino is jealous because Elvis has both parents, more money (this was also not mentioned in the story, but the participants concluded that if Dino lived only with his mother he had less money)

• Because of all this, Dino carries a complex, which is the reason why he wants to show that he is stronger

“Elvis is small and anybody can abuse him, while Dino used this to show how strong he was and to turn attention to himself.”

Some of the answers transferred part of the re-sponsibility for these events to others:

• The crowd does not accept Dino

• There are parents who support such behav-iour

• Dino’s mother did not react in the right way, she should have applied some type of punishment

Some of the answers analysed the behaviour of the weaker boy, partly considering him to be the cause of bad events:

• Elvis is vulnerable, helpless.

• Elvis endures because he is afraid of re-venge

• Maybe Elvis is withdrawn, well-mannered, does not get into quarrels.

• Elvis is subordinated to Dino.

• Elvis is too placid.

• Elvis carries a complex.

• Elvis lacks courage.

• It is bad that Elvis did not react to provoca-tions.


• Elvis did not adapt, and the same had pro-bably happened to Dino when he changed school

A larger number of groups expressed the opinion that Elvis should react to Dino’s assaults and show how strong he is, while in two groups there was a view that somebody else (older) should protect Elvis:

• It did not help that he complained to the class-master because it only provoked even more assaults from Dino.

• Somebody should protect Elvis.

The respondents easily identifi ed themselves with this story, i.e., with peer violence, which was not the case in the other stories. All the groups (except younger group in Tutin) believed such cases to be frequent. They gave numerous examples where they themselves or their friends had been victims

• Such abuse always exists.

• It happens very often.

• More often in primary school, less often in high school, but it happens.

• Mainly the boys enter fi st fi ghts.

• Sometimes the girls also fi ght among them-selves (because of boys).

They believed this to happen more often in pri-mary than in high school. The reason given was that they were more grown up in high school, where young people viewed the situation in a different way and did not opt as frequently for physical assaults and humiliation. Such an opi-nion was given in both the younger and older groups.

“In high school, children are more mature, so there is less violence then.”

In the majority of presented examples the boys were the ones who abused those who were weaker. Only in one (exclusively girls) older group, was an example given where girls participated in such a clash.

On the other hand, there was a certain tendency to accept such behaviour as an every-day norm. It will turn out later that none of the participants knew what they should do to protect themsel-ves from such violence.

When asked what expression they would use to describe Dino’s behaviour towards Elvis (prima-rily in those groups where such behaviour had not been spontaneously identifi ed as abuse), a variety of answers were received, that must be taken into consideration when speaking to chil-dren and young people about peer violence. Peer violence was most frequently characterised as mistreatment, somewhat less frequently as abu-se. Frequent expressions used were belittling, humiliation and insulting. Bullying or rowdy be-haviour were expressions used as frequently as the previous ones. It is interesting that the vio-lation of rights had been mentioned twice here. The other less frequent answers were:

• Aggression.

• Harassment.

• Show of superiority.

• Indulging in ridicule (“iživljavanje”)

• Assault.

• Uncontrolled behaviour.

• Sick behaviour.

• Animal behaviour.

• Killing of moral.

On the type of abuse in question, they mainly identifi ed physical abuse:

• Physical abuse is when they push him a round, beat him.

And mental abuse, for which expressions such as emotional, verbal and moral abuse had also been used:

• Mental abuse is «when they force him out of the crowd».

• Humiliation, to belittle his ego.

• Moral abuse – insults him as a person.

It was interesting that the respondents believed that the aim of every abuse was to make the victim feel humiliated, inferior.

Several groups believed that physical and mental abuse were inseparable, as physical abuse leaves both physical and mental consequences. On the other hand, mental abuse can exist without physical abuse. This will be repeated later when interpreting other types of abuse:

• That is physical and mental abuse .


• Dino bullies Elvis both physically and emo-tionally.

• Yes, that is physical abuse, while insulting is mental abuse.

• Mental abuse can exist without physical abuse.

Physical and mental abuse are inseparable.

“A separation line between phy-sical and mental abuse cannot be drawn.”

One group (children, Raška) used the expression material abuse to describe Dino’s destruction of property.

The expression peer abuse was used in only one group (young people, Prijepolje).

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

The explicit question «what is bad that is happen-ing» was not posed to most of the groups after reading this story, as had been the case in the fi rst story. It was believed that the respondents would notice something bad was happening and that the child and mother were victims. This presumption was confi rmed by the answers in those groups to which this question had been posed: “Nenad carries the weight of too many problems on his back.”

• The father is an alcoholic, he beats the moth er

• Mistreats both the mother and the son

• Nenad is helpless and has no one to turn to

• Nenad has no friends, his friends shun him because of his father

“Disarranged family relations are refl ected on the child, it has no support and is not happy. »

On whether they knew of similar cases in their milieu, with regard to family violence, the dis-tantiation from violence was present in more groups. This was especially noticeable in young-er groups where they gave examples from the television or press rather than from their own setting:

• We never heard of such cases.

• No, but we did hear about them on television.

• We saw this in a fi lm, in television serials.

• We know from the TV, from newspapers.

• The television serial ,,Rikošet’’ has many such examples.

The rest believed that there were such cases but nobody spoke about them, i.e., that such events were kept as family secrets. That is why we can-not know how frequent such occurrences are and what really happens. Such an opinion was mainly expressed by the young people from older groups.

• Such things do happen, but they are kept secret.

• It is certain that such things happen, but they are family matters.

• Nobody speaks about such things - it is bad, but it remains within the four walls of the home.

• Yes, but children feel ashamed to talk about it as their friends will shun them believing them to be responsible for what happened.

• Yes, but children feel ashamed to speak abo-ut it as it concerns their family.

• People do not speak about this and they have nobody to turn to.

“It is more frequent than peer vio-lence, but less is known about it, it is kept secret while peer violence can be seen.”Respondents in several groups said that they know of concrete examples of such behaviour from their setting, and that some of their friends lived in such families.

• There are a lot of such cases.

• It happens in the neighbourhood.

• The father is an alcoholic and mistreats the entire family.

• The father is an alcoholic and there are con-stant quarrels in that family.

• Children from such families leave immediate-ly after puberty, abandoning their mothers.

• Sons use drugs and mistreat their parents.


On which expression they would use to describe the fathers behaviour towards Nenad, and which one towards the mother, the following answers were given:

Only one group answered that it was domestic violence (the group consisting of NGO volunteers whose one programme was the battle against family violence). Another group used the expres-sion abuse in the family.

On the father’s behaviour, only the participants in a few groups used the expression violence or aggressive behaviour.

“The father’s behaviour towards Nenad is aggressive and towards the mother violent.”

The majority of groups described the father’s be-haviour towards Nenad and towards the mother as abuse. The abuse which Nenad and his moth-er went through was described as physical and mental (i.e., moral, mental, emotional). Here, like with peer violence, the idea emerged that physi-cal and mental violence were inseparable.

“Abuse – the woman feels inferior, helpless, as if she was to be bla-med.” In addition to the term abuse, the respondents also used the expression mistreatment this, it appears, is a synonym for abuse, as it always ap-pears at the same time. The expression indulging in ridicule was also used several times. Two groups also used the expression humiliation.

One group also discerned that, in addition to physical and mental abuse, Nenad was being neglected. Nenad’s father was spending money on alcohol instead of satisfying his child’s basic needs. Nenad was also neglected because he was not receiving love from his father. This was one of the few situations where neglect had been mentioned as a separate expression.

It was interesting to hear the opinion of the respondents in relation to whether it was also abuse when Nenad watched his father beating his mother. All the groups, almost unanimously conceded that yes, it was mental abuse.

“Abuse is when Nenad watches how his father beats his mother, the same as when you have to watch a war.”

“Nenad would like to have a har-monious family, and if he does not have such a family then it is mental abuse.”

This story made a strong impression on the parti-cipants. Many of them spoke about long-term mental traumas and other consequences of vi-olence (see Chapter Consequences of Abuse). The respondents believed that Nenad was suf-fering because he watched his mother being put in danger, and he could not help her. That was the worst part in the whole story – this mental suffering was much worse than physical abuse.

“Nenad feels bad because he has to watch all this and cannot chan-ge anything – he is helpless.”

“He puts up with it and cannot help.”

“It is worse for him to watch his father beating his mother than if he beats him.”

SEXUAL ABUSE

Following the third story about sexual abuse by a family friend, a discussion ensued with the children on what they saw as being bad in that story. The impression was that this was one of the few questions to which answers varied from one setting to another. Namely, the children from Sjenica, Prijepolje, Priboj and Novi Pazar immediately identifi ed what was happening in the story as sexual abuse. Participants in Tutin (the younger group), Nova Varos and Raska spo-ke about various types of bad behaviour, even about abuse, but not immediately about sexual abuse. The impression was that the children from the last three municipalities knew what sex-ual abuse was, but they felt uncomfortable to name it as such.

It was a pleasant surprise that children and young people in seven municipalities immediately identifi ed the bad event as sexual abuse of Maja by a friend of her father.

• Maja was sexually abused by her father’s friend.


• Marko sexually abuses Maja.

• Marko was abusing her, but she was not aware it was abuse.

• Marko abuses Maja sexually and she does not know what to do.

• Maja does not want to speak to her parents because she was sexually abused.

“Her intimacy was violated.”

Another two groups used the expression abuse for Marko’s behaviour, but they did not use the word «sexual»:

• Abuse.

• He abuses Maja , he is doing something that he should not be.

Some groups (especially young people in Novi Pa-zar) immediately used the expression paedophilia:

• It is bad that she is attacked by a paedophile.

• Marko has a mental problem, he is probably a paedophile.

On the difference between paedophilia and sexual abuse, the respondents have the following ans-wers:

• Paedophilia is sexual abuse of children.

• Paedophilia is a type of sexual abuse

• Maybe he does not like older women, only children.

• A woman is one thing, a minor child another.

Immediately upon reading the story, Marko’s be-haviour was characterised as sick, with mental problems, by those groups in which paedophilia had not been mentioned. It can be considered that, despite paedophilia being almost made equal to sexual abuse, the same as with peer violence, there is a tendency to “justify” such behaviour as a mental disorder.

In those groups in which sexual abuse was not immediately identifi ed, the participants believed that Marko’s behaviour towards Maja was bad as it was not the behaviour that an older person and a family friend should have towards a minor girl:

• The fact that he brings presents to her and comes to their home when she is alone

• The family friend behaves in such a way that Maja feels uncomfortable and she does not feel it is right that he addresses her and spe-

aks to her as if he would like to have intimate contacts with her.

• Maja believes he is only caressing her, he is just a friend, it could be dangerous.

• He looks at her in a different way, and he should be looking at her as a small girl.

• It is OK that he talks, but not when they are alone.

• He can take her away some place because she believes him.

• He should not be doing that.“No man should ever say that to a small girl.”

Furthermore, they believed that Maja was afraid of what was happening to her, and of even grea-ter violence:

• Fear.

• Marko scares her.

• His arrival being a secret means that some-thing suspicious was going to happen, that is why Maja was afraid.

• She is afraid that he will rape her.

Maja also feels shame because of what was happening to her. Later it shall emerge that this was one of the main reasons why she was hesi-tant to talk to somebody about it.

• Maja is ashamed, she does not dare tell anything to her parents because she is afraid they will not believe her.

• Maja is ashamed to speak.

Another bad thing that happened was that Marko betrayed Maja’s trust:

• Maja trusted Marko, as she would trust an uncle, and did not expect something like that from him.

In those groups in which sexual abuse was not spontaneously identifi ed, the question was posed to the participants to identify the type of abuse. Almost unanimously all the groups responded that this was sexual abuse. One group also used the synonym intimate abuse.

However, several groups ( Tutin, Sjenica, Raška) could not decide whether the actions that Marko was doing were in fact sexual abuse, or only an introduction to abuse, i.e., mental abuse:


• It is the fi rst level of sexual abuse, a milder aspect.

• It is sexual abuse, as he had already started touching her.

• This is not only a sexual act, it is also in-citing acts of indecency.

• Acts of indecency precede sexual abuse

• Sexual abuse is not only sexual intercourse or oral sex, as most believe, that is a prejudi-ce.

• Sexual abuse is also rape and touching, put-ting her on his lap.

Girls in most of the groups believed that any inva-sion into the sphere of intimacy was abuse, while boys believed sexual abuse to represent “more concrete” activities. However, even the girls them-selves in some groups had differing opinions.

Apparently, the line that separates what is and what is not abuse is physical contact. This par-tly corresponds to the perception of physical and mental violence: physical violence is «more realis-tic, more concrete» as the physical consequences and physical actions that lead to them, can be described; verbal violence has no physical conse-quences, nor is there a physical action that leads to it. Regarding sexual abuse, it seems that the respondents, «justify» characterising such abuse as sexual abuse because there is a physical action involved, violation of one’s intimacy (putting Maja on his lap, caressing).

At the same time, they had diffi culty in chara-cterising sexual abuse as something that lacked sexual intercourse, i.e., rape.

It was concluded that, as is the same among the general public, a certain number of people be-lieved rape to be the only form of sexual abuse. Other types of sexual abuse (remarks with sexual connotation, touching, exposing people to sexual content, etc.) are seen as something bad and an invasion of one’s intimacy, but they are not called sexual abuse.

DEFINITION AND TYPES OF ABUSEDEFINITION AND TYPES OF ABUSE

DEFINITION

We were interested to see how the participants defi ned child abuse. They were asked how they would describe or defi ne to their peer what child abuse is. The participants found it diffi cult to fi nd

a defi nition. A large number of answers were in fact related to the types of behaviour that could be characterised as abuse and their division into types of abuse. A smaller number of the respondents gave a defi nition of abuse.

Among the answers, a large number characterised abuse (to our pleasant surprise) as the violation of children’s rights. This group of descriptions also included the violation of or depriving of the needs of children. One group described abuse as disre-garding a child’s opinion. An interesting description that also fi ts into this group was that abuse was when a child is not allowed to do what other chil-dren are doing.

“Abuse is violation of child rights, showing of force and depriving of needs”

The second, also frequent, group of descriptions was related to abuse as forcing a child to do what it does not want to do or is not able to do.

“Abuse is to force something on the child that is against its wish or its capability.”

TYPES OF ABUSE

A large number of attempts to defi ne child abuse were in fact related to listing the types of abuse and their classifi cation. We also posed the question what types of abuses are there. An attempt will be made to try and classify the examples of abusive behaviour according to categories that the respon-dents gave. The majority of examples of abuse were related to mental abuse, most probably beca-use the respondents themselves were frequently witnesses to or victims of such abuse.

The basic types of abuse are:

• Physical abuse:

o Beating.

o Slapping.

o Physical punishment.

o Torture – physical assaults.

“Physical abuse is not a method for upbringing, although it is most fre-quently used in that process.”


• Mental abuse

o To put somebody to shame

o Insulting, belittling, humiliation, destroy one’ s self-esteem (“ubijanje u pojam”) (frequent answer).

o Punishment, depriving one’s freedom, re-striction of movement (by parents - frequent answer).

o Threats, intimidation, blackmail (frequent answer).

“Provoking fear is also abuse.”

o Exploitation.

o Harassment.

o Maltreatment by telephone.

o When a child witnesses violence against his mother.

Putting somebody to shame, i.e., abuse in front of others was picked out by a number of the groups as a singular type of abuse. In addition to causing direct harm to the victim, it also has the goal of disgracing him/her, exposing him/her to mockery and the rejection of others. The setting that did not directly participate in the abuse contributes to the abuse by being a witness to it. Shame itself some-times has more serious consequences than mental or physical abuse. The fact that everybody knows about the beating hurts much more than the bea-ting itself.

Another type of abuse that should be highlighted is «destroying one’s self-esteem» (“ubijanje u po-jam”). This expression was used in the fi rst two stories to explain what was happening to the vic-tims of abuse. In one group it was offered as a defi nition of abuse and in the other as one type of abuse. It means the destruction of one’s self-con-fi dence, belittling of his opinion and needs, thus a child begins to believe that it really is inferior, that it is to be blamed for what is happening to it and deserves the abuse.

Threats and blackmail are most frequently parts of other types of abuse or an introduction to abuse. Marko blackmails Maja that she must never tell anyone that he had been visiting her. Stronger boys threaten younger boys that they will abuse them.

• Sexual abuse:

o Sexual harassment.

o Touching, putting a child in one’s lap.

o Rape.

Sexual abuse was considered by the respon-dents to be what Marko was doing to Maja, as well as rape. Sexual harassment is in fact the fi rst step to sexual abuse. Only one group main-tained that sexual abuse was a type of physical abuse and not a separate category.

• Neglect:

o Lack of attention.

o Depriving of parental love.

o Differing love of parents towards their children.

These categories were included at a later stage during the drafting of the report. Neglect was ne-ver the expression used, although certain actions that were described evidently represented types of neglect.

• War violence:

o Children are physically and sexually a bused in war.

War violence was especially mentioned in Ra-ška, although war violence, as a type of mass violence, was mentioned in other settings.

• Peer abuse:

o Mistreatment of the weak by the strong.

o Pressure from peers to try drugs, alcohol.

Peer abuse was also never used as an expression by the participants. This category was later includ-ed as a number of examples that had been given were related to peer mistreatment (such as the fi rst story). The impression emerged that peer violence was already being accepted as an everyday occur-rence in some settings, which was why the groups did not believe it to be special enough to be consi-dered a separate type of abuse.

On the other hand, it was interesting that chil-dren and young people believed peer pressure to start with risk behaviour and «being drawn into bad company» were types of abuse.

• Abuse by teachers or professors

Each group listed various types of mental and even physical violence by teachers or professors against children. This type of violence will be processed in more detail in the Chapter Who are the abusers.


