GOVT ‘FINALLY RECOGNISING PUBLIC CONCERN OVER DR GIRALDI HOME INCIDENTS’ – OPPOSITION
Shadow Minister for Social Services Neil Costa has said that the answers given to Opposition questions last week about the Dr Giraldi Home incidents some years ago indicate that there have been serious shortcomings in the operation of the Social Services Agency.
Mr Costa said this in relation to the treatment of those persons in its care and said it is only now, when the Government has accepted that there is public concern about this issue, that some information is finally seeing the light of day.
“One has to nevertheless question the reliability of the information that has been provided so far and it is clear that the matter cannot be left to rest there,” he said.
The Opposition tabled a number of questions regarding some of the allegations concerning unacceptable treatment of persons with disabilities who are, or have been, in the care of the Social Services Agency.
Mr Costa points out that in answer to one particular question Jaime Netto, the Minister answering the questions, confirmed that there has been a complaint by the family of a service user who had been punished by the Agency by being made to stand facing the wall with heavy books on his outstretched arms. This, the complainant said, was allegedly because the child had misbehaved and a senior member of staff confirmed that this was a suitable form of punishment for a young person with disabilities.
“Government has now admitted that there was such a complaint and they say it was investigated in 2002 and the member of staff involved had been warned and reprimanded. The answer given provides no indication as to whether other children with disabilities were punished in the same way, given that the complainant made clear that this has been approved by a senior member of staff and this has not been denied,” said Mr Costa.
He said it also raises the question of whether if such punishment was accorded to a child in one of the schools run by the Department of Education, the same procedure of a reprimand would have been used.
“If this treatment is not considered acceptable for children without disability then it should be considered even less acceptable when it comes to children who are disabled. This means that children with disabilities are being discriminated against by being treated in a way that would not be considered acceptable for children without disability.”
In addition, he said the complainant has made clear that, having made the complaint to the Agency about the treatment of the child, they were not involved in any way nor were they given any information about the action being taken or any hint about the practice being discontinued.
“Therefore the first time that the family have had any indication that anything has been done about the complaint was in the answer given in Parliament this week when the question was put. This is six years after the incident,” he said.
As well as this form of punishment, there have been other complaints of service users punished in other ways. In particular, one of the statements referred to the existence of a punishment room which was set up and actively used by some of the Agency staff and then closed down, said Mr Costa. The Minister stated in Parliament that there has never been any punishment room in the Dr Giraldi Home.
But Mr Costa said it subsequently emerged that his reply was based on his having asked the Manager of the Dr Giraldi Home and that the answer had been drafted by the employee of the Agency.
“This appears to have been the basis of all the answers given in Parliament by the Minister. The Minister therefore is relying on information provided by people who, given the turnover of staff in the Agency, in the majority of cases were not in post when the incident occurred.”
“The Minister was not able to confirm whether there was any written record or material evidence of any kind that he knew of to support the answers given, and that it might well be that the information being provided in some instances are purely the recollection of some of the people in the Agency of what they think might or might not have happened at the time of these allegations.”
“The information available to the Opposition is that such a place as a punishment room existed. It also should be recalled that the persons who claim it existed were prepared to say so under oath had the tribunal proceeded.”
GLDMMeanwhile the Gibraltar Local Disability Movement repeated their concerns about the Dr Giraldi Home allegations of abuse.
They described the infor-mation that has emerged as deplorable and worthy of severe condemnation from all Gibraltar.
“The disability movement reiterates that many parents are worried about the issue about the so called alleged abuses and adds that the allegations of abuse are hurting many.”
Commenting on Mr Netto confirming in Parliament, that a drunken manager of Dr Giraldi Home almost gave a child a drug overdose, the GDLM Movement said this very significance issue should be of more concern to citizens than environmental campaigns and the like and should have prompted legal proceedings.
They also point out that any form of punishment is illegal under the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union - TITLE I - DIGNITY - Article 4 - Prohibition of torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
“The Chief Minister should accept that parents and public are interested over this issue and that it will do no good to hamper, or to be seen not being as an open Government. Subject to a proper investigation of the abuses and allegations the parents and public will not heal,” said the GDLM.
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