A  refuge that became a children’s hell hole

A report dealing with what are described as terrifying stories of alleged abuse of children and adolescents allegedly abused at a shelter that was run by various foundations and subsidized by the state, where vulnerable children and adolescents are supposed to be protected, was a place of mistreatment, torture, and abuse.

The report on  Comprehensive Care Center, in Tocumen, was with the National Secretariat for Children, Adolescents, and the Family (Senniaf) since the beginning of 2019  but , it took more than a year for a complaint to be filed with the Public Ministry in July 2020.

Anomalies
The last director of the hostel, Xenia Medina, told La Prensa that when they started running the site in April 2019, they presented a report of the first 45 days of management to the then director of Senniaf, Jazmín Cárdenas, in which s they detailed anomalies, such as the use of handcuffs to control children with disabilities,  children sleeping on the floor because beds were broken,  girls  who with venereal diseases who left the center and roamed the streets whose absences went unreported, a punishment room  called “the area” with no windows, beds or lights, where children were locked in, 60% of the children on expired psychiatric, drugs without a prescription that were, out of date medical records   and inappropriately  dressed teenage girls taken to an adult Christmas party by a  private contractor providing “training services”

Sara Rodríguez, director of the Senniaf, said she did not know the reasons why her predecessor did not file a complaint, but in her case she said  they collected information and presented a complaint to the Public Ministry, which was expanded on Wednesday

For reasons still unknown, Senniaf transferred the administration of the shelter to the Fundación Chilibre Panamá in April 2019 and it was renamed the Centro de Attention Integral Fundación Chilibre Panamá. Xenia Medina was appointed.director.

Medina told La Prensa that, in addition to the January 2020 report, in May 2019 they sent the first document to Jazmín Cárdenas the  then director of Senniaf, after a management audit of the first 45 days at the shelter.

Medina stressed that the Fundación Chilibre Panamá, which managed the place between April 2019 and July 2020, complied with delivering the reports of the anomalies to both the former director of the Senniaf and the current Secretary-General, Sara Rodríguez.

“We made the previous and current Senniaf administration aware of the irregular situation, of what happened before we took over the administration in April 2019,” she said..

There was also a “leak history” of adolescents, especially women, not reported to Senniaf. A group of between 8 and 10 adolescents had a habit of leaving the home and wandering the streets.

Former administrator Roberto Charles, who at his discretion did an “individual” search did not report the facts to the authorities. “Escaped adolescents returned with vaginal infections.”

According to the document “there was never a formal written agreement” between the Fundación Chilibre Panamá and Aguilar & Asociados, for adolescents at risk to go to professional practices at the firm, which is dedicated to the service of “collections and sales”.

The breaking point between the administrators of the shelter and the company came last December when four teenagers who were invited to  Christmas party at night, without notifying the shelter.

“It had not received a formal invitation to accompany them, from the Aguilar & Asociados company,  nor had it received authorization from Senniaf for such an event; in addition, it was a party for adults, ”says the report.

The teenagers with clothes that were not appropriate for their age and with which they showed their chest and legs too much. “We have to be aware that they are adolescents at social risk and victims of sexual abuse. We can’t be exposing them, ”it  says.

: “. Farida Rincón, general manager of Grupo Aguilar & Asociado, has been feeding the heads of the four teenagers of false hope, by promising that she will fulfill their dreams.”

Sara Rodríguez, the current secretary of Senniaf, said she filed a complaint at the end of July with the Public Ministry, and now the case is in the Family Prosecutor’s Office. On Wednesday they made an extension of the complaint, which included the incidents that occurred with Rincón.

On  August 3, the Public Ministry ordered Senniaf to take over the shelter and also decided that the foundation that administered it, Fundación Chilibre Panamá, should leave the place.

Now, the State, through Senniaf and Mides, has to guarantee this vulnerable population what it could not get for a decade: security, well-being, and respect for their human rights.

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