ABUSE VS. VIOLENCE

It was of interest to see whether the respondents could make a difference between the term and the occurrence of abuse and violence. This question was posed after the discussion that followed the story about family violence. The objective was to see whether the participants made a difference be-tween child abuse and violence against a mother.

Almost every group had a different «defi nition» of violence. Abuse was defi ned in a more similar way by the groups. Several «theses» appeared in expla-nations regarding the difference between violence and abuse. Table 3 presents the identifi ed differ-ences and similarities between violence and abuse. A more detailed description follows.

1. Violence is Physical, Abuse is Mental

This opinion was predominant. The majority of answers in Tutin, Priboj, Nova Varos, Novi Pazar and Raska were related to the following defi niti-on of violence:

• Violence is physical, abuse is mental.

• Violence is a fi st fi ght among parents and children, among friends.

• Physical abuse on the street.

• Violence is when one person attacks anoth-er, beats him, provokes him.

• Violence: fi ghts, murder, mistreatment.

• Fight, shouting.

• Violence in the family – physical abuse.

• Violence is physical abuse and it does not have to be committed by somebody known.

Violence looks more physical, while abuse can be something else.”

“Violence is a physical action where the soul also suffers.”

“Abuse is pecking one’s sanity (“kljucanje u zdrav mozak”).”

2. Violence is a More Serious and Extreme Form of Abuse with More Serious Con-sequences

Another frequent answer was (Prijepolje, Tutin, Nova Varoš) that violence could be the same as abuse, only in an extreme form, with more serious consequences:

• It is the same as abuse.

• Violence is a type of abuse – both physical and mental.

• Abuse is not as severe as violence.

• Violence is more severe than abuse.

• Violence is more serious and more severe (war, physical violence).

• Violence is killing.

• Violence ends in the murder of people.

• Violence is a quick murder and leaves more serious consequences than abuse.

• The goal of violence is to ensure that a person disappears.

3. Violence is Swift, Abuse is Long-lasting

Violence can be committed by unknown indivi-duals, without any reason, without «premeditation»

VIOLENCE ABUSE

Physical Mental

More serious, more extreme Milder

Quick Continuous

Against a group Against an individual

Between two equal sides The stronger abuses the weaker

Sexual Sexual

«By force»

Table 3: Differences between violence and abuse


and without a preconceived aim of seeing the vic-tim suffering. On the other hand, abuse has the goal of watching the person suffer for a long period of time. It is committed by somebody who is close to the victim (although not always), who «enjoys» infl icting suffering on the victim. Particularly the group of children from Nova Varos devoted excep-tional time to this explanation:

• Abuse must always have «an introduction», a reason, while violence does not.

• Abuse does not have the aim to destroy, but to provoke suffering, humiliation.

• Violence can be committed by an unknown person, abuse can be both physical and men-tal and can be committed by a known person.

• Abuse is committed in a family.

• A boy and a girl - abuse.

4. Violence is an Act Against a Larger Number of People, Abuse is Commit-ted Against an Individual

A number of participants linked the word «violen-ce» with massive attacks, and the word «abuse» with the jeopardising of an individual. These an-swers were presented in Sjenica and Nova Varos.

• Violence is a broader concept, it is committed against a larger number of people, it is more serious (war, physical violence).

• Violence is against a group of people, while abuse is a type of violence against an individual.

• Violence is the traffi cking of human beings.

5. Violence is a Confrontation Between Two Equal Sides, Abuse is Committed by the Strong Against the Weak

Only one participant in Novi Pazar gave this interpretation that seems to be the closest to the scientifi c interpretation of the difference be-tween violence and abuse.

“Two sides confront each other in violence, while abuse is when pressure – coercion is used by the stronger over the weaker.”

6. Abuse is Sexual

Several groups (Sjenica, Raška) believed abuse to primarily mean sexual abuse, as opposed to

violence that was believed to mean physical abuse. These were the fi rst thoughts that came to mind when they heard the word abuse:

• Abuse is sexual exploitation.

• Abuse is sexual violence.

• Rape.

7. Violence is Sexual Abuse

However, a contrary view existed. Three groups (Sjenica, Prijepolje, Novi Pazar) had answers where violence was characterised as sexual a buse. This answer partly corresponded to the one where violence was the most extreme form of abuse with serious consequences.

• Violence is sexual exploitation of young peo-ple.

• Rape.

• Sexual violence.

8. Violence is coercion

Due to the origin of the word violence in Serbian («by force»), a smaller number of participants (Prijepolje, Raška) believed that violence repre-sented coercion, forcing to do something against one’s wish. A number of examples given were related to coercion of children by parents to make certain decisions:

• Violence is when you do something against your wish.

• Coercion.

• Persecution.

• When you are forced to do something.

“Violence is when a person is for-ced to enrol into music school al-though he would like to be a sports-man.”

“Violation of my privacy (reading my diary) is violence.”

As a matter of fact, individual and opposed views emerged for each of the fi rst seven groups of answers. This leads to the conclusion that there is no unifi ed perception of violence and abuse and that for the majority these two expressions were very similar, except that violence was something much more sinister.


FREQUENCY OF CHILD ABUSEFREQUENCY OF CHILD ABUSE

Following the identifi cation and classifi cation of child abuse, the participants were asked to pre-sent their view on the frequency of child abuse in their setting and to list the most frequent types of abuse.

The respondents believed that mental (moral) abuse was the most frequent type, followed by physical abuse, while sexual abuse was some-what less frequent.

Mental,” it cannot be seen but hurts the most.”An opinion appeared in one group that sexual was the most frequent when girls were in que-stion and physical when boys were in question. Again the opinion emerged in several groups that physical and mental were frequently insepa-rable, so their frequency was interlinked.

Regarding frequency, the majority of participants believed that every child had at least once been a victim of physical or mental abuse:

• Every child had at least once been a victim of abuse.

• Every child had at least once been thrashed.

When speaking about the different types of the most frequent abuse, i.e., mental abuse, every child experiences it:

• Every child –deprived of freedom (unanimou-sly).

• Every child experiences mental abuse.

When speaking about abuse in general, including all the types of abuse, the most frequent answer was that every second child had experienced abuse, or 50% of the children. There were opin-ions in a smaller part of the groups that this per-centage was more than 70%. There were also opinions in two groups that the percentage was smaller, that only every third child had experien-ced abuse.

Regarding more serious types of abuse, primarily physical, the frequency is lower. The majority answered that every tenth child was physically abused. A smaller number of respondents be-lieved that every fi fth to seventh child had been physically abused. An individual opinion in one group was that every tenth child experienced severe abuse.

The answer to this question in four groups was that the number of children abused was unknown because it was something that people did not speak about:

• There are a lot of children.

• Many more children than we believe.

“We do not know what is happening because nobody speaks about it.”

DENIAL OF ABUSE

The impression is that a certain number of partic-ipants in almost every group, and in some gro-ups the majority, did not accept that child abuse was happening around them, or that it could also be their problem. During the discussion fol-lowing the reading of the stories, or during the discussion on the frequency and types of abuse, several kinds of «defensive» answers emerged.

The most explicit answer in that sense was that «such cases» (such as those related in the sto-ries) did not exist in their milieu. This was espe-cially related to the more serious types of abuse – domestic violence:

• It never happens.

• Such things do not happen here.

• Our town is peaceful and we all have good relations.

The second type of «running away» from such events was the placing of these events in other locations or other social categories:

• The Roma abuse their children more frequently.

or:

• There is less abuse here than in the Western world.

• There is more violence in larger towns.

• People know each other in smaller towns and do not wish to hurt each other.

The third way of denying the existence of this prob-lem was to lessen the signifi cance of their conse-quences. After hearing the stories, the following were the answers to the question what bad things were happening and was it abuse:

• A rap on the head with a fi nger (čvrga) is not really abuse (Peer violence).

• This is not abuse. In order for somebody to


abuse you he has to mistreat you (Peer vio-lence).

• Nenad is under stress (but not abuse, Domes-tic violence).

• This is not sexual abuse; they are acts of inde-cency, fi rst step to abuse (Sexual abuse).

• He abuses Maja slightly (Sexual abuse).

At the end of one focus group discussion, one of the participants admitted:

“It is easy to speak about violence being committed somewhere far away, when it does not have any-thing to do with us and when it is not happening to us. It is diffi cult to speak about violence when it is happening in our family.”

CAUSES OF VIOLENCECAUSES OF VIOLENCE

During the talks with participants an attempt was made to fi nd out why abuse was being committed, why it was happening.

PEER VIOLENCE

It was already mentioned previously that a large number of answers to what bad things were hap-pening to Elvis, ended in a justifi cation of Dino’s actions. The most similar, almost unanimous an-swers in all the groups were in fact reached over this question.

In all the groups, the majority believed that Dino was jealous of Elvis, i.e., he was envious because Elvis was a good student who had exemplary be-haviour, popular in the crowd. As Dino was not, he was trying to show his strength and power by exercising violence against Elvis:

• Dino is jealous of Elvis.

• Dino wants to show that he is strong.

• Elvis is peaceful and the entire class believes he is better than Dino, which is why Dino wants to change the situation.

• In this way Dino is proving his strength and power.

• Because Dino wants to “conquer territory by force”.

• He wants to show who is the top guy.

Another reason given for Dino’s abuse of Elvis was that he lived in an incomplete family. This is ambiguous on the one hand, Dino nurtures a complex because he does not have a father, he is also jealous because Elvis has both parents. On the other hand, as he has no father his mother cannot «handle» him alone and he is ‘left to the street’, a bad upbringing. Some of the answers that describe this reason for Dino’s behaviour were:

• Dino does not have a complete family, he is ‘left to the street’.

• He is spoiled.

• Dino does not have a parent and in this way he is attempting to forget that defi ciency.

• He is curing his complexes (“leči komplekse”).

• Dino has no father, he vents his anger on Elvis.

• Dino’s mother did not take any action to change his behaviour.

• He has no father, his mother cannot control him.

• Parents cannot manage some children.

• Possibly parents have no understanding for boys.

The participants maintained the impression that the fact that Dino was living alone with his mother me-ant that she was not able (did not have the time to achieve) to provide an upbringing on her own and to provide her child with everything that he need-ed. Meaning that Dino was neglected:

• Children are not born evil, he was probably neglected and insuffi ciently brought up

• Because he lives with his mother, not e nough attention is devoted to him.

• Dino has problems, lack of attention in his family.

Furthermore, (despite this not being mentioned in the story) the participants reached the conclusion that Dino was behaving the way he was because he had been abused by his father, which was pos-sibly the reason why the parents were now sepa-rated (there is no mention about a divorce in the story) or that his mother was abusing him because she was nervous due to poverty and being unable to achieve everything:

• Dino is angry at somebody else and he vents it on Elvis.

• Dino has a defence mechanism.


• He himself is mistreated and abused at home.

• Lack of love, because of the divorce, maybe he himself had previously been abused.

Dino learned to resolve problems only in such a way, and he is applying it on Elvis:

• Maybe problems are resolved that way in Dino’s family.

• The way they treat Dino at home, is the same as the way he behaves in school.

• Because of the nervousness and aggressive-ness of adults whose model of behaviour is adopted by some children and young people.

Nevertheless, when asked whether all children who only have one parent behave like Dino, the answer was negative:

• Not all children are like Dino, some are hap-pier than those who have both parents.

• I have a friend who lives alone with his moth er and he is always happy and laughing.

And why does Dino abuse Elvis and nobody else? Because Elvis is physically weaker than Dino and is not used to confl icts.

• This is a classic situation where the stronger and older assaults the younger and weaker.

• It seems like the strong rule over the weak.

• Because Elvis is small and weak.

• Those who do not know how to defend themselves are abused.

• Because Elvis is placid, if he were different he would have resisted.

“RIFFRAFF pressuring those that are younger and they have to put up with it.”

“Why don’t you pick on somebody that is your equal?”

A smaller number of participants believed that Dino’s character (hereditary trait) was infl u-encing his violent behaviour.

• The family is the primary factor that infl u-ences behaviour, but character is also pas-sed down from generation to generation

• Heredity, a character trait.

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

On domestic violence, the participants of most of the groups believed that alcohol was the main «culprit» for the occurrence of violence:

• The father shows anger because of alcohol

• Because of alcohol, the father is not con-scious that he is hurting them.

However, they also believe that such abuse ex-ists in families where there is no alcoholism:

• If the father were not an alcoholic, it might be better, or it might not.

• Violence can happen in families where the father is not an alcoholic.

• Alcohol is the cause in the majority of ca-ses, although there are people who are not alcoholics, who also abuse their families

Other possible reasons for the father’s violent behaviour were also given. Here again emerged the belief that a person who had been a victim of violence in his childhood can transmit such behaviour to his own family.

• Nenad’s father had probably been abused in his childhood by his family and now he has carried it over to Nenad and his own wife

• Such behaviour can happen if somebody is nervous, poor, has problems at work or is dissatisfi ed with his life.

SEXUAL ABUSE

When speaking of sexual abuse, the fi rst reactions after the story was read were two-folded. The participants of the majority of groups believed that Marko was abusing Maja because he was mentally ill, a paedophile. Such an interpretation was predo-minant in Novi Pazar and Raska:

• That is not the normal behaviour of a grown up.

• I believe he is ill.

• Marko has a mental problem, he is probably a paedophile

“That person is not normal, some-thing happened to him and instead of fi nding somebody of his own age for consolation, he found a girl who goes to sixth grade to be his girlfriend.”


The second group of reactions was related to the presumption that Marko was probably not married (it was not specifi ed in the story) and was sex starved so that he found “consolation” with Maja:

• The main problem lies with Marko, he is prob-ably sex-starved.

Both cases formed the impression that it was diffi -cult for the participants to believe that a «normal» person could do something like that because he had power over the child. They had the need to fi nd some justifi cation for such behaviour, or to place it in the sphere of abnormal.

GENERAL CAUSES OF ABUSE

Following the discussion about all three stories the talk continued on child abuse in general. Again the question was posed to the participants why some people abused children. The answers can be classi-fi ed into several groups:

People abuse children because they are physically stronger. This reason was also given in peer vio-lence

• Stronger, bigger, nobody can touch them be-cause they are strong

Are they only physically strong? Not only that, they also have power over children because they are grown up, they represent authority and/or be-cause children believe them:

• «They can do whatever they want”

• Some people attempt to show how great they are in front of others, proving their pow er and status in the society

• Nobody suspects such people

• They have authority

• They are more powerful than children, they hold a position and nobody can touch them

• Situations occur, for example, because of the abuse of trust (Maja’s case)

“Parents believe: You are my prop-erty and I have the right to do wha-tever I want with you.”

Family problems, bad fi nancial situation, are generators of nervousness. The children are the most vulnerable and “the cart breaks” on them:

• Problems in the family as the reason for child abuse. Children are the youngest and everybody vents their frustration on them

• A bad fi nancial situation causes parents to be nervous and aggressive

When a person lacks love and attention, has a problem, he takes it out on children because they are the weakest:

• If somebody lacks something, that gener-ates aggressive behaviour.

• They feel empty inside and try to compen-sate for it.

• They are jealous.

“Problems caused by other things are cured by abusing those who are weaker.”

The abusers had also been victims of abuse in their childhood.

• They went through that themselves, so now they vent their fury on children.

• They did not have a happy childhood, so they harass children.

“If I was able to endure and there’s nothing wrong with me, so can you.”

Children are abused by mentally ill people:

• The drunk and ill abuse children.

• Those who are not normal abuse children.

Some abusers simply want to hurt children and fi nd «satisfaction» in that:

• To hurt them.

• Because of the hate they feel towards chil-dren.

• They are satisfying themselves.

• Abuse is a method or way in which that person wants to show his current feelings.

JUSTIFICATION OF ABUSE

Is there any justifi cation for violent behaviour? This topic was mostly discussed in the case of peer vio-lence. Although possible reasons exist for Dino’s violent actions, that does not give him the right to abuse those weaker than he is. This position was


maintained by the majority of participants in all the groups. In some groups this position was unani-mous (Priboj, Novi Pazar):

• In no case can it be justifi ed.

• It is not justifi ed, despite having some prob-lems he must be reasonable and not commit violence.

• There is no justifi cation for somebody to be-have badly because he had been abused.

• He should not respond with force, he should talk to somebody about it.

“Everybody should put himself in Elvis’s place to see how he feels.”

Nevertheless, a certain number of participants believed that his behaviour could be justifi ed if he himself had been abused in his family:

• Maybe there are reasons for such behaviour. Abuse in the family could be the justifi cation.

• It is justifi ed because maybe that is the way he learned to communicate.

• Justifi cation exists as he has to «let steam out» somewhere.

• Dino should not be blamed for what is happen-ing.

Only the groups in Raska explicitly expressed as a partly possible justifi cation the possibility that Dino had fi rst been attacked by somebody, i.e., that Dino was taking revenge for something that had been done to him:

• If somebody had attacked him and he was de-fending himself, yes and no (revenge).

• If Dino had been provoked, but on the other hand he would not have been provoked in every school that he had been in.

• Dino felt bad because he was transferred to another school and maybe he should not have been blamed.

There is also a justifi cation if Dino was mentally ill. This explanation was also rarely given:

• It is justifi ed if Dino is not a normal person

It was interesting to fi nd out whether Elvis had in some way provoked or deserved such behaviour. Only a few groups (Prijepolje, Novi Pazar, Nova Va-roš) expressed the opinion that the fact that Elvis did not react had contributed to even greater and longer lasting violence. Elvis should not have shown that he was weaker:

• It is bad that Elvis did not react to the pro-vocations

• Elvis lacks courage.

• Those who can fi ght back are not victims.

• Those who do not know how to defend themselves are abused.

• Elvis is too placid, if he had been different he would have resisted.

“Elvis is “guilty” because of his at-titude in the crowd, frail and small, shy, he should have been more open and relaxed and adapted to the setting.”

