Abuse and hazing uncovered in Ural orphanage

A resident of Aramil, Yulia, told E1.RU about the brutal conditions in one of the children«s homes in Sverdlovsk Oblast. Older children, with the tacit consent of the caregivers, beat the younger ones — this is how discipline is maintained in the institution. This »upbringing« led to an injury: Yulia»s 15-year-old cousin Nikita lost a finger on his hand as a result of the abuse. We also spoke with several former employees of the institution. They confirm that violence thrives in this place: children endure beatings from the teachers as well.

“They encouraged the younger ones to fear the older ones”

Yulia«s cousin ended up in the children»s home after his mother was deprived of parental rights. As the woman explains, the reason is the asocial behavior of Nikita«s mother. She is no longer alive. For some time, the boy lived with them, his grandfather obtained guardianship, but then due to old age and illnesses, he could not be the guardian. Now he is bedridden, Yulia takes care of him and his wife. She says that at first she tried to obtain guardianship over her brother, collected documents — but was refused:

— They came from the guardianship authorities to check the living conditions. There are two bedridden disabled people in the house, I take care of them. They said that I already have a big load. Besides, they considered that my income is insufficient, — explains Yulia (she works as a nurse in a hospital).

So the boy ended up in a children«s home. First in one — there, according to his sister, the conditions were good, the teachers treated the children humanely, communicated normally both with the pupils and among themselves. «Yes, there were fights and conflicts, but there was no abuse», — adds Nikita»s sister.

And then the boy was transferred to another shelter, not far from Yekaterinburg. There live both healthy children and children with disabilities, some study in correctional classes. And there, according to the woman, they began to abuse her brother. The boy had already been picked on because of his appearance — he has a visual disability, which externally manifests as severe strabismus.

— He always reacted very sharply, took offense, broke into screaming. Once they didn«t let me go with him to a children»s summer camp as an escort for a disabled child, although I specifically took time off. We didn«t want to send him alone, but we took a risk. In the end, he just ran away from there because of the mockery, — recalls Yulia.

Since the sister lives in another city, then, upon ending up in this children«s home, the boy was left alone with his tormentors.

— Older children abused him: beat him, extorted money, — asserts the sister. — The caregivers knew about everything but did not stop it. On the contrary, one could say they encouraged it so that the younger ones would fear the older ones.

Yulia says that in this way the adults maintained discipline: those who violated something, disobeyed, were beaten by older pupils. These methods in the children«s home, according to our interlocutor, were imposed by the head teacher Olga Valentinovna.

— And this led to my brother having his finger torn off! — Yulia tells us.

The trouble with Kolya happened on 15 October. He was taken from the children«s home to the hospital with a traumatic amputation of part of his finger. The boy told the doctors that he did it himself, allegedly accidentally pinched it in a door.

But Yulia assures that her brother confessed: he was taught what to tell the medics — otherwise it would be worse than before, and he would be sent to a psychiatric hospital.

According to the sister, they deliberately pinched Kolya«s hand in the door to abuse him. Allegedly this happened in front of the head teacher. The woman forwarded us several voice messages from her brother. In them, the child indeed says that he was forced to lie, as if he accidentally pinched his finger himself.

People familiar with the situation told us that Nikita left the children«s home for a walk that day. On the street, older pupils attacked him. They started throwing stones and sticks. Then they dragged him back to the group. In the doorway, the boy grabbed the doorjamb, one of the guys at that moment kicked the door hard, it slammed shut. The blow was such that the teenager»s finger phalanx was torn off. Whether any staff were nearby is unclear.

Yulia also asserts that some teachers set an example of violence for the children.

— The head teacher Olga Valentinovna herself beats children. No one is engaged in upbringing, it«s easier to keep the younger ones in fear with the help of the older ones. Children play strange games, like some »dog«s high» (choking until hypoxia, this is a very dangerous «fun» among teenagers. — Ed.). Instead of attracting a psychologist, explaining, switching children to normal children«s games and sports, they beat them.

But no, instead of normal holidays, they somehow organized a «day of transformation» — dressed younger boys in girls« dresses. I understand if everyone there were simple home children, without intellectual disabilities, with a normal sense of humor, on stage, in some comic roles, parodies. But dressing up children with special needs like that — that»s not funny anymore, it«s abuse. The children don»t understand anything, they smile, and they were photographed and posted in the general chat of the children«s home. They are just being mocked. I believe there is nothing normal in these »amusements«, they are dangerous, — states the boy»s sister.

Yulia also says that two years ago, one of the younger children complained about rape.

— Then they looked into it, took him for examinations, but brushed it under the carpet, found out nothing. The examination due to the time elapsed [since the episode] showed nothing, — she says.

Yulia appealed to the prosecutor«s office of the city where the institution is located.

— So far, silence. They took my brother«s phone, forbade him to talk to me, — says the sister. — What is happening with him now, I don»t know. I understand that I cannot become a guardian because I work, take care of bedridden people — that«s a big load. Now I am trying to get Nikita transferred to another center, near our home.

“Arguing is useless, I just quit”

We also spoke with former employees of this institution who worked there at different times. They note that the director of the institution is «adequate», there is no cruelty from her towards children, but she decides nothing — whereas all the children fear the head teacher.

