Copenhagen: School bends law to deal with domestic violence

Copenhagen: School bends law to deal with domestic violence

Many children in socially weak immigrant families are treated roughly and deal with physical punishment.  Schools are obligated to report any case they know of, but that doesn't always happen.

A teacher in 2nd grade at the Rådmandsgade (Rådmand Street) school in Copenhagen was shocked when after a chance incident she spoke with the students about violence and asked them to write and draw how conflicts are handled at home.

Two thirds of the 24 children in the class could tell of violence at home.  Some said they were beaten, one drew a coat hanger he was beaten with, while several wrote that their mother was beaten.

"It came as a surprise for us, that there were so many in just this class, because it's not something the children talk about," says Camilla Ottsen, vice inspector at the school.

At Rådmandsgade School they faced a big dilemma.  Usually the school doesn't hesitate to inform the social services when they notice students with problems.  But the question was, of what benefit would it be to report 15-16 families together.

"Strictly speaking, we're obligated to report," says Camilla Ottsen.

"The law, which forbids punishment, is correct, and we will raise the alarm, when it's broken.  But we bend the law, because we thought in this case that the children's needs are better served by dialog with the parents," she says.

School prinicipal Lise Egholm decided instead, together with the teacher, to call in all parents for an emergency meeting, where it was explained to them through role-play and dialog that people shouldn't beat their children and that there are other and better ways to discipline them than through physical punishment.

Mikkel Warming (Red-Green Alliance), mayor of social issues in Copenhagen, meanwhile maintains that the school has a duty to report all cases.

"It's not either-or.  Dialog with the parents sounds like a good idea, but if you have high-blood pressure, it's fine to exercise and eat healthy, but you should still go to the doctor.  We shouldn't take chances with our children. They should report," he says.

According to Bente Boserup, head of counseling at Børns Vilkår (children's rights organization). many children from immigrant families don't think that there's anything peculiar about being beaten.

"We can see that when we visit school in areas, where there are many children of a different ethnic background, they're either very surprised that we have a law forbidding beating children, or they think that the law doesn't apply to them."  He says the children think that parents can do whatever they want.

Integration consultant, lecturer and politician Manu Sareen is not surprised in the least.  He's seen many examples of rough upbringing in what he calls 'the ethnic underclass'.

"But immigrant parents do it because they love their children, and they're afraid they will end up in bad company.  I haven't met yet an immigrant family who hate their children.  But I met many who have no idea how they should raise their children in Denmark," he says.

Source: Politiken (Danish), h/t Hodja

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