On domestic violence, there was no dilemma. Nenad was not guilty in any way for what was happening to him, nor was there any justifi ca-tion for his father’s behaviour.

On sexual abuse, the majority believed that Mar-ko’s behaviour had no justifi cation. A grown up man must not do that to a little girl:

• He should not be allowed to do that.

• Nobody should dare say that to a small girl.

However, there were also views that Maja, the same as Elvis, contributed to the abuse by not reporting it to anybody:

• Maybe she did because she never told any-body about it, from the day it started.

SIGNS AND SIGNS AND CONSEQUENCES OF ABUSE CONSEQUENCES OF ABUSE

SIGNS

The participants presented an extremely large number of possible consequences and signs of child abuse. Nevertheless, all of them can be grouped into a fi nal number of categories that were being repeated in every group.

How to recognize a child who is suffering abuse, what are the signs? Consensus was almost pre-sent in all the groups that there was a change in behaviour.

This change was primarily manifested (the ma-jority of answers in all the groups) by withdraw-ing, becoming incommunicative


• The child is incommunicative, quieter, taciturn

• Avoids reality.

• Becomes self-suffi cient.

• Stops playing with friends.

• When invited by a friend to go somewhere, he declines.

• Does not play with anybody, avoids friends.

The child also becomes afraid and suspicious of everybody:

• Afraid.

• Is afraid to go home when he gets a failing grade in school.

• Fears to enter into a confl ict.

• Rarely mentions his private life.

• Becomes silent when the family is mentioned.

• When there is a discussion on mistreatment he becomes incommunicative.

• Maybe he changes topic because it is a hurtful issue.

• If related to incest, children are frightened, loos ing faith in people.

• Avoids physical contact.

• Children have no confi dence in others.

• They feel dirty.

• They do not change dress for sports activities in school.

• The presence of the perpetrator can be evi-dent by the anxiety level of the victim.

If abused, the child frequently begins to get lower grades in school:

• Before he was a good student, now he does not communicate with others.

• Starts getting lower grades in school.

• Plays truant.

The child can become aggressive towards others, those that are weaker:

• If somebody at home acts badly towards him, then he insults others.

• He becomes violent towards others.

• Aggressiveness.

• Abuse of peers.

• Murder.

The child can also become aggressive to itself:

• Suicide and attempted suicide.

• Contemplation about suicide.

• Self-harm.

“Wishes to perish as quickly as pos-sible!”

May begin indulging in risky behaviour:

• Aptitude towards vices – alcohol, drugs, ciga-rettes.

• Finding new friends that are worse than the old ones.

• Theft.

• Running away from home.

• Sects.

Other changes in behaviour include

• Children are sad.

• Do not listen to anybody any more.

And physical signs can point to child abuse. These are primarily bruises and injuries (mentioned in all the groups) and other types of physical signs:

• Bruises on the body.

• Injuries.

• Babies most frequently have red spots from slaps, pinches and squeezes

• Circles under the eyes from crying.

• Fatigue, exhaustion.

• Physical neglect.

• Illnesses – diabetes.

• Unwanted pregnancy from physical abuse.

However, a child may be suffering abuse even if there are no visible signs.

“It does not have to be noticeable.”

CONSEQUENCES

“Everybody has consequences, some more than others”In addition to the above mentioned signs, where some of them are at the same time consequen-


ces, the participants also identifi ed many other consequences of abuse.

Child abuse leaves long-lasting mental conse-quences - Scars from childhood:

• The child becomes nervous

• Children have nightmares

• Traumas

• Phobias

• Mental disorders

• Loss of reasoning

• May become a serial murderer

• Sick rigidity

• Schizophrenia

“Abuse is not easily forgotten.”

The participants believed that these mental con-sequences were worse than physical ones. Phy-sical consequences can be treated, while mental consequences remain forever. Such a position emerged after every story, as well as in the part of the discussions devoted to abuse in general, several times in every group.

«Words hurt more than roughness.

“Mental violence is worse because it carries fear, produces mental tra-umas and jeopardises one’s health

Loss of self-confi dence starts to occur and the per-son begins to believe that he is inferior:

• Without self-confi dence

• Believes that he is the one that is bad, that the problem lies with him, that he is to be blamed

These mental consequences lead to deranged rela-tions among people:

• Badly adapted

• Fear of company – cannot fi t in

• Loss of self-esteem

• Loss of confi dence in other people

• Fear of marriage, running away from the known

• It will be diffi cult to start a family, or will not start the family at all

Abuse, especially if discovered, may also have so-cial consequences:

• Maja will be “marked” and will not be able to get married

• Abuse destroys the family

“Nenad loved his father, but since he started beating him that love has disappeared.”

A person who had been abused in childhood will most probably carry over such behaviour to his setting, later to his family and will be an abuser. This position emerged in all groups and after every story, as well as in the discussions about conseq-uences:

• The chain of violence continues

• Saw it, learned “a bad example”

• It might carry over to him, “heredity”

• Carrying over such behaviour to his child

• He will abuse other children or later his own family

• They probably abused him (Marko) too, so he is not normal

“Violence produces violence.”

However, this attitude was always accompanied by an opposite one - the hope that because the victim had suffered abuse he will behave nicely towards his own family when he grows up. There were less of such opinions:

• The person who had been a victim will be an abuser in his own home, at work or he will try to ensure that his children live in peace – with-out violence

• Nenad may treat his wife the same as his father treated his mother, but he might also amend the mistake his father had made

• They try to start from scratch, forget abuse, help others

Abuse may also have physical consequences:

• Physical injuries

• Injuries to the head: mental consequences

• May remain a permanent invalid

• Murder or attempted murder

• Suicide

• The consequence of abusing pregnant women may have consequences on the baby


“Long-lasting abuse may end in death, suicide or leave long-lasting consequences.”

WHO ARE THE ABUSERSWHO ARE THE ABUSERS

What kind of people abuse children? The a busers are those who are older, stronger, who have power over children, whom children trust and from whom they least expect it. Some of them are psychopaths, ill people.

“Those people who know you and from whom you least expect it.”

Unfortunately, we do not know who is and who is not an abuser because we cannot always re-cognize them.

“They are usually more pleasant towards other people than the ave-rage person.”

Children and young people identifi ed the follow-ing persons as abusers (in order of frequency):

1. Older persons, older people in general

2. Parents, mostly fathers

“The father commits violence in the family.”

3. Teachers or professors

4. Peers, friends

5. Older brothers, less frequently sisters

“In the family the oldest brother or “the only son” commits violence.”

6. Males, boys in general

7. Boyfriend

8. Neighbour

9. Health practitioners

10.Strangers

PARENTS AS ABUSERS

Parents are mentioned most frequently as a busers. The greatest problem with parents is that they have no understanding for young people and chil-

dren, they restrict their going out (especially to girls), they do not support their children and make decisions in their names. They force their children to do things that they do not want to do.

They have no confi dence in their children and are constantly checking and “spying” on them:

• Do you smoke cigarettes, drink alcohol?

• Who are your friends?

Parents use punishments such as banning chil-dren from going out. Frequently they deprive them of the things they like (e.g. cell phones).

“You return home fi ve minutes late and cannot go out the whole next week.”

In some families fathers physically abuse their children and the entire family. Usually nobody speaks about this because of the disgrace.

Parents believe:” You are my pro-perty and I have the right to do whatever I want with you.”Some parents take revenge on other children be-cause of quarrels with their parents. TEACHERSf AS ABUSERS

A signifi cant part of the discussions in almost eve-ry group was related to the various types of abuse by teachers or professors. In some groups, the participants immediately pointed out in the introdu-ctory part of the talks that one of the biggest pro-blems youth has is abuse by professors. In groups where this was not spontaneously mentioned, when asked whether it existed, the participants numbered a variety of actions which they deemed to be abuse. However, they said that such hap-penings are so frequent that they have become insensitive to them and consider them as the fate of students.

The majority of described happenings fi t into men-tal abuse. Participants most frequently mentioned discrimination by teachers based on who their parents are, their fi nancial situation, religious and national origin and other characteristics. Unrea-listic (unfair) grading is based on this as teachers give higher grades to those from better families or from whose parents they expect the favour to be returned. Or, they blackmail students with grades. This especially represents a problem in Prijepolje, Priboj and Nova Varos.

f The term teacher includes all the teaching personnel in both primary and high schools, i.e, teachers and professors.


• Unrealistic grading.

• Stinting grades.

• Draw distinction among children - discriminati-on.

• Provocations because of religious differences.

• Insult poor children “ This is no place for a brat”

• Unruly or restless children are impaired by low-er grades, take revenge on them.

• Some children receive more attention, are sent to competitions, are in favour.

• Children of doctors are privileged.

• Blackmail of students - «a favour for a grade”.

“My friend’s father works in the school and the teachers just ask him “What grade would you like?”

The second group of frequent answers was related to verbal abuse, i.e., insults and humiliation by teach ers. This problem was raised in almost all the groups:

• Teachers show contempt towards students.

• Teachers ignore students.

• Insults, humiliation.

• Provocations.

• Calling students pejorative names: “donkey, animal”.

• “You are stupid” or “ You shouldn’t think”.

• Mentioning the students’ families while swea-ring at them.

• Comments on how we look, which we don’t like.

• Force us to play the role of a dunce in the cor-ner, or to leave the class.

• Certain teachers forbid certain styles of dress

“Professors insult and destroy self-esteem (“ubijaju u pojam”) though I know I am right.”Teachers physically abuse students (!)

• Raps on the head with a fi nger (čvrge).

• Slaps.

• Punches.

• They give them the “stick” (“šipke” – hits with the hand or the stick on the palms) if they are not ready for class

Teachers also commit economic (fi nancial) a buse by giving failing grades and then giving private lessons for money.

Some professors deprive students of their right to attend lessons by sending them out to buy them cigarettes.

Teachers can sexually abuse female students. Several groups gave such examples from their milieu.

Putting one to shame here, the same as with peer violence, is a factor that contributes to abuse and makes the consequences even more serious. In addition to being hurt, the child is additionally put to shame in front of the entire class by the insult or blow. This creates the opportunity for his friends later to provoke and insult because of what had happened to him.

“It is abuse when somebody insults us in front of everybody.”

An attempt was made together with the partici-pants to comprehend why teachers were doing this to children. The majority believed that the teachers were venting their anger on children for the problems they have either in the family or with their superiors at work. Again the mecha-nism of “venting fury” on somebody who is weak-er and over whom one has power is evident:

• This way they discipline children – introduc-ing a reign of terror.

• They bring their problems to school.

• Problems with parents they solve through children.

• They had gone through this themselves, now they are venting their fury on children.

• They are stronger then children.

“If a teacher gets riled at home, he vents his fury on students.”

RISK FACTORSRISK FACTORS

It was of interest to fi nd out whether some characteristics of children, abusers or cer tain situations put children under special risk of abuse. That is, are some children at greater risk


than others and why? There were a number of answers, in which the factors that contributed to child abuse were divided into several groups: characteristics of the victim, characteristics of the abuser, family situation and situation in the society. Two social factors were separately proc-essed: gender and the attitude of the society towards children.

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE VICTIM

Several characteristics of the child place him at a higher risk of abuse. Primarily, it is age. The respondents believed that in general the rule ap-plied, that younger children were at greater risk. In one group they believed that very small chil-dren going to kindergarten were at less risk than primary school children.

• Younger children are at greater risk than old-er children (weaker, careless).

• Children in kindergarten are at lower risk of being abused.

Of course, this risk differs in relation to the type of abuse and the abusers. Abuse by peers and teachers poses the greatest risk for children in primary school, going from 5th to 8th grade. In high school, peer quarrels are not resolved by violence as these young people have grown up and have become more reasonable. Professors also consider them as grown up people, are a fraid of their reactions and abuse them less.

• The 5th to 8th grade age group has the greatest problem with abuse.

• Peer violence is more common in primary than in high school.

The rule for family abuse is: the younger one is the greater the risk. Older children can hit back, and there is more respect of their opinion.

• Younger children in the family.

• Younger children are more prone to abuse.

Age is linked to the next factor, i.e., physical strength. Physically weaker, smaller children are at greater risk of abuse. Also, they are shy, withdrawn, peaceful, and they do not fi ghtback. Not only do they not fi ghtback directly, but they are not capable of seeking help from others:

• Weaker and more peaceful.

• Weak, shorter, underdeveloped children.

• Shy, withdrawn children.

• Weak individuals have no strength, means or capability to address this with the autho-rities.

Bad grades in school pose a risk for verbal in-sults and physical punishment by parents and teachers. So, bad pupils are abused more. This becomes a vicious circle, where the children are abused because of bad grades, and then their grades worsen gradually because they are a bused and that creates repulsion towards studying.

A large number of answers in all the groups was related to differences, diversity. If the child was in any way different from the majority, automa-tically it was at greater risk of abuse. The diver-sity can be related to national, religious or racial origin; arrival to a new setting, from a rural envi-ronment to a town (a frequent answer); physical impairment, handicap or illness:

• Because of nationality, religion or race.

• National minorities (are abused) by the society.

• If he is a newcomer.

• Rejected children.

• Because of the way he looks, physically chal-lenged, with defi ciencies.

• Children with special needs.

• Ill children suffer greater violence, rarely fi nd true friends.

• Children who have failed grades in school. .

“Parents of children with disabiliti-es feel ashamed, give children for adoption, especially if they are a prominent family.”

“If you become disabled from abuse, they can subject you to ridicule and abuse you even more in the cro-wd.”

“If you are in minority, if you are different, you are at greater risk.”

Only two groups (Sjenica, Priboj) mentioned that children who live in homes for children without parental care are at greater risk than children living with their families. This is related to all three types of abuse, especially sexual abuse. In general, the participants did not give much thought to children without parents.


• Children from a children’s home

• Children from children’s home fi nd it more dif-fi cult to socialize and fi nd friends

• Sexual abuse: It happens in children’s homes, teachers, wardens, this also happens in spe-cialised institutions for children with disabilities

CHARACTERISTICS OF ABUSERS

Individual characteristics of adults are infl uential to some of them being more prone to child abuse.

Speaking about education (of parents), opinions were divided. The majority believed that less edu-cated individuals, for lack of knowledge, patriarchal origins and mainly poor background, more frequen-tly abused their children physically. In that sense, higher education represents a protective factor:

• Educated individuals abuse children less be-cause they know that with words much more can be achieved.

• Lack of culture and respect of children, may or may not depend on education.

• Uneducated individuals have a different view towards abuse.

• When somebody completes school he knows more and knows that he should not beat chil-dren.

Individuals with higher education can abuse chil-dren mentally, forcing them to study and forcing their will on them when deciding on a future pro-fession.

• Educated parents exert more pressure on chil-dren to study.

• Educated parents may deny children the pos-sibility of choice, abuse them in that way.

A number of participants believed that education does not have to have an infl uence on the risk of abuse.

• The level of education of parents is irrelevant to risk.

The abuse of alcohol and drugs leads to that per-son abusing children. This is primarily related to insults and physical abuse. These answers were more frequent in Tutin, Sjenica and Raska.

• Alcoholics abuse more.

• When somebody is drunk, he beats his chil-dren more.

• Drunk, drug addict.

It was diffi cult to determine whether alcohol was the cause or a risk factor of abuse. However, dur-ing the discussions it emerged that individuals who were not alcoholics also abused children and this led to the conclusion that the participants believed alcohol to be a risk factor.

In several groups the opinion appeared again that previous experience of abuse was a risk factor for violent behaviour. Here a distinction was made that the risk factor was experience of war violence, not child abuse:

• Consequence of wars.

• If the father had fought in the war, he can be an abuser later.

The groups in Sjenica said that mental illness was a risk factor for abuse.

Heredity was mentioned as a risk factor only in one group in Raska.

FAMILY CHARACTERISTICS

Certain family characteristics, or the circumstan-ces in which the family live can contribute to child abuse within the family.

Poverty is the factor that was most frequently mentioned as a risk factor for abuse. For family violence the mechanism is simple: poverty ge-nerates nervousness and aggressiveness among adults, and they vent their anger on children be-cause they are the weakest:

• Bad fi nancial situation infl uences abuse beca-use it provokes nervousness and aggression in parents.

• Children from poor families are abused more as there are quarrels because of money and they are blamed.

• It happens more frequently in poor families because the parents are depressive.

• A diffi cult fi nancial situation can generate violence.

In one group gambling had been mentioned as the cause of abuse and neglect:

• Gamblers deprive their family of money and abuse them in that way.

Poverty is a risk factor for abuse (insults, haras-sment) by teachers and peers:

• Poorer children suffer mistreatment.


• Insulting and humiliation of poor children, no-body plays with them

“A poor boy is guilty even when he is really not to be blamed. “

However, poverty does not have to be the deci-sive factor. Abuse happens in wealthy families as well:

• The rich also have children and they abuse them.

• Wealthy families abuse also.

Sometimes wealthier children can be at greater risk because they provoke the jealousy of their peers

• A rich child can be abused more than others in school because of jealousy.

However, the rich can also abuse the poor becau-se they have power

• The rich abuse the poor.

• Children who have more money use drugs more frequently.

• “High society” demands money in order to obtain entry.

“The wealthy consider themselves better because they have money and power and think that they can hold them in contempt and abuse them in that way.”

Life with a single parent was explained in detail as a risk factor after the fi rst story. During the discussions about the risk factor this answer ap-peared again:

If there is only one parent, they do not have enough time to devote to the child’s upbringing”

CHARACTERISTICS OF ENVIRONMENT

Certain characteristics of the community or the entire society contribute to child abuse.

Abuse happens more frequently in larger towns than in smaller communities. Some groups led extensive discussions about the possible reasons. People in big towns have become alienated, do not know each other and do not care about each other. People in smaller communities who know

each other do not want to infl ict harm to those they know. Furthermore, everybody would im-mediately learn about it.