Oksana worked here as a psychologist for about a year. She says she couldn«t take it anymore.

— For misbehavior, caregivers shove younger children into the group with older ones, there are teenagers around 16 years old. While I was working, two brothers were sent for some offenses, they were tied to a bed there. This is a common practice, not isolated cases. All this comes from the head teacher Olga Valentinovna. She encourages this and herself beats children. Everything is hushed up, brushed under the carpet — a year ago, one of the boys from the children«s home, a fourth-grader, was harmed. He said that two classmates (from home) made him kneel and [committed acts of a sexual nature]. No one contacted the law enforcement agencies, everything was silenced. I myself went then, talked, argued with the father of one of them, he apologized.

— Why didn«t you contact the police or Investigative Committee?

— I«m sure it»s useless. They will make it so that they are right, and I am not. This system cannot be broken, it«s a closed circle. And how many dead souls are there! Staff who are on paper, receive salaries, but in fact they are not in the children»s home. It so happened that I got the list of employees, there were twice as many as in reality. Arguing is useless, I just quit. If there are checks now, I am ready to give testimony to investigators.

Another former caregiver we contacted (she asked not to be named) confirms what Oksana said.

— The head teacher, in my presence, hit one of the six-year-old children in the face in the dining room. The children were making noise, she jumped up — and with full force in the face. He had a mark left, I photographed it, ready to hand it over to law enforcement agencies. I talked about how you can«t treat children like that, she in response: only this way is necessary, they don»t understand otherwise. Assault there was from the head teacher and another caregiver. I quit because I can«t work and see all this, and I»m afraid to get involved.

According to the former caregiver, at the head of the hazing, encouraged by the management, are those who have already graduated from the children«s home. One of them is Nikolai. He is an adult but continues to live in the children»s home, sleeps on the floor.

— They didn«t give him housing, he didn»t get a job with a dormitory anywhere, all the money, apparently, he squandered and returned, — explains the former employee (by law, a graduate under 23 cannot be prohibited from being in the former institution. — Ed.). — They even put him in the group as a caregiver without the necessary education, I was outraged about this. He «educates» them with slaps.

The woman also confirmed that the recently injured teenager had been bullied for a long time.

— The poor guy was made the main victim, he wasn«t considered human. He is afraid to say a word. The boy, if you talk to him nicely, is completely adequate, but the head teacher and the older ones harassed him, deliberately provoke him to anger. He breaks down, gets angry, screams, and they portray him as unbalanced. Of course, he needs to be saved, urgently transferred to another children»s home, — the ex-employee is indignant.

Another former teacher told E1.RU the following:

— This is real hazing. For me, it was wild that the older ones have the right to punish — beat the younger ones. Children grow up and then behave the same way — it«s just a vicious circle. Caregivers, who should teach good, encourage this and themselves beat. Children complained to me more than once. Olga Valentinovna takes them into her office, beats them in private. One boy said that she started choking him until he began to suffocate. Girls also complained. There is no educational work with the children, everything is left to chance: they beat them, and that»s it.

What they say in the children«s home

We called the other side of the conflict story. In the children«s home, they deny everything that our interlocutors said. The institution is currently undergoing checks: departmental, prosecutorial, and from the Investigative Committee.

— Not a single point has been confirmed at this time, — comments the head teacher Olga Valentinovna. — All these accusations are unsubstantiated. Citizen Yulia needs [to understand] that unsubstantiated accusation is also punishable by law. We know this citizen. She comes and insults us — in particular, the director, me, the children. Yes, she [of course] loves Nikitka.

The teacher clarified that the boy indeed sustained an injury:

— He inflicted the injury on himself through carelessness. The child is disabled due to a mental illness. The boy himself is good, but sometimes commits thoughtless acts. That someone [inflicted the injury] on him — that is completely excluded. There is no bullying in our institution, neither from the staff nor from the children towards each other. Of course, there are childish scuffles during play, that«s possible, but — today they quarreled, tomorrow they made up. What you said (assault from teachers, bullying. — Ed.) definitely does not exist, I state this responsibly. And it has not been noticed by any supervisory or law enforcement agencies. Psychologists from external organizations also conducted testing of interpersonal relations with the children — we have no bullying, no harassment.

Also, the E1.RU editorial office sent a request to the Ministry of Social Policy of Sverdlovsk Oblast asking to comment on the first results of the check.

In addition, we appealed to the Commissioner for Children«s Rights of Sverdlovsk Oblast, Tatyana Titova, with a request to take control of the situation. First of all — to help transfer the affected child to another children»s institution, closer to his relatives.

All information about the situation in the children«s home and the recordings the editorial office is ready to hand over to law enforcement agencies.

We reported on another shocking case in a Yekaterinburg special school: older students there raped younger ones according to «prison concepts». The director of the institution hid this from law enforcement agencies. In the end, she was fired and tried for negligence, and the rapists were sentenced to various terms.

We also wrote about the everyday life in another children«s home in Sverdlovsk Oblast: pupils were beaten, sponsor aid disappeared. After investigators came to the institution, other, more terrible crimes against children were uncovered.