Abuse scandal puts Thailand’s treatment of children under spotlight

[webfact]

 

A recent scandal at the Saraburi Welfare Home for Children has raised questions as to whether vulnerable kids are safe in the hands of state institutions.

 

Evidence shows that young girls at the institution were confined in a toilet with their hands and legs bound as punishment for wetting the bed and minor misdemeanors such as stealing.

 

A psychologist at the welfare home eventually decided to blow the whistle because she could no longer tolerate such inhumane treatment of vulnerable children. In response to her complaint, an investigation was launched and the welfare home’s director along with some of her team members were transferred.

 

“This welfare home is operated by the state. Such practices should have never happened in the first place,” said Chettha Mankhong, director of the Foundation for Child Development.

 

Authoritarian care

 

Chettha blamed authoritarian attitudes for the maltreatment of children at state-run homes, which are tasked with protecting and nurturing the youngsters in their care. Such attitudes, he said, are deep-seated and longstanding in Thailand, where parents and guardians often think that they can treat children under their care however they like.

 

Full story: https://www.thaipbsworld.com/abuse-scandal-puts-thailands-treatment-of-children-under-spotlight/

 

-- © Copyright Thai PBS 2023-06-26

 

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[jackinthebox]

this picture makes me cry...for a child, this is more torture than punishment.

[ikke1959]

There is a lack of education on every level in Thailand. Kids are being beaten with sticks and rules in school for minor offences, At their families it is the same.. Thai people talk with their hands instead of their mouth. Nobody cares and alternative punishments as people in the western countries do are not accepted, but seen as interfering in their culture..So the beating and mistreatment are educated already to the kids even before they can talk. Sad, but there is a lot of change needed in Thailand.

[hotchilli]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

Evidence shows that young girls at the institution were confined in a toilet with their hands and legs bound as punishment for wetting the bed and minor misdemeanors such as stealing.

And this is where they're supposed to get help.

[jacko45k]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

and the welfare home’s director along with some of her team members were transferred.

Transferred, that is unbelievable, surely sacked and prosecuted. 

[Bangkok Barry]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

Such attitudes, he said, are deep-seated and longstanding in Thailand, where parents and guardians often think that they can treat children under their care however they like.

It's a direct result of the rigid class system that exists in Thailand, something my native UK managed to largely eradicate around 100 years ago.

 

It's why so many in a uniform or position of 'power' make life as difficult as possible for those they deal with, as the uniform gives them the imagined freedom to do whatever they want and to kick back against their otherwise lowly position on the social ladder. The abused becomes the abuser. It's a way of fighting back against the system.

And because every Thai from a very young age is taught their place on the social rung, and everyone is looked down upon by someone, frustration and resentment builds and builds, and suddenly they 'do a Popeye' - That's all I can takes, I can't takes no more - and they reach for the can of spinach. Or, in Thailand, the nearest gun or machete. Thai society is like a volcano about to explode, and it doesn't take much to send some over the edge and commit violence, even kill, over the smallest thing.

 

[Tropicalevo]

Very sad for the kids. ????

[h90]

"minor misdemeanors such as stealing."
The treatment might be wrong but stealing is not a minor misdemeanor. If the kids don't learn that they can't steal, they'll end in jail later.

There might be a more human way to teach them but stealing must have serious consequences.

[BusyB]

5 hours ago, hotchilli said:

And this is where they're supposed to get help.

To end up in a place like this they must already have a terrible and traumatic backstory.

 

Jesus wept.

[BritScot]

6 hours ago, Bangkok Barry said:

It's a direct result of the rigid class system that exists in Thailand, something my native UK managed to largely eradicate around 100 years ago.

 

It's why so many in a uniform or position of 'power' make life as difficult as possible for those they deal with, as the uniform gives them the imagined freedom to do whatever they want and to kick back against their otherwise lowly position on the social ladder. The abused becomes the abuser. It's a way of fighting back against the system.

And because every Thai from a very young age is taught their place on the social rung, and everyone is looked down upon by someone, frustration and resentment builds and builds, and suddenly they 'do a Popeye' - That's all I can takes, I can't takes no more - and they reach for the can of spinach. Or, in Thailand, the nearest gun or machete. Thai society is like a volcano about to explode, and it doesn't take much to send some over the edge and commit violence, even kill, over the smallest thing.

 

Very well put.

[Joseph98765]

13 hours ago, webfact said:

were transferred.

transferred....great....to another welfare care home? 

Edited June 26, 2023 by Joseph98765

[Pond Life]

Don't forget that not so long ago this type of treatment was very common in the residential school system in Canada & most western countries have had their share of child welfare abuse.

[peter zwart]

And more brainless people.