• There is more violence in larger towns than in smaller communities.

• People in larger towns are less socially inte-grated.

• Physical violence most frequently happens between people who do not know each oth-er.

• In smaller communities people know each other and do not want to hurt each other.

• In smaller towns everybody knows what is happening.

Several groups mentioned that abuse was more frequent in Roma communities:

• The Roma abuse their children because they force them to beg

• Roma children are victims more frequently

“Roma children suffer humiliation, other children hate and ignore them and then they have a bad opinion of themselves.”

If children fall into bad company there is a risk that they can become victims of abuse. It should be remembered that the respondents also belie-ved inducing a person to try drugs to be abuse.

• If children fall into bad company, that is an introduction to abuse

• When they are in a crowd: drugs, cigarettes, alcohol

It was interesting that one group mentioned ‘instigation by the group’ as a factor that contrib-utes to abuse. If the majority laughs when one person shames another, that person will repeat such behaviour. This is especially related to peer violence and abuse by teachers.

• Such children want to be the centre of atten-tion: when he does something like that he turns around to see whether the rest of us are laughing

• If the group don’t encourage him, Dino will not do that as frequently

It is important that the majority of groups conclu-ded that there is no rule. There are risk factors,


but anybody can be the victim of abuse no mat-ter what their characteristics and situation are.

• There are no rules, anybody can be abused.

• Violence can happen to anyone.

• It is irrelevant whether the child lives in a fa-mily or not, we can never be certain when it will happen.

• Children are in more danger than adults, but it does not have to mean anything because nobody is safe today.

GENDER ROLES

At the very beginning of the discussions the older groups in Sjenica, Prijepolje and Priboj mentioned the inequality between girls and boys in relation to the way their parents treated them. A greater restriction on going out and control over behav-iour that parents use with girls more than with boys was expressed as one of the basic problems for children and young people. This was the opin-ion of both male and female participants of these focus groups.

Several other groups mentioned gender as a risk factor - girls were at greater risk.

Subsequent to discussions about the general risk factors, the talks continued about who was at greater risk, girls or boys, and why. Furthermore, it was also of interest to fi nd out how much and in which way, gender stereotypes and inequality between boys and girls infl uence the occur rence of abuse. The participants disclosed several aspects to this issue:

The vast majority in all the groups (in some groups unanimously) believed that young girls were at greater risk, primarily in the family but also in the society. Girls were at greater risk than boys fi rst of all in the family:

• Girls, both in the family and in the society (unanimously)

• Girls are at greater risk at home because of their patriarchal upbringing

• Women suffer more abuse in the family

When girls go out with the crowd they are in great er danger of sexual abuse. Only a few groups believed there was a possibility of boys being sex-ually abused too.

• In a crowd the girls are more sexually jeopard-ized

• Sexual abuse is mainly linked to girls.

• They put something in the girls’ drinks and they do whatever they want with them – and they return home pregnant.

“Girls have to earn money through prostitution because they cannot work like boys in a warehouse, for example.”

In two groups (Tutin - males, Prijepolje-mixed) the opinion was expressed that boys were at greater risk in the crowd, among peers

• Boys in the crowd.

• Girls sexually, other types of risk – boys.

Individuals in several groups believed that there are no rules, i.e., girls and boys were equally at risk:

• Equally (one participant).

• There are no rules.

• There is not much difference.

Several reasons were given as to why girls were at greater risk. The fi rst reason that was always mentioned was that girls were physically weaker and thus offered less resistance. Some groups gave only that explanation, while others men-tioned:

• Girls are physically weaker and offer less resistance.

• Girls cannot defend themselves.

• They have a gentler physical constitution.

• Males are stronger, more courageous and can endure more.

Girls are also brought up to be non-violent, sub-missive:

• Girls are less violent and it is easier to abu-se them, it is diffi cult for them to offer resis-tance to violence.

• Girls are also better mannered and do not swear.

• Girls defend themselves less, they are quiet and go out less.

• Tighter fi t of the mould for “good girls” than for boys.

• Girls, because of their upbringing, and they have to be pretty, obedient and housewives.


However, girls are also naive. This answer was infrequent.

• Girls are submissive, it is easier to attract them.

• Girls are naïve, they will fall for anything.

The logical answer: girls are victims because men/boys are abusers. This answer was given in several groups:

• Men abuse more frequently.

• Boys abuse girls.

• Boys «heckle» girls in the street.

• Men also abuse each other.

Men are abusers, because everything is permit-ted to them. There are no strict “yardsticks” for them like there are for girls

• Everything can be forgiven to men.

• Men are mentally superior.

“Men think everything is permitted to them.”

How does the different upbringing of boys and girls infl uence the fact that girls are at greater risk of abuse? Parents prefer to have male children:

• Parents value male children more than female (“A son has been born”).

• Maybe some fathers do not like the fact that they have become a father to a baby girl.

• They wish a son had been born.

• Parents can ‘create a difference’ when the yo-ungest child is a son.

• The son is the heir.

Thus, boys are favoured. There is no prohibition for boys, everything is forgiven to them. Their views are taken into greater consideration; greater confi -dence is placed in them.

• Parents give in to sons, and they become un-ruly and spoiled.

• Everything is allowed to men.

• They trust boys more.

• They have everything for boys, and girls get what is left over.

• They give everything to the boy and the girls is left out .

“Parents give in to boys, as if we are stupid, they keep intimidating us that all sorts of things will hap-pen to us.”

“My brother brings his girl home, while I don’t even dare mention that I have a boyfriend.”

”I am equal, but less than my broth-er.”

Girls are brought up to be obedient and not to resist. They must work in the house. If they do not do something well they are rebuked and insulted. Parents can create an inferiority com-plex in their daughters with rebukes and haras-sment. Such abuse, both mental and physical, can last until she marries and leaves the house.

• Girls’ upbringing is more focused on them being nice, withdrawn and quiet.

• Girls have a strict upbringing; going out, especially with boys, is restricted.

• Boys have no problems with going out while girls have a time restriction.

• Girls work more in the house.

• Boys get everything served, while girls have to prepare everything for themselves (food), girls have to clean the house and their par-ents get angry with them

• Girls are harassed if they do not do someth-ing well

“Girls are blamed for everything that is not good.”

Does the situation change through history? Yes, but very slowly. Nevertheless, the difference be-tween children is growing smaller lately.

How does the position of the society in general contribute to greater abuse of girls? The society expects girls to be obedient and hardworking:

“Not every girl is viewed in the same way. For us (milieu) a good girl is the one who studies well, who is respectable, obedient, pret-ty, of good heredity.”


“Another thing that is always regis-tered is with how many boys the girl went out, how many boyfriends she had.”

However, if a girl is pretty, attractive to all, it can automatically mean that she is accessible to everybody. Then she is viewed as an «easy» girl:

“Sometimes a pretty girl is viewed differently – she’s a loiterer.”

“She’s the talk of the town’’ – they are more exposed to violence.”

“Remarks from the setting are especially bothersome when related to girls.”

It is always monitored how long girls stayed in town, with who they go out, who walks or dri-ves them home. Afterwards these details spread around. If they come home late, that means they are “easy girls” and offer themselves to boys who stay out late.

“ After midnight only gangs and rif-fraff remain in the streets”

“Girls seen in the streets after mid-night are “birds” who are “free”.”There are no such moulds for the behaviour of boys. They are not rebuked if they come home late, or if they have girlfriends who are consid-ered to be easy girls. On the contrary, they are encouraged to maintain macho behaviour:

• Men have more rights than women.

• Males are brought up in such a way, that they commit violence to feel superior.

• Such an attitude contributes to violence against women.

ATTITUDES OF SOCIETY TOWARDS CHILDREN

How do the attitudes of adults towards children and young people infl uence the occurrence of abuse of children and young people. Are children respected or belittled?

The participants believed that adults primarily have a negative opinion of children and young people. Adults consider younger people and children to be:

• Frivolous.

• Irresponsible.

• Disobedient.

• Rebels.

• Immature.

Some adults openly show intolerance towards children and young people:

• Adults say children are unruly if they play with a ball.

• They shout in the street if children play with a ball.

• “You monkeys, get out of here!”

• They spy on young people.

“Older children treat children better than adults.”

Adults consider children to be incapable of fi nish-ing things, of making decisions:

• They think children are incapable of doing anything by themselves.

• Children are not capable enough to do some things.

• Children are small, irrelevant, insolent, have no opinion of their own.

“Adults do not see a personality in us, they call us pejorative names in school and at home they say we are incapable, lazy.”

Furthermore, they have no understanding of the problems children have, they consider them to be less important than the problems adults have. They have no confi dence in children:

• Adults do not respect children and consider their problems to be “inferior”.

• Adults do not understand the needs of young people.

• They do not offer enough support to adoles-cents.


• They do not believe children as they do adults.

“Parents exhaust themselves at work and have no time, understand-ing or “nerves” for the needs of yo-ung people.”

“Lack of confi dence hurts us.”

The participants felt that because of such an at-titude towards children parents have no respect for their opinions and make decisions for them, forcing them to behave in a certain manner. The majority of comments on this topic in all the groups was related to disrespect of the personal-ity and opinion of children and young people by adults:

• Adults mainly do not listen to children.

• They do not respect the child’s opinion.

• They have no respect for children, as for young people – ‘neither here nor there’.

• They respect adults more than they respect children.

• Even when children are right, that is not ho-noured.

• Children cannot make decisions by themsel-ves, instead parents do that for them.

• Children must be obedient, they don’t dare to oppose authority, even when they have their own opinion and when they know they are right.

“You can tell your parents what you think, some listen but some just say: Yours is to study and mine is to think!”

“Professors don’t listen to children, let alone ordinary people.”

“There’s no need for parents to for-ce a child to enrol into something he doesn’t want to enrol in.”

Adults believe children to be their property and that they can do what they like with them, in-cluding beating them as a disciplinary measure. That can be the cause of physical abuse:

• They behave like they have power over chil-dren.

• The mother had a tough time until she gave birth to them and now thinks they are her property.

• Adults have a motto: “spare the rod and spoil the child”.

“The parent says: For as long as I was beating you, you were the best.”

“Parents should not beat us, it would be better to talk more to us.”

In the majority of groups the participants un-animously believed that such attitudes which adults had towards children were signifi cantly contributing to the occurrence of various types of abuse of children and young people. Even the expressing of such attitudes is abuse:

• Contribute (unanimously).

• Patriarchal families abuse children more be-cause in them children have to be obedient without complaint, the development of young people is hampered.

Would the situation change if adults respected children and young people more? In all the groups the participants believed that it would contribute to reduce child abuse:

• Everything would be different.

• There would be no abuse.

• If adults respected children more they wo-uld abuse them less.

• To start talking with children when they are small contributes to end abuse.

• Adults should talk with children as much as possible.

• Beating children won’t achieve anything.

• If they respect us, we will respect them.

• If adults were to give in to children, we would do more for them.

“If adults listened more to children there would be less abuse, more understanding.”


“More respect, less abuse.”

There are other attitudes, in addition to those that adults have towards children that lead to child abuse. In some groups individual particip-ants reminded us that having an infl uence on the attitude of adults, in itself does not necessarily result in reduced abuse in all the cases.

Do attitudes of adults change in time, does this generation of children and young people have an easier time than previous generations? Here the answers were divided. Some groups were pes-simistic about these issues (Sjenica, Prijepolje). They believed the situation was not changing, that it was «canned»:

• Parents worry too much.

• Adults hold power.

• Young people cannot do anything to change that.

• Young people have no one to turn to.

• It is different in other countries.

“Children do not have power.”

In other groups the participants said that even now not all parents behave the same (Novi Pa-zar). The participants can mainly talk with their parents, they respect them. Parents wish their children well:

• Parents wish well.

• They try to behave nicely.

• They treat us the same as adults.

• Most of us can talk with adults.

• Some parents let children do whatever they want, but they watch over them.

They believe that the situation is getting better (Raška), and that there is chance to improve even more in the future.

• That relation is changing.

• Now the younger ones also go out.

TAKING ACTIONTAKING ACTION

REALITY

Why children don’t talk about it

One of the major problems in the prevention of child abuse was defi ned as the diffi culty that chil-dren have in asking for help. This problem was discussed extensively after each story, as well as in the part of the discussions related to possible in-terventions. The answers to these questions were almost identical in all the groups.

If they are suffering abuse (sexual, physical or mental), children primarily feel shame and fear, to a large extent, this prevents them from asking for help.

Maja did not approach her parents because she was afraid that they would not believe her. Be-cause Marko is an adult, a friend of the family, they will believe him before they believe her because adults in general have no confi dence in children and do not value their opinion as they do the opin-ion of adults. This is the main reason why children almost never report abuse. A huge number of an-swers conformed to this opinion:

• She does not dare tell her parents because she is afraid they will not believe her.

• Parents would believe him more because she is a child and he is a serious man.

• It could happen that they would believe Marko more because he is older.

• They would not believe her because Marko is their good friend.

• They might think that he feels love towards her like he would love his own child, and nothing else.

“They believe adults more than they believe children.”“I would believe my child.”

The second fear that children have is that the abuse they or their kin are suffering will inten-sify. If Maja’s parents do not believe her and do nothing, she will continue to be at Marko’s mercy. Nenad did not ask for help from anybody because he was afraid that the violence against his mother would become even more severe:

• For fear of getting beaten.


• For fear that it will become worse than it was.

• Fear that Marko, if he learns, will punish her even more.

• Because of blackmail.

• Because of other family members who are suf-fering violence.

Maja fears that her father, if he believed her, would respond with violence against Marko:

• Her father would be angry at her and he wo-uld beat Marko.

• She is afraid that her parents might enter a confl ict with Marko.

• If she were to tell her father there would be problems, as it would probably result in violen-ce.

Furthermore, children still feel love for their abusers or for their parents who do not believe them:

• Nenad still loves his father, that is why he does not wish to report him.

• Maja did not tell anyone for fear that she will lose her parents’ love.

Children are still afraid and ashamed that their parents and others whom they might tell, do not think that they should be blamed for abuse. They themselves have a feeling of guilt:

• They will think that the children are guilty (six participants).

• They would think that she contributed.

• Out of fear that they will blame her for what is happening.

• They would blame her that she had provoked him with her provocative dressing.

• She thinks that she is guilty, that in some way she had participated in it, that she induced it.

• Unjustifi ed feeling of guilt.

• She is ashamed to tell her father, at that age when she shouldn’t be thinking about such things.

“Parents would think: Why did she open the door for him when she is alone at home? Maybe she wanted something and let him into the ho-use?”

“Parents should protect their child, children rarely recognize sexual abuse.”

Children are reluctant to confi de in somebody outside the family, including services, because they are afraid that the person they confi ded in would spread the word around, i.e., they do not trust that person. If it were to spread, the entire town would talk about it:

• Lack of confi dence in the surrounding.

• They are afraid to tell it to anybody, be-cause the secret could be disclosed (told to somebody else).

• Where I come from we all know each other, and everybody would learn about it immedi-ately.

• People are no longer sincere.

They will condemn her as if she was guilty. They will ridicule her, insult and/or avoid:

• She is afraid that her parents and the com-munity will condemn her.

• If she were to tell somebody else that per-son might think God knows what.

• She does not want anybody to pity her.

• Fear of being rejected.

• Nenad is ashamed of his father’s behaviour, he is afraid his friends will ridicule him.

• Nenad’s mother hides her husband’s beha-viour because of Nenad as she is afraid that his friends will make fun of him.

• His friends, if they learn about it, will be contemptuous towards him and will joke at his expense in school, believing that he is the same as his father.

Because abuse is the abused person’s disgrace and the disgrace of her family:

• She does not wish to shame her family.

• If she is from a prominent family, then what happened is a disgrace.

• Her mother is also ashamed.

“If the police were to come to my house the entire neighbourhood would start thinking what kind of a family are we.”


Children do not ask the services for help be-cause many of them do not know to whom to go or they have no proof. Furthermore, all the reasons for not telling their parents or close friends apply for not addressing the problem by contact-ing the services.

• They do not know whom to go for help (unanimously).

• Services are not accessible to children.

• It is shameful to ask for help.

• They do not trust them.

• The question is: even if they believe her, how will she prove what is happening?

• If she reports it to the police she has no proof to support her story.

In one group the participants (Sjenica, younger mail group) considered that fi nancial dependence on the abuser contributes to the hesitation of the victim to seek help:

• The reason is the economic crisis- they (mother and Nenad) cannot support them-selves.

Whom would children go to?

It was of interest to fi nd out which services dea-ling with the protection of child abuse were kno-wn to the participants, would they direct their peers, who might have a similar problem, to go there, and what were their perceptions of these services. Furthermore, what are the children’s and young people’s expectations from parents or school when speaking about this problem?

The fi rst question was to whom would they send their friend if he/she were to confi de in them with a problem similar to the one from the stories, such as Maja, Elvis or Nenad had. It was interesting to see what services they would fi rst mention, i.e., which services had they heard of that they believed dealt with child protection. The answers differed depending on the type of abuse that had to be disclosed, as well as on the age of the participants and the setting they came from.

In the case of somebody entrusting them with a secret about being abused, they would advise them to go to (by frequency):

• The police

• Parents, one or both

• Centre for social work.

• Class-master, school master.

• School psychologist.

• Older relative, or a person they trusted.

• Friends.

• NGO.

• Youth Counselling Centre.

• SOS telephone.

• Hospital.

• Religious leader (Muslim or Orthodox priest).

• Lawyer.

• Centre for Prevention of Abuse.

The police were among the fi rst services to be mentioned in ten groups, .i.e., in each munici-pality. The younger groups mentioned the police more frequently than the older ones. The rea-sons to go to the police differed somewhat. The participants in most of the groups believed the police should be approached primarily in cases of sexual abuse, as well as in cases of family viol-ence. Some of the groups believed that the police should intervene «in more serious cases», i.e., with more serious, dramatic consequences such as domestic violence. Peer violence was in the smallest number of cases a «case for the police». From one group the idea emerged that in such a case the school policeman should be approached.

Parents were in second place by frequency. De-spite the obstacles mentioned in earlier discus-sions, parents should be told primarily in cases of sexual abuse, but also in other types of abuse that were not being committed by the parents themselves. This proposal was more frequently made in the groups from Prijepolje, Nova Varos and Raska. It was expressed equally in younger and older groups. Some believed that the child should talk to both parents, others that they should talk with the parent with whom they spend more time, while the rest believed the child should talk to its mother because it was closer to her than to the father.

The centre for social care was being mentioned as frequently. The younger groups in Tutin and Priboj and both groups in Novi Pazar did not men-tion it spontaneously. The centre for social work has the primary role to solve cases of domestic violence, they believed, and less for cases of sex-ual abuse or peer violence.


Addressing the issue with the class master (more frequently) and the school master (less frequen-tly) had also been frequently and spontaneously expressed. This was primarily related to peer viol-ence, although also in cases of family violence and sexual abuse. Special attention was given to this answer in Sjenica and Raska.

The school psychologist and pedagogue were mentioned in some half of the groups (and espe-cially in Priboj). Views on the role of the school pedagogue in resolving child abuse will be reported later.

An older person whom one can trust, primarily a relative, was mentioned in several groups for all three types of violence. In some of the groups the older relative was considered as a «substitute» for parents if the child did not have confi dence in them, or if they were the abusers.

By frequency, peers or friends came next. The children had the greatest confi dence in them not to disclose their secret.

They would also address NGOs because they belie-ved in their confi dentiality. The NGOs were prima-rily mentioned in Tutin and Novi Pazar.

Youth Counselling Centres (e.g. in the healthcare centre in Novi Pazar) were also mentioned as pla-ces where youth could address abuse.

A hospital or private practice psychologist was also mentioned in three groups (Nova Varoš, Novi Pazar, Raška).

The groups in Sjenica and Tutin mentioned the SOS telephone.

The health service was mentioned in Nova Varoš and Novi Pazar. In both cases the participants were speaking about the hospital and not the pri-mary health care centre. In the majority of munici-palities where the research was done, the hospital, the primary health care centre and other health services are all situated at the same place, “at the hospital”. Hence, for the participants, “the hospi-tal” is the synonym for health service in general.

The Orthodox priest was mentioned in Raska and the Muslim priest in Novi Pazar as the person whom children could confi de in and seek advice in case they were suffering abuse.

In one group a lawyer was mentioned.

In Priboj they mentioned the Centre for Abuse, which was presumably the Shelter for Children Victims of Violence that exists there.

After the fi rst mention of services and individuals that children could confi de in a discussion ensued on their perceptions of the roles of such individu-als and services.

Existing services

Children and young people do not believe that the existing services could help them. First of all, few of them knew whether such services existed in their milieu or where they were located. They did not know who to ask for help.

“There are more of those who a buse than those who help.”

They believed that the institutions were not accessible to children. Children do not know anybody there and would not dare to go there alone.

Those employed in such institutions frequently do not take action in an appropriate way. They do not believe what the children say as they are ‘only’ children. It is impossible to report anyt-hing if you do not have proof. By not believing in the child’s story such services can additional-ly hurt (retraumatize) the child that is trying to report abuse.

“Lack of trust is also abuse.”

An equally great problem is the lack of confi den-tiality amongst the employees of those institu-tions. Children are afraid that their story would leak out and spread through town, especially if it is a small community where all the people know each other. In one group going to another town was mentioned in order to maintain the confi dentiality of the report.

Reporting to the police is the last straw, when there is nowhere else to go. The police take ac-tion only «when blood is shed».

“A woman can address the police only if she has nowhere else to go, when she can endure no more, that is the last place she would go. That is because of the preconceptions about the police.”

In other cases the police will not take action.


“The police would not take action; they would not go out to conduct the interview.”

If the child were to go by itself, it would not be welcome. The police would not believe the sto-ry. The police can also be biased if the person whom the child wishes to report is a prominent individual in town.

“The police is a company, you have people working there, it is no place for children.”

“The police mostly ignore children and do not believe them, but again that also depends on the person who works there and on the person whom we are reporting.”

The participants believed that the centres for social care were services that mostly worked on provision of humanitarian aid to the poor. They mainly work with adults, not with children. In some groups the participants had no idea what the centres were doing at all (Priboj, Raška). They believed that even with the work these centres did, few cases had been resolved suc-cessfully.

Although they knew that such an institution ex-isted, the participants in the majority of groups did not know where they were located in their town. The participants in Prijepolje heard about the work of their centre on television, those from Sjenica from their parents, friends or neigh-bours.

In a case of abuse, the task of the centre was to give help and protection to children when abuse was reported. Furthermore, the centre should take care of the accommodation for children after their parents are separated, or after a child reported an abuser and did not dare return home because of that abuser.

«The center for social care should protect young people and help them.»

What is the role of the school in the fi ght a gainst child abuse? Primarily, teachers should not be the ones who abuse children. Children have little faith that teachers will help them, if

they are the ones who so frequently are unjust and abuse them.

“Teachers must be good and they must not abuse students.”In cases of peer violence, the class master and school director should talk with the abusers and attempt to reason with them, or, to punish them. However, teachers are frequently helpless in such cases.

The school should have its role in education for prevention of violence. However, this topic was mainly not discussed in classes. There were only a few examples where the participants had the opportunity to discuss violence in classes (Tutin, Prijepolje, Raska). However, this was not syste-matic education about the fi ght against abuse, but more sporadic activities that depended on the personal engagement and motivation of the teacher and the students.

• The school psychologist spoke about child’s rights and tolerance.

• At Civil Education classes they speak about abuse because the teacher allows students to choose the topic.

• Only when there is a text about violence in the textbook. Then those who had been abused learn that they are not alone and that it happens to others also.

The School Parliament could organise panel dis-cussions on child abuse.

The duty of the school pedagogue or psycholo-gist is to listen to a child, to believe him, give support and advice, and if necessary to repre-sent him with other services (if the child decides to pursue this course of action).

“The school psychologist should talk with the children and keep the-ir problems confi dential.”

However, half of the groups expressed disap-pointment with their work. In the majority of locations they mainly punish the children that do something wrong after the teachers send them over to report. It is very diffi cult to entrust some-body who punishes you, with a serious problem like abuse.

“Children who constantly create problems go to the psychologist.”


“We know that (s)he punishes us when we break the rules and don’t believe that she will help us when we need it.”The psychologist is not very interested in hel-ping children. In some municipalities the children do not even know who the school psychologist is, as if he does not exist (Nova Varos).

“Our school psychologist is a mar-ginal character in the story.”

The problem of confi dentiality was emphasised here again. The school psychologist can also easily disclose the secret that the child entrusted him with. He or she can, for example, call in the child’s parents without the child’s consent and thus de-stroy the child’s confi dence in him or her.

Somehow children have more confi dence in the psychologist in the health centre, although in some locations they do not know where his/her offi ce is. He/she should primarily be discreet. It is possibly easier for the children to think about the psycho-logist in the healthcare service than in the school because children go to the healthcare centre for various needs, while in school when somebody goes to the psychologist the rest believe that he had done something wrong and was sent there by the teachers.

However, the health service in general was not viewed as an institution that has a role to play in the protection of children against abuse. For some reason it was not considered as a place to look for help, except in cases of injury.

“A hospital is a place for those who are ill, not for those who are abused.”

Children would address NGOs because they believe in their confi dentiality. Their task is to organise workshops for children on prevention of abuse and to maintain the SOS telephone for victims of abuse. The participants mentioned DamaD in Novi Pazar and Zdravoteka in Sjenicag

as organisations active in the prevention of child abuse.

Regarding the SOS telephone, the good side is that the children can call from other towns, ano-nymously, to have somebody listen to them and to receive fi rst-hand advice. However, in several groups scepticism was expressed about the suc-

cess of such a telephone line. In a small community one cannot remain anonymous because everyone knows everything that is happening. Even if you do not say your name, the person who answered the telephone will know who you are. Furthermore, you will know who that person is because it will become known who works there and you will feel uncomfortable to disclose your secret. Regarding the SOS telephones, the participants from several towns heard about the SOS telephone DamaD in Novi Pazar and that there was an SOS telephone in Belgrade «for the whole of Serbia», but did not know where they could fi nd the number. They heard about that telephone from the «Right to Know» broadcasts that were produced by the I Programme of RTS and UNICEF.

Religious leaders primarily have the role of coun-cillors, to help a person to better recognise the situation and to direct him to somebody who can help. It is possible that they might talk to the parents if they are the abusers and to at-tempt to reason with them. In this way, they can also be the child’s representatives in an adult world.

Role of parents and relatives

Although they were not sure that parents would believe them, the children would nevertheless fi rst talk with them. They believed it is the duty of parents to listen to what their child has to say and to protect them. They would rather talk to their mother than to their father. In reality, parents more frequently physically discipline than talk, and children would like to talk more. Problems that they meet in their communication with parents are presented in the Chapter Atti-tudes of Society towards Children.

On whether they talked with parents about abuse, or whether they contemplated possible solutions if something did happen, the answers were pre-dominantly negative. In the majority of groups the participants said that parents were the last persons with whom this topic is discussed. In some groups (Novi Pazar, Raška – groups of girls), the partici-pants said they talked to parents but it all came down to intimidation about what can happen to them «if they do not watch what they drink» and «come home late». That has little effect. Nobody speaks about what should be done if something bad happens to her/him or somebody close to her/him, who can help them.

g Zdravoteka is actually a project coordinated by the Centre for social work in Sjenica (Zdravoteka is on the Center’s premises). Representatives of school, police, health care and the media are also involved in the project. The project is on education of youth on different topics from the aspect of children’s rights. Children, however, see Zdravoteka as an NGO, because the nature of approach to children and the activities are different from the ones they expect in public institutions.


“Advice from parents is to watch what we drink and to avoid dark al-leys at night.”

Role of peers

Abuse is infrequently discussed among peers, but more than with parents or in classes. It usually comes down to discussing cases that they had heard of. In many groups the participants said that their peers had disclosed to them their secrets that they were victims of abuse, for example in the family

Victims of abuse confi de in peers primarily because they have the greatest confi dence in them. Later it will become evident that the large number of mes-sages dedicated to peers represented an invitation to confi de. Furthermore, peers believe children and understand them. They do not need justifi cation or proof.

“Friends, because they believe us, more than the police and other ser-vices.”

Of course, the danger always exists that the friend «cannot hold out» and tells your secret to somebody else, but the chance that they will do that is smaller than in institutions. If the friends are not true friends, they will distance them selves; start avoiding those who confi ded in them.

The problem is that peers cannot help much, ex-cept to offer support. Their task is to listen and to direct them to a «professional». If needed, to also represent and support the abused child in the institutions.

“I would not be able to give ad vice to somebody who has a serious case. I would send her/him to some-body who can give better advice.”

In a smaller number of groups the idea emerged that friends could help in exposing the abuser and obtaining proof about abuse (when speaking about sexual abuse). A group of friends can even «discipline» the abuser.

“With her friends, Maja should set a trap for Marko.” “I would testify!”

Role of the media

In the majority of groups the participants said that they frequently had the opportunity to learn about abuse cases in the newspapers or tele-vision. However, the media present the most drastic examples: murders, suicides, and child traffi cking. Child abuse and violence in general are most frequently shown in fi lms or televi sion serials. Even the broadcasts for children are brimming with violence.

“All the maniacs discovered their ideas in fi lms.”

Such a manner of presenting abuse shocks and changes peoples perception of violence.

“Media shock the public to draw their attention.”

Violence has become an increasingly frequent topic, but there is little talk about prevention, about the existing services that can help. Such cases are rare, both in the local (Prijepolje, Pri-boj) and in the state media («Right to Know» broadcasts). Children in Sjenica had the impres-sion that the media were waging war against violence because they were constantly sending an appeal to help victims of violence.

FUTURE

Services

What should the services be like, in order for children to have confi dence in them and the courage to approach them? The large number of answers given by the participants is a real ‘treasure trove of ideas’ to improve the existing services and about the organisation of new ser-vices that should deal with the prevention of child abuse.

The participants extensively discussed how the personnel of these institutions should behave, what kind of person one should be in order for the child to confi de in them. After processing all these answers, the «rules of conduct» for these services have been drafted for their work with children, not only abused children, but children in general. They have not been ranked by im-portance – the children believe them all to be of equal importance:


1. Confi dentiality.

2. To possess good communication skills (to listen, to have patience).

3. To have trust in children.

4. To offer support, understanding, advice, as-sistance.

5. Readiness.

6. Kindness.

7. Professionalism.

8. Advertising of services.

9. “Young at heart”.

Confi dentiality had been mentioned numerous times in the discussions as one of the most im-portant characteristics of the services and pro-fessionals working for them. In order to be able to confi de in someone, they must be sure that their story will not be abused. In one group a proposal was made «one person for one child», in the sense that every child who approaches the service should be received by one person and afterwards always by that same person, someone in whom the child will have confi dence.

• The people working there must be confi den-tial.

• Not to disclose the problems discussed when consulting other professionals.

• They should never speak about the cases outside their institution.

The professionals working in the services should listen to the end. They must have patience and together with the children, on an equal basis, draw conclusions and adopt decision on further steps to be undertaken. It is very important for the victim to feel that somebody respects them, in order to have the strength to help themselves.

• They should listen to us until the end, so that we can then draw conclusions together and they should give us advice.

• A lot of talks with children.

• A lot of patience.

• They should talk with every shy child.

• The child should be able to speak freely.

“Listen to the victim fi rst!”

The worst thing that can happen is that the per-

son to whom the child confi des does not believe the story and brings into question the truth of the account. Experts working on prevention of child abuse must believe the children in order to show them that they are important and respon-sible.

• People working there should never show that the problems of children are “strange”.

From the professionals whom they approach, children expect understanding, support, advice and help in the resolution of the problem, to end the abuse:

• Children should receive support and com-passion when they visit these services.

• Give them advice.

• You should help, not insult.

“Somebody should talk with him, help him open up and become trust-ing, he is lonely and needs somebo-dy who understands him.”

Help should be given as quickly as possible. That is why the services should be prepared to react promptly. The case should not be stretched out for months.

• It has to be prepared.

• To render help as quickly as possible.

• To undertake something immediately.

Persons whom children approach should be kind and communicative:

• People who work there should be smiling and kind (unanimously).

• Persons who easily gain confi dence, who make contact, likeable.

Those employed in the services should be profes-sionals and well trained people who take their job seriously:

• Pedagogues, doctors, psychologists should work there.

• They should have well trained professionals

• Persons known for their expertise.

• They should not jump into cases they cannot resolve by themselves.

For the service to be accessible, it has to “adver-tise itself” in the media and through personal con-


tacts. It should present information that the service exists, its location and basic information about its activities (what types of aid it offers) and what it looks like:

• So that everyone knows about it.

• To advertise its existence on the television.

• To advertise its telephone number.

If a person wishes to achieve successful com-munication with children and young people and gain their confi dence, she/he should be similar to them. She/he should use the language of the youth, understand their way of life and their problems, she/he must not put her/himself «above» the children, and instead should treat them as equals:

• Must gain the child’s confi dence, become close through his conduct, vocabulary, he has to be young in his soul.

• Those who have patience with youth and who know them deep inside.

• Younger people because it would be easier to tell them the problems.

• They should not speak in such a tone as to intimidate the child.

• To speak the language of the children.

“Remember when you were young.”

“Be a child to understand a child!”

In order to get as close as possible to children and young people, these services should employ peer counsellors – volunteers, in addition to the professionals already working there. The peer counsellors are similar to the children and young people approaching the services in their age, speech and life style. At the same time they have been trained in certain skills, i.e., counsel-ling, to welcome and offer support to the child in the fi rst session and then to direct him to a professional. By seeing one’s peers in the ser-vice, it is easier for them to gain confi dence in the service.

• Young people who know our problems.

• If they do not have the knowledge to help in another way, they can at least listen to you.

In addition to peers, the children who wish to report abuse are best understood by other chil-dren who have a similar problem or individuals who have experienced abuse. Such groups and

individuals can meet in the services dealing with prevention of child abuse:

• Groups that resolve problems – somebody who had similar problems and has under-standing.

• That the person has a similar experience and helps the child.

Even when these principles of work have been satisfi ed, some obstacles still remain for children to use the existing services. Primarily, children have a major problem in going alone to a service such as a social welfare centre or the police. A large number of proposals from the participants were related to the idea that somebody should represent the child in these services.

• We would never go there (center for social care) alone.

• The opinion of the milieu is important, which is why somebody should take the child there before it goes on its own.

Who should go with the child to the institution? Somebody older, a family member, somebody from school, from the SOS telephone or the per-son whom the child approached fi rst.

• Somebody older.

• Pedagogue.

• Somebody from the SOS telephone.

The service personnel should also represent the children in further proceedings, or take over the investigation of the case:

• They must believe the child and be its advo-cate with others.

• To try to investigate, to have secret agents who investigate such cases.

• To talk to the abuser but not disclose who told them.

When the child decides to report the case, espe-cially in cases of domestic violence, it might not dare return back home to the abuser. Therefore, it is necessary to have a shelter that would offer indefi nite accommodation to children after they report their case:

• A place where the children who suffer a buse can be accommodated.

• The center for social care should ensure ac-commodation, food...


Professionals dealing with prevention of child abuse, including NGOs, should frequently or-ganise round tables or discussion groups about child abuse.

• To organise workshops like this (focus groups) in schools and NGOs (all agree)

• More frequent panel discussions, but it is impossible to openly speak in larger groups

The participants elaborated on the way the pre-mises should look, so that the children would fi nd it a nicer environment to visit. They should be located in the services, institutions or NGOs where young people gather anyway, premises that are known amongst the youth as pleasant and safe:

• Where children gather anyway, premises that they know.

• A place where the children would go any-way, not only when abused.

• To have grounds for various other activities, to attract young people.

If that were not possible, then in an institu tion that deals with different populations, there should be a separate part only for children and young people, if possible, with a separate and secluded entrance:

• It should have a safe entrance.

• The premises of the service should be wi-thin the premises of a different service.

• There should be a separate part for young people.

• A secluded part, safe.

The rooms should be light and airy, to have e nough space, painted in warm colours, with posters and children’s’ drawings on the walls. The setting should be warm, pleasant and cheerful. It should have toys for smaller children and PCs for older children. The rooms should not look like ordinary offi ces. Only in a pleasant setting, can the children relax and openly speak about their problems.

• They should be nicely arranged, painted in light colours, have posters and children’s’ pictures on the walls.

• It should be colourful and cheerful when you come in.

• Large and airy rooms with a lot of pictures, PCs, television.

• Walls should not be white, white walls as-sociate with hospitals.

• It should have toys in the room.

“So that we don’t become «afraid» of that room.”

“The premises must be cheerful because the life of those who go in is already dark enough, they need hope, safety, warmth.”

“We must feel relaxed, not like sit-ting in the dock.”

School

Teachers and school psychologists should fi rst of all be educated to recognize problems of a bused children. School psychologists should individually counsel children and hold classes and discussion groups about child abuse, as well as about childrens’ rights in general.

“(School psychologists) shouldn’t occupy themselves with children only when they make a mistake, they should advise them and orga-nise gatherings for youth.”

MESSAGES

At the end of the discussions each participant was asked to write one message for; parents (their own or parents in general), peers and one more that they would read in the media if the opportunity was given to them. The messages should be related to the prevention of child a buse. The following are the most signifi cant joint highlights that the messages carry.

Messages to peers

A large number of messages intended for peers spoke about the wish of the participants to help. They called on peers not to conceal if they were suffering abuse, but to confi de in them or approach the services. The participants offered their confi -dentiality and understanding, as well as support in case the child decided to disclose abuse. A large number of messages for the public were in fact intended for peers and carried the offer to help.


A number of messages for peers spoke about the need to prevent peer violence and the need for mediation in the prevention of such confl icts.

A part of the messages expressed the already mentioned view that pressure by peers to join «bad company» and experiment with alcohol and drugs was also a type of abuse. The messages called on peers to resist such «challenges».

Unfortunately, there were also messages that encouraged peers to respond to violence with violence.

Messages to parents

The majority of the messages to parents spoke about the need of children and young people for their parents to listen to them and to speak with them, to understand them. Children called par-ents to stop punishing them physically and restri-cting their freedom, but to try to jointly reach a solution through talks and mutual respect.

The direct appeal to stop abuse in many groups uncovered that abuse existed, even when the participants denied it in the discussions. Children also called on parents to stop drinking alcohol and venting their rage on family members.

A number of messages to parents spoke a bout the way they should behave when children disclose abuse – to believe them and not blame them for what was happening.

Messages they would send to the general pub-lic through media

Many messages for the public referred to abuse as jeopardising child rights. Another message was that children should be respected in the society and should be offered a chance to show what they are. A smaller number of messages emphasised the need for older individuals to re-present children.

These messages also spoke about the responsi-bility of the state, the community and respective services for the protection of children from vio-lence. Also, the media were called to advertise which services existed and where they were located.

Some messages expressed the belief of children that abuse was a crime and the abusers should be punished.

CONCLUSIONSCONCLUSIONS

The problems children and young people have are universal. They are similar in all seven municipali-ties, the same as the problems of youth worldwide. The greatest attention was devoted to the problem of communication with parents. Abuse was rarely mentioned as a problem of children and young pe-ople today. That is in accordance with the general attitude that it is a topic that should not be discus-sed in public.

To a large degree, the children identifi ed them-selves with peer violence. This is something they witnessed or participated in every day, and was more frequent in primary than in high school. At the same time, the violence committed by children was spontaneously and partly justifi ed by a diffi cult family situation or possible previous experience with abuse. Furthermore, the victims were also partly blamed. Both occurrences could mean a self-blaming of those who were not able to resolve the problem of abuse and/or a perception that peer vio-lence was a normal event. This point is especially valid, if it is taken into account that a concrete so-lution to resolve the problem of peer violence had not been offered.

The situation is different in regard to domestic violence. A number of respondents resisted to accept that such things were happening in their milieu. Many things are not known because they are never discussed. The participants were only slightly a ware of the expression domestic violence, and they did not bestow it much signifi cance. They did not make a distinction between the suffering of the mother and the suffering of Nenad. Here none had justifi cation for the abuser.

In the majority of cases, the participants spontane-ously identifi ed the three types of abuse very pre-cisely: physical, mental and sexual. Several times they emphasised that physical and mental abuse could not be separated. It is much more diffi cult to endure mental abuse than physical abuse.

To bring shame to a person, as a specifi c type of mental abuse, was frequently mentioned. For the victim, it is the worst experience. It is even more diffi cult for the victim if others see it or hear about it. To spread word of abuse also brings shame to a person and represents additional abuse.

On sexual abuse, a large number of participants were not completely certain what was and what was not sexual abuse. They did not make a clear distinction between paedophilia and


sexual abuse. In this case they were also more prepared to mitigate the guilt than to justify the abuser when they said that he might be mentally ill. This is also an extension of their distancing themselves from abuse and their disbelief that a normal person was capable of doing such a thing. Their mentioning of mental illness seemed to be like a reaction to our description of Marko as beloved in the family, an older man.

Most attempts to defi ne child abuse ended with a list of actions that represent abuse or a class-ifi cation of types. Successful attempts, defi ned child abuse as the violation of child rights and coercion to make the child do something that it did not want to do. Child rights were frequently mentioned in the discussions. We wish to be-lieve that the long-term activities of UNICEF and its partners on the promotion of child rights has resulted in awareness of child rights among chil-dren and young people in this region.

There is no unifi ed conclusion when defi ning vio-lence in relation to abuse. The participants did not make a clear distinction between these two occurrences. In different groups different things were considered violence or abuse.

On the frequency of child abuse, the conclusion of the participants that every child had at least once been a victim of abuse was agreeable. The majority believed that 50% of children were go-ing through some type of abuse, and 10% through serious types of physical or sexual abuse.

The participants did not fully understand the initiating mechanism of abuse, i.e., the causes of abuse. The concept of abuse, of the power one has over a child was not immediately clear to the majority. Even following some «guidance» on the inequality in relations in which abuse is happening, it was diffi cult for them to under-stand that abuse was happening because the abuser has social superiority over the victim. The only mechanism that they spontaneously recognised was physical superiority. The need to distance themselves from abuse or to lessen the guilt of the abuser continued to emerge.

On the other hand, the participants clearly un-derstood the impact abuse had on the victim and the consequences that it produced. If we notice the signs, we must suspect that the child is a victim of abuse. After the fi rst few groups, it was clear that children and young people are well aware that many signs of abuse were at the same time direct consequences of abuse.

The participants listed a large number of mainly long-lasting mental consequences. They believed that mental consequences were worse and that they lasted longer. A pleasant surprise was their spontaneous (and commonsense) recognition and frequent mentioning of the inter-generatio-nal transmission of abuse.

It is important to discover and stop abuse as early as possible because long-lasting conse-quences cannot be cured. That was why a large number of proposals and messages were related to the exposure of the abuser by the victim, education for recognition by teachers and a re-sponse of the respective services in putting an end to abuse.

The most frequent abusers are parents, adults in general, more frequently men, teachers, older boys. Although they correctly identifi ed those who had superiority in the family or society, the evolution of the mechanism of abuse was still unclear to them.

Abuse by teachers was extensively discussed. It is a problem in all the different settings, and it is so frequent that it has become a normal occur-rence. Most frequently mental, but also physical and sexual, this abuse has the most commonly expressed element of bringing about shame (in front of the entire class) in relation to abuse by other persons.

The attitude of the society (adults) towards children is the most signifi cant contributor to the abuse of children by parents and adults in general.

The patriarchal upbringing and traditional gen-der roles are the second risk factor for abuse that puts girls at greater risk in the house and in society in general. The upbringing of girls itself through restrictions and forcing of humility and suffering is a type of abuse. On the other hand, by being favoured, boys develop a feeling that everything is permitted and this leads them into the position of abusers.

On the other risk factors, it is a matter of con-cern that the respondents listed many characte-ristics of the victim - many aspects of diversity: religious, national, poverty, rural origins, physi-cal characteristics or defi ciencies, etc. Such an outlook in the society moves the focus from the abuser to the victim, as if pointing out that the victim should change her/his diversity in order to avoid abuse. This is in part linked to the in-complete understanding of the causes of abuse.


Therefore, according to the participants, abuse is not happening because the abuser is abusing his superiority, but partly because the victim is as he is.

It is slightly discouraging that they gave a large number of reasons for the victim not being able to disclose abuse. The lack of respect that adults have for children is not only a risk factor for abuse, but also a factor that contributes to keeping silent about violence. They do not beli-eve in what children say because they are small and they lie – which is why children hesitate to approach parents and services because they do not expect anybody will believe them.

The police, centres for social care and schools were primarily being mentioned as services that should protect children from abuse. The health service did not play an important role. At the same time, fear was expressed that these servi-ces were not children and youth friendly.

The proposals that the children made on what kind of services should exist, what they should look like and how the employees should behave, in order for children to gain confi dence and

courage to use them are a real pot of gold. The descriptions by the participants gave a simpler and clearer explanation of the principles of work of the existing services and organisation of new ones than any expert instruction could achieve.

Children expect parents to devote more atten-tion to them, to listen and resolve problems by talking and not beating.

The role of peers is to listen, maintain confi den-tiality and render support. Also, they can work in the services for prevention of child abuse as peer-counsellors.

Children and young people, participants of the focus groups, gave answers that have surpassed expectations. Many facts, for which years were needed for professionals in the world to agree on, were a matter of common sense among the participants. Hopefully, that knowledge and readiness of young people to participate in the resolution of problems of child abuse will repre-sent major assistance to professionals dealing with prevention of child abuse in their region.


EVALUATION OF THE RESEARCH PROCESS AND LESSONS LEARNED


EVALUATIONEVALUATION

PARTICIPANTS’ EXPERIENCE

In several groups, immediately after the discus-sion, the participants expressed the wish to meet again and renew discussions on this topic. The local organisers in Prijepolje and Nova Varos also reported that the children there were very satisfi ed with the way the discussions were led.

For many of the participants this was the fi rst time that they openly spoke about child abuse and had the opportunity to present their op inion. The participants in several groups proposed that similar discussions should be held with their pe-ers.

It was signifi cant that the discussion about such a diffi cult and unpleasant topic left a positive impression with the participants.

RESEARCH TEAM’S EXPERIENCE

After fi nalising work on the ground, the research team-members held a meeting to evaluate the research process and presented fi rst impressions about their fi ndings. The researchers evaluated their own work, the work of the Head Research-er, as well as the working conditions during the research.

Self-evaluation of the researchers

The main self-criticism of the researchers was related to insuffi cient preparations for facilitation of the discussions (not being familiar with the scenario, emotionally unprepared) and insuffi cient motivation at the beginning.

• Insuffi cient insight into problem.

• Returning several times to the same topic.

• Suggestive questions.

• Impatience while waiting for an answer.

• Interrupting the co-facilitator.

There were also some personal characteristics that impeded the researchers in facilitating the discussions:

• I cannot hide my feelings.

• I get tired quickly.

The researchers also had numerous positive

characteristics that signifi cantly contributed to the success of the research. Primarily these were related to their communication skills and experience in work with children the researchers have from their everyday work.

• Active listening III.

• Flexibility in directing the discussion II.

• Flexibility in presenting questions.

• Exploiting open questions.

• Good co-facilitation.

• Patience.

Furthermore, the researchers were satisfi ed with the overall functioning of the team work. They believed this work to be useful experience for them because they tested a new research meth-od. They learned many new facts on the views children have about abuse and how they react to it, as well as what help they expect from their milieu. All this will be exceptionally useful in their further work.

Evaluation of the head researcher’s work

The research team believed that, when facili-tating discussions, the head researcher should have been more patient when waiting for answers from the children and should have allowed the children to go into deeper discus-sions. Furthermore, the head researcher should have refrained from suggestive questions.

The good characteristics of the head facilitator were, according to the researchers, were her ways of communicating with the children:

• The communication skill with various age groups

• Candidness, spontaneity

• Honouring of children

• Identifi cation with children

As well as a professionalism and consistent interrelationship with colleagues and local part-ners.

Evaluation of the research process

Two groups per day emerged to be an optimum, in relation to the organisation and implementa-tion of the research. The duration of the discussi-ons have also proven to be suitable for both


the participants and the facilitators, in order to keep their attention and not get tired. However, re garding the possibility of getting deeper into discussions, the time limitation of the discussions had been given too much signifi cance in relation to the essence of the talks.

The research team was pleasantly surprised by the children’s openness and their readiness to di-scuss. Children seemed more frank, sincere and spontaneous than young people. The way they contemplated this topic, their dedication and ma-turity were impressive in most of the groups. In a few cases the conservative opinions were an unpleasant surprise.

Evaluation of logistics support and work con-ditions

The research team also reviewed the cooperation with the local organisers in selection of participants and provision of work conditions.

The selection of the participants was inadequate only in some places. Invitation of participants on an ad hoc basis or failing to remind the participants to come resulted in small number of participants in some places. Where the groups were formed from members of NGOs involved in prevention of vio-lence, the previous knowledge of the participants affected their spontaneity in giving answers.

At some locations the working conditions were ina-dequate (noise, lack of space, depressing atmos-phere, etc). At other locations the pleasant atmos-phere and the premises already familiar to the participants contributed to a relaxed atmosphere and spontaneous discussions, as well as to a large number of qualitative answers.

The dedication and support of the local organisers have signifi cantly contributed to a feeling of well-being amongst the researchers who were thus able to professionally carry out their work.

LESSONS LEARNEDLESSONS LEARNED

FOCUS GROUP SCENARIO

The Head Researcher prepared the fi rst version of the scenario. A supervisory team formed by UNICEF and the Mental Health Institute in Belgra-de gave suggestions. Subsequently, suggestions were made by representatives from local NGOs, based on their local and relevant experience. The stories (case studies) were created by a local

team, also based on relevant experience.

The third version of the scenario was piloted with one group of young people and two groups of children. The pilot version provided the possibility to conform the language to that of the popula-tion under research, as well as to re-formulate unclear, separate complicated, join similar and delete irrelevant questions. The pilot exercise enabled not only a direct change of the scenario before the research started, but also the possi-bility to dedicate special attention to key (and diffi cult) questions during work. It was known in advance where obstacles might emerge and they were bypassed.

Despite all the preparations, the conclusion reached after all the discussions was that the scenario could have been less structured. There were too many questions in the allocated time. Answers were obtained to all the questions but the structuring and the consequent time limitation restricted the depth of the discussions. Thus the discussions were a combination of a focus group and group interview. Occasionally the discussion among the participants was being interrupted with their answering questions from the facilita-tors.

Sitting in a circle contributed to this. In the wish to create a feeling of equality so that the partici-pants did not hesitate in front of the facilitators, groups were organised to sit in a circle. One of the rules of the work of focus groups was over looked – facilitators sit slightly separated from the participants. It turned out that those participants sitting closest to the facilitators were frequently leading the discussions, while those sitting further away were more reserved. The last two group meetings were held in premises that required facilitators to sit opposite the partici-pants and the discussion among them was more successful and there were many more-opposed opinions.

RESEARCH TEAM

The research team was chosen from members of the NGO DamaD, the local partner organisa-tion in the region. Focus groups were a method that had not been previously used by this NGO. Prior to choosing team members, an orientation training to facilitate focus groups was carried out. However, practicing skills to facilitate focus groups, although planned, was not held due to lack of time.


Such a training prior to a pilot exercise is neces-sary in order to prepare the researchers to facil-itate the meetings and take minutes. Many im-perfections in the facilitation of the discussions mentioned in the evaluation were also a conse-quence of lack of preparation and experience in facilitating focus groups. As such, they can be improved through training and better, long-term planning.

The research team was selected following the training and the pilot discussions. Selection cri-teria were personal motivation, similar age group to the population under research and experience in workshops. Almost all the team members had prior experience in working with children; most of them are professionals working with children (psychologist, pedagogue and teacher).

SELECTION OF PARTICIPANTS AND COMPOSITION OF GROUPS

Local organisers, representatives from NGOs and centres for social work who participated in the project were extremely motivated and ready to assist in the organisation of focus groups. Were the research team to carry out the selection of participants and logistics preparations alone, the whole process would have lasted much longer and the research would have been more expen-sive.

The “snowball” method proved to be good in most settings. The local organisers charged a few children (key “informers”) to invite their friends, class mates and neighbours. It was important that they invited between 1.5 and 2 times more participants than the number necessary to hold the focus group (a minimum of six). Their gathering was more successful in those locations where more than one key “informer” had been engaged and where the local coordinators had at least once checked, either by telephone or in person, the participation of individual attendees.

In some settings the selection of the participants was done on an ad hoc basis and the partici-pants were not additionally checked on to verify their attendance. This was especially the case in those groups where the organisation was passed on to the children, without suffi cient support from the local organisers. This resulted in insuffi cient numbers of participants in some of the groups. In those cases where the partici-pants were invited just prior to the focus group

meeting, they showed resistance towards the topic and the way the discussions were organ-ised because they had not been “psychologically prepared”. This had a negative impact on the quantity and the quality of their answers.

The children must be informed at least several days in advance and prepared for group work. Ad hoc gatherings create resistance among chil-dren, especially if that interfered with some ot-her activity they had planned previously. In case some of the participants cancel their arrival or do not show up, the group should be cancelled rather than work on an ad hoc basis with the gathered participants.

In some groups the local organisers had per-sonally invited each child. In such cases care should be taken that the majority of the invited children are not members or benefi ciaries of the NGO’s programmes involved in activities against violence. The knowledge and perceptions such children have differ from those of the general peer population.

It was not easy to infl uence the gender structure of a group, especially if a mixed gender group was anticipated. In some settings, using the same selection method, groups emerged as mix-ed, or completely male or female. If the group was a larger one and predominantly female, i.e., seven girls and one boy, it was more useful to conduct an individual interview with the boy. In that way, more information would be obtained from him than if he had remained in the group because he would have hesitated to participate in the discussion as the only boy.

THE FLOW OF THE DISCUSSION

When the children were invited to the meetings they were not told that the topic of the discussions would be abuse, but problems that children and young people face, which turned out to be good. In one case, where the local organiser had been addi-tionally informed and did not get precise instructi-ons how to invite the children, the majority of them did not show up. Most probably because they had in advance shrunk from the topic or their parents did not allow them to participate. Furthermore, to have time to contemplate the topic could infl uence the spontaneity of the answers.

The participants learned in detail about the topic at the beginning of the discussion and were offered the opportunity to leave the group if they did not


wish to discuss the topic. Not a single participant in any of the groups left.

Another aspect of the children remaining at the discussions and giving sincere answers was that before the discussion started they were informed about the anonymity of the discussion and were given assurances that no questions would be asked about personal experience. Although the participants presented personal experience during the discussions, they knew it was their own choice and that their experience would not be linked with their identity.

Respect for the children and young people, the attempt to conform to their way of speaking and behaviour and giving attention and respect to their perceptions and opinions triggered their frankness and sincerity. At the same time, it evoked their in-terest in the problem and the wish to participate in its solution.

In two groups, after obtaining permission from the children, the presence of observers was allowed. Their presence did not have any major infl uence on the spontaneity and frankness of the answers as the observers were well known to the children and were otherwise working with them (a coordinator of an NGO in the fi rst and a workshop psychologist in the second). Furthermore, they were not classic observers as they also participated in the discus-sion.

However, out of best intentions the observers tend-ed to take a lead in the discussion. Subsequently, the other participants showed the need to give “politically correct” answers that would conform to the positions.

The general standpoint in the work with focus groups is that the presence of observers is not recommended in the room with participants. If the participants are aware of the observer’s presence, it can draw away their attention or they can be embarrassed to participate in the discussion. The observers can follow the discussion from another room using a room with mirrors. Our experience confi rmed this general standpoint. Observers can be tolerated only if the children agree to their presence, if they are known to the children and are persons who are in any case talking to them about confi dential topics, and if the observers are in advance warned not to infl uence the tenor of the discussion.

Finally, listening to diffi cult stories on the one hand and the frankness and confi dence of the children on the other left a deep impression on the research-ers. Even after the group discussions were over, during the preparation of transcripts and the report, the researchers were emotionally disturbed when recollecting some of the stories. It would be useful to conduct a debriefi ng of the research time once the research is over, if possible by a counsellor.

IS THIS AN APPROPRIATE RESEARCH METHOD?

Following this experience, there are several rea-sons why we considered focus groups a very suitable research method for working with chil-dren on sensitive topics.

Why a focus group?

• Much more cost effective in relation to other types of research

• Can be organised relatively quickly, under the condition that there is cooperation from local organisers who render organisational and logistics support.

• It is relatively easy to train a team of assis-tants. Another major asset is if the assis-tants have previous experience in group work and facilitation, as well as in work with the population under research.

• A large number of groups can be organised in a short time

• The discussion provides a wealth of an-swers and proposals (which would not be the case in individual interviews)

Why with children and young people?

• The facilitators’ refraining from criticism and “tutoring” provided an atmosphere, in which the children and young people felt respected and that contributed to their frankness.

• The honouring of the opinion of children and young people and providing them with the opportunity to actively think about possible solutions, has motivated them to continue their contemplation about this topic and to assist their peers.

• It was easier for the participants to present opposed opinions towards their peers than towards adults.


• The motivation for further engagement in resolving these problems, opens the oppor-tunity for the involvement of the same gro-ups of participants in other phases of parti-cipatory research and search for solutions

Why a sensitive topic?

• Conditions for spontaneous and sincere an-swers were created by honouring the prin-ciple of group work and respecting children and young people.

• Being surrounded by a group of peers, with similar opinions and experience provided the participants with the opportunity to sponta-neously and frankly discuss a diffi cult and taboo topic (which possibly might not be the case in individual interviews).

• The nature of the process enables monitor-ing and the possibility of intervention in case of unforeseeable events, and there is time enough for an intervention (which is not the case in a survey).

Limitations

According to the experience now acquired, limi-tations of this methodology were:

• To obtain a “more average” group of partici-pants demands a time consuming selection and presence on the ground of the research team at all the sites during the selection, which would signifi cantly extend the period of preparation

• To obtain a “more representative” sample, i.e., groups that would refl ect the gender, national and religious composition of the po-pulation would also demand a more detailed and time-consuming selection or the forming of a larger number of groups with specifi c characteristics (i.e., composed of only girls, or only boys; groups composed of partici-pants of Serb or Bosniac ethnicity, etc).

• In case less than six participants appear, the effect of group discussions is lost. On the other hand, participants that appeared cannot be sent home, thus other methods of research have to be utilised (group or in-dividual interviews).

DILEMMAS OF THE RESEARCH TEAM

Prior to the start of the research the framework

of the team’s interventions was set, i.e., the task to research the phenomenon, not to react to individual cases and attempt to resolve them. However, during and after the discussions se-veral moral dilemmas emerged among the rese-archers. What had been rationally agreed upon was diffi cult to emotionally overcome.

In the discussions the participants disclosed var-ious cases of abuse, from their own experience or experience of their friends. Some of these cases ended with court rulings, in centres for social work or the police. Some did not. Some were severe cases. Although we distributed the leafl ets with contacts of child protection ser-vices to the participants after the discussions, we do not know whether they used those services. It remains clear to us that everything said should remain confi dential and could not be disclosed and further investigated in order to fi nd out to who it was happening and be reported. Howe-ver, this did not alleviate the feeling of respon-sibility that despite obtaining certain knowledge no action was taken

Furthermore, some of the cases that were presented were so characteristic that they pro-voked the wish of the researchers to present them in order to point out certain aspects such as neglecting of evident signs, inadequate action of the services, etc. The dilemma remained to what extent can a case be disclosed and not jeopardise the identity of the person who told the story. Even if the only person to recognise himself were the person who confi ded in the researchers, it would still mean a certain betrayal of that person’s trust because a promise had been made that anything said would remain confi dential. Though the presentation of these cases could contribute to the recognition of mistakes and to improvement of services, we adhered to the rule made at the beginning, that the cases shared with us will not be presented in the report.


IMPORTANCE OF IMPORTANCE OF THIS RESEARCH FOR UNICEFTHIS RESEARCH FOR UNICEF

This was the fi rst time that the Child Protection Programme of the UNICEF offi ce in Belgrade or-ganised such a research. This type of work with children and young people enabled sincere and comprehensive answers from the participants about their perceptions and opinions on child abuse, as well as their expectations from the services involved in the protection of children. It is important that this newly acquired knowledge is used for the education of professionals and the general public, in order to turn their attention to what the children object to most and how to meet their needs

It was also important that this research carried elements of the participatory action research

(PAR). The discussion and exchange of views with peers had built the capacity of the parti-cipants to contemplate and discuss abuse and to look into possible solutions to the problem. This became evident at the end of the discussions where, in numerous messages they had written, the participants showed a wish to continue to be involved in fi nding solutions to these prob-lems.

It is important that this methodology has been tested and that the experience and lessons learn-ed in this research will be used to improve si-milar research endeavours in the future.

Last but not least, this was a capacity building exercise of the research team. The newly ac-quired skills and experience in the work with children can be useful in their everyday work, other activities linked to the project and future research in this or other regions.


RECOMMENDATIONS


SERVICES WORKING SERVICES WORKING WITH CHILDRENWITH CHILDREN

IMPROVEMENT OF EXISTING IMPROVEMENT OF EXISTING CHILD PROTECTION SERVICESCHILD PROTECTION SERVICESh

The fact that a certain service for children and young people exists does not automatically mean that it is child and youth friendly. Children and young people will have confi dence to disclose their deep secrets and ask for help only if they believe they will be received in a friendly at-mosphere and with understanding. It is simple and cost-effective to honour the “principles” that make the existing services child and youth friendly.

Professionals employed in these services should uphold the existing or develop new internal pro-tocols that defi ne roles and responsibilities in case of reporting abuse. They should encompass preservation of confi dentiality of children’s tes-timonies. These protocols should defi ne with whom, in which cases and which information from such confi dential data can be shared with other colleagues in the same institution or in oth-er services. These protocols should also include sanctions that should be imposed on those who disclose confi dential information outside the set framework.

It is the responsibility of professionals to cons-tantly care about the confi dentiality of informa-tion and point out any violations of the protocols. Being in charge of the activities in their institu-tions, professionals also have the responsibility to keep reminding other staff (administration staff, cleaners, security personnel, etc.) that they should remain silent about who and when ap-proached the service.

Expertise includes both a certain level of educa-tion and constant advanced training, participation in seminars and exchange of experience with other colleagues. In-service training, after comp-letion of undergraduate professional education, should include the acquiring of communication skills. Professionals trained in protection of chil-dren from abuse, children’s rights and correspon-ding topics should transfer their knowledge and skills to other colleagues in their services.

To acquire communication skills demands training of professionals and constant practice. It is the obligation of the institution or organisation to pe-riodically organise the training of its personnel in

communication skills, necessary for building good rapport and developing the relationship of trust with clients.

The other principles that the children and young people emphasised as important in the work of the services dealing with children are: trust, un-derstanding, support, kindness, and constant im-provement and self-evaluation.

It is useful to organise supervisory debriefi ng sessions, which enable mutual evaluation and support, resolution of ethic and emotional di-lemmas and prevent burn-out. At such sessions professionals who on a daily basis meet with dif-fi cult and emotionally demanding stories have the opportunity to “let the steam out”, exchange ex-perience with colleagues, give each other support in following the principles of work and in both professional and personal problems.

The services should also honour the standards for the organisation of services and appearance of the premises in which children and young people would feel comfortable to present their problem.

Efforts should be made to allocate premises only for children and young people (and not adults and elders) within the general services. Such premises should ideally have a separate entrance that would make them more acceptable for children. The waiting and counselling rooms must be agreeable for children and young people, with toys, social games, posters, etc. Only one person should remain in a room and talk to the child.

If possible, the service should appoint a child pro-tection contact person, who will deal with cases of CAN and contact other services to solve the problem.

Children and young people will rather go to a ser-vice in which younger employees work, or their peers. All the services engaged in the protection of children from abuse, be they state institu tions or NGOs, can train and include in their work young people – volunteers. Their task should be to welcome every young person – client, talk to him/her, exchange basic information and direct him/her to talk with the respective professional.

Every service should consider engaging peer coun-selors, young people trained in communication and counseling skills, who could man the SOS telephone or provide individual counseling in the service.

In the evaluation of the work it would be useful to conduct periodic (surveys) or permanent (mes-

h The term “service” includes both state institutions and NGOs working on protection of children from abuse


sage box, “a book for complaints or commenda-tion”) evaluations by clients.

If the service works well, the clients them selves will quickly spread the word among peers (this is especially true of children and young people). A good reputation spreads far. However, for children and young people to be aware of the existence of a service and its location, it is necessary for that service to advertise itself through local media, posters or and information leafl ets distributed in schools and at places where children and young people gather.

In this advertisement, it is important for the service to clarify its role in protection of chil-dren from abuse. In cooperation with schools or youth clubs, services can organise visits of pupils to their premises, so they can get familiar with the work of the services and its ambiance. Representatives of services, again in cooperati-on with schools, can promote their services at classes.

It is useful for the service to apply “self-promo-tion” of the quality of its work (e.g. by publishing its annual report through media). Everything that it announces should be provided, the service really must be prepared to always provide.

In addition to honouring the principles of work of the children and youth friendly services and advertising them, the responsibility of professi-onals engaged in the protection of children from abuse is also the training of other professionals (schools, health care etc.) and the general public about the existence of this problem, the way it is manifested and the possibilities to resolve it. The initiative by UNICEF, DamaD and representatives of the local centers for social care and other ser-vices in the seven municipalities to provide basic training to all who work with children is a starting point in this direction.

ROLE OF SCHOOL IN PROTECTION FROM ABUSE

The school should adopt a code of conduct for teachers towards students, students towards teach-ers and students among themselves. Such a code should be followed by protocols that encompass mechanisms of reporting and sanctions in cases of abuse and other violations of the code. Verbal, physical and sexual abuse of students by teachers, as well as any type (religious, national or differ-ence in fi nancial status) of discrimination against

students must be reported and sanctions imposed within the framework of such a code.

Teachers should be trained by child protection professionals to recognize possible signs of abuse and to undertake measures, while at the same time honouring the principles of confi dentiality and the best interests of the child.

School management, teachers and assisting per-sonnel should be trained on the importance and principles of confi dentiality and to conduct those principles.

Within the framework of classes of civic education, catechism, psychology, sports, health education and class-master’s hour, teachers should discuss with children the types of abuse, risk factors, rights of the victim and possibilities to resolve the problem, including providing information about ex-isting services. These activities should be carried out continuously (not only once during a school year) with the aim of preventing child abuse, as well as helping those who are being abused.

The programmes of the above mentioned classes should include discussions about child rights and gender equality, as well as life skills based edu-cation, including capacity building of girls for self-esteem and boys for taking responsibility for their actions.

The responsibility of school personnel, primarily the school psychologist and pedagogue, whom the children can approach in case of abuse, lies in honouring all the principles of children and youth friendly services that were described in the previo-us Chapter (Promotion of Existing Services).

School psychologists must be trained to help children in cases of abuse, especially for types of a buse that are frequent in schools (peer violence, abuse by teachers). Psychologist-pedagogue service in school should be the fi rst safe haven for children reporting abuse.

The school psychologist must enjoy the support of the school authorities and her/his role in counsel-ing children should be promoted in the school (as opposed to his role of punishing “stray” students).

For training of teachers and other employees, for developing and adhering to protocols and codes, engagement and support of school authorities is necessary.

School authorities should organise training for chil-dren and young people, peer leaders, to carry out peer methodology with the aim of preventing abuse


of children and protection of children being abused.

• Peer education on prevention of abuse of children and young people, which students could learn in classes together or alterna-tively with teachers;

• Peer mediation in cases of peer violence (during breaks or classes);

• Peer counselling (as mentioned in the re-commendations for child protection ser-vices) can be organised in cooperation with the school psychologist in specially prepared and separated premises or in the offi ce of the psychologist. Peer advisors could have alternate duty hours with the psychologist.

FOR NGOsFOR NGOs

NGOs have the role to maintain the existing and organise new services that would deal with protection from child abuse and assistance to victims of violence. This is primarily related to SOS telephones where children can anony-mously seek advice and counselling services for victims and their families.

Self-help groups would best be organised within the NGOs, although institutions could play an important role as well. It means a lot to children who had experienced abuse to see that they are not alone in their problem and that together with peers who had also passed through such experience they can work on fi nding solutions. Groups would meet periodically (i.e., once a week). Self-help groups could be facilitated by those working in the institutions or in NGOs, or volunteers who would engage in the facilitation of such groups (i.e., psychology students).

As NGOs are frequently those service providers which the children approach fi rst, NGO repre-sentatives should take the role of representation of children with institutions in which the children cannot go alone.

NGOs who have been involved for many years now in prevention of abuse and protection of vic-tims have trained personnel who have vast ex-perience, and should have the role of educating professionals in institutions, primarily schools, to be capable of dealing with the problems by themselves, as well as to educate children about prevention of and protection from abuse.

In this sense, in cooperation with school autho-rities and managements of other organisations where children gather, NGO representatives could carry out the training of children for peer education, mediation and counselling.

NGOs also have the role to adequately advertise their services and make them accessible to chil-dren and young people, as well as to promote other services in the institutions with which they cooperate.

FOR THE LOCAL AUTHORITIESFOR THE LOCAL AUTHORITIES

The responsibility of the local authorities lies in the coordination, provision of support and promotion of existing child protection services.

The establishment of coordinating body which would include representatives from all the institutions and NGOs dealing with child protection, or support to such bodies that already exist, is a way to main-tain cooperation among the services.

Local authorities should provide continuous support to existing governmental and NGO local services working on child protection activities:

• Formal and legal: Proposal and adoption of formal decisions necessary for establishment and running of certain services or coordination bodies.

• Organizational, logistical, fi nancial: whenever and wherever possible allocate funds or assist in some other way, e.g. by provision of time in local media, engagement of volunteers or employees, training, provision of premises, free-of-charge line for the SOS telephone, pur-chase/acquisition of equipment, covering of running costs etc.

Local authorities should provide support (formal, organizational, logistical) to establishing and run-ning of new services and activities, which are not yet present in the community: This is primarily relat-ed to the implementation of peer methodology at the locations where young people gather outside of school, such as sports clubs, cultural-artistic socie-ties and NGOs. Trained children and young people would also have a role in the informal transmission of acquired knowledge and skills to their peers.

The local authorities should also support the or-ganising and functioning of shelters for children victims of violence. The shelter could be under the auspices of an institution or an NGO. The local authorities can provide premises, cover running costs, etc.


With support of the community, local authoriti-es should consider establishing the institute of children’s advocate, or an Ombudsperson, as an independent service at the municipality level. It is important that such a person is elected by the children, as an individual who enjoys the credibility and confi dence of children. This service should be governed by the principles of children and youth friendly services. It would have the task of indivi-dual representation of children with institutions, as well as promotion of activities in prevention and protection of children from abuse and neglect.

Good practice examples (SOS telephone DamaD Novi Pazar, Zdravoteka Sjenica, Shelter for children victims of violence in Priboj, Youth counselling ser-vice at Novi Pazar primary health care centre, etc.) show that all activities and services that the chil-dren mentioned to be necessary in the resolution of this problem can be either organised by institutions or by NGOs, or together by both. In both cases support of the other actors and local authorities is necessary.

For the implementation of all these recommenda-tions permanent cooperation is necessary, a divisi-on of tasks and exchange of information between the institutions, NGOs and local authorities, as well as mutual support among them. This support sho-uld include a mutual promotion of services. In order to be able to back up the promotion of services, all the services must satisfy the principles of children and youth friendly services, as well as to adopt and honour the code of conduct and joint protocols. In that sense, part of the mutual support is also re-lated to mutual evaluation and advocacy between them to uphold the principles and protocols.

FOR UNICEFFOR UNICEF

Comparative advantages of UNICEF in working for children are its cross sectorial programmatic orientation, multidisciplinary partnerships with all the key players in the country, and technical ex-pertise and world wide experience.

Using partnerships formed over the years with Government ministries, public institutions, acade-mic institutions, NGO and civil society, UNICEF has a unique ability to bring at the same table high governmental offi cials, grass root profession-als and children and youth themselves, for tac-kling the problem of child abuse and developing strategies for and strengthening services for its solution.

As a next step, UNICEF should widely share the fi ndings with all the relevant above mentioned partners. Discussions can be held with partners to explore which of them are capable and interested in further evidence gathering on the issues and possible multiplication of this methodology.

Recommendation to UNICEF is to, using this ex-perience, promote and support further research on CAN.

• Research in the same region can be deepen-ed in order to obtain answers to questions which emerged from this research. Primarily this refers to possible interventions (e.g. why children have more confi dence in NGOs than in public institutions, how to strengthen par-ent-children communication etc) and different forms of discrimination presented in the report (e.g. towards poor children, based on gender, age, ethnic and religious background).

• PAR in the same region, hopefully with the same groups of children, longitudinal over a period of time, in order to identify potential solutions and interventions.

• The same methodology can be replicated in the same and other regions with certain popu-lation groups: Roma children, children in insti-tutions, refugee children.

• Possible quantitative research on representa-tive sample (stratifi ed by sex, ethnicity, rural/urban setting), in order to confi rm or comple-ment the results obtained in this research.

• This research can be replicated, adapted ac-cording to the lessons learned, in other regions of Serbia and further.

UNICEF should continue capacity building of local partners in utilisation of PAR and other intervention research methodologies.

Representatives of UNICEF should in their direct contacts with the Government offi cials ensure that fi ndings from these research initiatives inform po-licy reform of relevant systems on a national level (social care, health care, judiciary).

UNICEF should continue to provide technical sup-port and bringing should bring best practice exam-ples from the world and neighbouring countries, when it comes to protection of children from abuse and neglect. This primarily refers to the support in developing the general protocol for protection of children from abuse and neglect on a national level and its implementation in institutions.


It further refers to support in strengthening the services for protection of children from abuse, through development of internal protocols, training of trainers for foundation training for protection of children, training for utilisation of peer methodolo-gies and life skills.

More intensive promotion of the concept and prin-ciples of child and youth friendly services - Homans H., Koso S. Mapping Report of Youth Friendly Health Services in Serbia and Montenegro: Serbia, WHO/UNICEF/UNFPA, Geneva, 2003). and advocating for adoption of this concept on a national level and standardisation, as well as training of professionals in public instituti-ons and NGOs for adopting the principles of such services, are also among recommendations for fur-ther activities of UNICEF in this fi eld.

UNICEF should also continue advocating with the national authorities for inclusion of education on protection of children form abuse and neglect as a topic in civic education, for accreditation and stan-dardisation of peer education programs; for intro-duction of life skills education in schools and other public institutions (homes for children without parental care, correctional-educational institutions etc.).

Looking at CAN from the perspective of violation of children’s rights, that is, the promotion of chil-dren’s rights in order to prevent and tackle CAN, is one more task UNICEF should continue to under-take successfully. Recognition of child abuse as violation of rights by the participants in our research is a proof that the efforts of UNICEF in promotion of children’s rights provide result.

The last, but the most important, UNICEF should use its unique credibility and possession of appropriate methodologies to further strengthen the participation of children and young people in designing, provision and evaluation of services for protection of children from abuse and neglect. Also, UNICEF can make the suggestions from children visible for the national authorities and relevant services. All these activities have the aim to tailor the services to correspond to the needs of children. This is the only guarantee that the children will indeed con-fi de in services and that the severe and frequent problem will be tackled.

AWARENESS RAISING CAMPAIGNAWARENESS RAISING CAMPAIGN

The following recommendations related to the a wareness raising campaign for protection of children from abuse and neglect can be relevant enough in organisation of other similar awareness

raising campaigns happening in the country, beyond the project.

This campaign should be standing on two pillars. One is the public campaign directed to general public, designed by the NGO DamaD and carri-ed out in cooperation with other local NGOs in 7 municipalities. The second one direct spread of information and skills by the trained professionals from centres for social work, directed at other pro-fessional working with children (pre-school, school, health care, police) and other colleagues in centres for social work. These two components of the campaign should be harmonised, simultaneous and complementary to each other.

The need exists for a stratifi ed campaign. Special aspects of the campaign should encompass several target groups:

• Children and young people

The campaign for children and young people should be implemented in schools and at locations where they gather (cafes, cinemas, sports clubs, cultural-artistic societies, NGOs). The role in the implementation of these activities is primarily re-served for the young people themselves, supported and trained by the campaign bearers.

The campaign should be focused on the education of children and young people about those aspects of abuse of which they are not completely aware of. The research has shown that this is primarily related to explaining the mechanism of how abuse starts, i.e., the abuse of power by the abuser.

Emphasis should also be made on the transmission of the message that the child is not guilty for what is happening and that it has the right to request help to stop abuse. The knowledge that children and young people have about the concept of child rights should be used to emphasise freedom from abuse and the right to protection.

The campaign should also encompass a clarifi ca-tion of certain phenomena: violence vs. abuse, domestic violence, paedophilia vs. sexual abuse, in the context of recognising abuse and fi nding solu-tions.

Information about the existing services and the promotion of their work should be part of the cam-paign.

• Parents

Part of the campaign focused on parents should be carried out through mass media, as well as in coo-peration with schools, during parent’s meetings.


Messages in the campaign should help parents un-derstand what their children consider to be abuse and in which way their communication with chil-dren can be improved to prevent such occurrences. Several principles should be emphasised: talk with children (instead of punishing them), believe what they say, honour their opinion and undertake pre-ventive action with the aim of discovering abuse.

• Teachers

The campaign focused on teachers should primarily help them to understand that what they are doing children consider to be abuse, and that it jeopardi-ses their relations and the fulfi lment of the schools’ basic goal – the education of children. This should also be put into the context of the violation of child rights. Teachers are persons who the children should trust and be their model, not somebody who abuses them.

Efforts should be invested into advocating for the inclusion of talks on child rights, gender equality and prevention and protection of children from a buse into school programmes (civic education, catechism, psychology). Furthermore, the advocacy should extend to include into these and other classes talks and training of children and young people in communication and life skills.

• General public

Messages for the general public should encompass the individual activities of all persons involved in the project, as well as active participation in panel discussions and local and regional media. The task of the media is not to carry sensationalist reports, but to include educative reports about child abuse with the aim of resolving such problems.

Messages for the general public should emphasise that children should be talked to, that they should be believed when they disclose abuse, that the guilt for abuse does not lie on the victim but on the perpetrator, that it is not a disgrace to talk about abuse, it is a disgrace to abuse; that a child’s opi-nion should be honoured and the responsibility of children for their own behaviour should be promo-ted.

The campaign should include information on the types of abuse and how to recognize the signs. Abuse should be put into the context of child rights and freedom from abuse, on health and develop-ment and other rights.

Information should be provided about the existence of services and good practice examples should be promoted.

Within the framework of the campaign, lobbying should be directed towards the opening of new services and organisation of activities for assistan-ce to children (child lawyer, self-help groups, safe houses for children, victims of violence, etc.).

Emphasis on the consequences of abuse, primarily the transmission of the abuse and inter-genera-tional transmission, could help the general public understand the signifi cance of recognizing and pre-venting abuse.

Those leading the campaign should be professio-nals working on basic training and NGO represen-tatives working on the promotion of human rights and rights of children regarding abuse. Individual promotional activities and activities in the media and open discussions should all carry unifi ed mes-sages.

LIST OF ANNEXES

Annex 1: Schedule of focus group discussions and list of local organisers

Annex 2: Focus group Scenario

Annex 3: Focus group discussion ground rules

LITERATURALITERATURA

1. Report of the Consultation on Child Abuse Prevention, 29-31 March 1999, WHO, Ge-neva. World Health Organisation, Geneva, 1999.

2. A Skill-Building Guide for Making Focus Groups Work. HealthCom Project, Academy for Educational Development, Washington USA, March 1995.

3. Perel Levin S. Focus groups as a tool for assessing perceptions on elder abuse among older people and primary health care wor-kers. Draft. WHO 2001.

4. Homans H., Koso S. Mapping Report of Youth Friendly Health Services in Serbia and Montenegro: Serbia. WHO/UNICEF/UNFPA, Geneva, 2003.


ANNEXES


ANNEX 1: ANNEX 1: Agenda of the focus group discussi-Agenda of the focus group discussi-ons and list of local organisersons and list of local organisers

Tutin, 09.08

NGO Impuls

Contact person: Dženeta Agović

Sjenica, 10.08

NGO Flores

Contact person: Sedat Vrcić-Sejo

Prijepolje, 11.08

Center for social work

Contact person: Rada Divac

NGO Nova vizija (New vision)

Contact person: Mirsad Duran

Priboj, 12.08

NGO Ženska inicijativa (Women’s initiative)

Contact person: Zora Ćelović

Nova Varoš, 13.08

Center for social work

Contact person: Nataša Pucarević

Novi Pazar, 15.08

NGO DamaD

Contact person: Zibija Šarenkapić

Raška, 16.08.

Mesna organizacija žena Raške (Local associati-on of women of Raška)

Contact person: Zorica Nišević


ANNEX 2: ANNEX 2: Focus group scenario (Sample cases and questions)Focus group scenario (Sample cases and questions)

Focus group scenario on perceptions and opinions of children and youth on child abuse

Good morning and thank you for coming. My name is Silvia/(Assistant). On behalf of DamaD from Novi Pazar and UNICEF offi ce in Belgrade, (if needed explain what DamaD and UNICEF are), we are conducting a research with children and youth. During our research we shall talk with over 140 chil-dren and youth in your and six more cities. We invited you here today to talk with you about prob-lems children and youth encounter in everyday life: with parents, at school, with friends. We would like to learn your opinions on child abuse and what messages would you send to those in charge of child protection. Your and your peers’ opinions are very important for us. It will help us to improve services helping children and youth.

If you don’t mind, we shall audio tape and record this conversation in writing. This helps us to record as accurately as possible what you will say. Do you agree to the conversation being recorded on tape and in writing?

Your participation in the discussion is anonymous. We shall not record your names and will not share with others, who of you said what. If you do not wish to answer any of the questions, you do not have to. If you feel uncomfortable at any moment, and wish to leave the discussion, you have the full right to. We shall not ask you about your personal experiences with abuse.

Do you have any questions about today’s discussion?

(Answer any posed question)

Is each of you OK with participating in this discussion? Would any of you like to leave the group now?

(Note if anyone leaves)

Thank you.

I, _____, shall lead today’s discussion with you, and ____ will record what we shall be talking about.

It is planned for our conversation to take 1.5 to 2 hours. I kindly ask all of you to take part in the discussion and express your opinions freely. Here there are no right or wrong answers. Everybody’s opinion is equally important. We would like to hear your honest answers. We also ask you to respect each other and not interrupt each other, as well as not to speak for too long, in order for each of us to have enough time to say what we want.

If at a certain point you would like me to repeat or clarify something, feel free to interrupt me.


INTRODUCTION

1. Please introduce yourself, tell us something about yourself.

2. What motivated you to join today’s discus-sion?

(Start audio taping and writing down)

3. How do you pass your time these days?

4. What obligations do you have these days? (Probe: Do you have any diffi culties at scho-ol, with parents...?

5. Which are the greatest problems your gene-ration is facing nowadays (in school, in the family, with friends)?

THE NATURE OF THE PROBLEM

Now we shall read you a story, and then discuss it.

STORY 1: Elvis’s story

Dino is in 5th grade, living with his mother. He was transferred from the previous school due to bad behavior. At the new school, the class ac-cepted him well.

Elvis is new in the class, he recently moved from another town with his family. He is shor-ter, much smaller and physically weaker than Dino.

Dino is constantly attacking Elvis. He calls him names, gives him čvrge. He took away Elvis’s notebook and tore it apart. Once he threw El-vis’s backpack through the window. Once, during the break, Elvis bought a sandwich and started eating it in the school yard. Dino came, took the sandwich away and threw it in the mud.

Elvis doesn’t know what to do. He told the class master, who called Dino’s mother. After this, Dino attacked him even more often.

1. What bad thing is happening to Elvis?

2. Have you heard of any similar case?

3. Why does this happen?

4. Is this behavior justifi ed in any case? If yes, in which situations and why? If no, why not?

5. What would you call this behavior?

6. Can this be called abuse?

7. What kind of abuse is this?

We shall read another story and we shall talk about it as well.

STORY 2: Nenad’s story

Nenad is 14 years old, lonely and introverted, has no friends. Father alcoholic beats the moth-er and Nenad. Nenad has deteriorated in school, often runs from school, he feels depressed. He doesn’t know how to help his mother. But he has no one to turn to...

8. Have you heard of any similar cases?

9. How would you name such behavior of the father towards Nenad, and how towards Nenad’s mother?

10. Is abuse the same thing as violence? What are differences?


12. Is abuse the fact that Nenad has to watch the mother being beaten?

STORY 3: Maja’s story

Maja is in 6th grade, she has excellent grades, is favourite in her class. Lately, she started withdrawing into herself, she doesn’t go out to the school yard during the break, does not go to play with her friends.

Marko is a good friend of Maja’s father. He is often a guest at their home. The whole family is glad when he comes to visit. He always brings presents, especially for Maja.

Lately, Marko drops by even when Maja is alone at home. He usually puts Maja in his lap, cares-ses her hair, face, lifts her skirt and touches her knees. He tells her how beautiful she is, how nicely she has developed, “lucky is the one who will be her boyfriend” and how he loves her a lot. As he is leaving, he tells her to keep it their secret that he came.

Maja is more and more embarrassed, she is ashamed. She does not like what Marko is doing to her. She fears the next meeting with him. She is afraid to stay alone. She does not dare telling anyone what is happening...


13. What bad thing is happening to Maja?


15. How would you explain to your peer, what child abuse is for you?

16. In your opinion, what types of child abuse exist?

17. Who are most frequently abusers?

18. Why do these people abuse children? (What are the reasons?)

19. How can one tell that a child is being a bused?

20. What can be the consequences of child abuse? (Probe: health, behavior, in later life)?

21. Are there any characteristics of children, or any situations, which put children at special risk from abuse? (Probe: life in fa-mily/out of family; age of the child; pover-ty; education)

22. Are any characteristics of those who abuse children contributing to child abuse (Probe: alcoholism/illness of the abuser; poverty, education)

23. Who is more susceptible to abuse, boys or girls? Why?

24. In your community, what do adults think about children? Does this kind of opinion contribute to child abuse?

25. Would the situation be different if children were more respected?

26. How many children in your opinion are victims of abuse (Probe: every third, every tenth...)

27. Which types of abuse are most frequent?

SOLUTIONS – INTERVENTIONS - CHALLENGES

Remember Elvis’s, Nenad’s and Maja’s stories again.

28. Why didn’t Maja turn to anyone? (Probe: what is she afraid/ashamed of?)

29. Who would you recommend her to turn to?

30. To whom could Nenad turn for help? What about Elvis?

31. Why do children hesitate to turn for help?

32. Which services/organisations should get involved and help children (Probe: CSW, police, health service, NGO, school)?

33. Have you heard about such services in your community?

34. How should these services look?

35. What would you say to people working in these services? E.g. the police; teacher; soc. worker; psychologist?

36. Have you ever talked about the abuse (remind them what they named as abuse) with peers, parents or in class?

37. Have you heard about this on TV, radio, read about it in newspapers?

38. Why don’t people talk about it?

39. Now, each of you please take a piece of paper and write down your message for parents. What would you tell the parents about child abuse?

40. On the second piece of paper please write what you would say to your peers about child abuse.

41. At the end, please take the third piece of paper. If you had a chance to talk on TV about child abuse, what would you say? Write it down for us.

(They can also draw the answers to the last 3 questions).

This concludes our discussion. How do you feel now? Thank you for coming and sharing your opinions with us.


ANNEX 3: ANNEX 3: Focus group discussion ground rulesFocus group discussion ground rules

GROUND RULES

1. Anonymous participation

2. Discussion will be tape recorded and writ-ten down.

3. The right not to answer any question or not participate in the discussion

4. If uncomfortable, we can leave

5. No questions about personal experiences with violence

6. If in discomfort, immediate one-on-one support will be provided

7. Express our minds freely

8. Speak one at a time

9. Respect each other

10. Everyone’s opinion is equally important and valuable

11. There are no right and wrong answers

12. Everything said remains confi dential


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Documents

perceptions of and opinions on child abuse - UNICEF