Barnahus project launched in Novopolotsk

VITEBSK, 8 June (BelTA) - An interviewing room for child victims and witnesses based on the Barnahus model opened today in Novopolotsk, BelTA learnt from Andrei Makhanko, the chairman of the board of the non-governmental association “Ponimanie”. The association has launched a project “Implementation of the Barnahus model in Belarus” with the support of the World Childhood Foundation (Sweden), which provides for a system of measures of psychological support for children in difficult life situations. The room is designed for interviewing a child being suspected to be exposed to a sexual or physical abuse by a psychologist or investigator face-to-face. The interviewer has additional training in the technology of friendly interviewing. Other participants of the process watch what is happening in the room on screen. This model, according to Andrei Makhanko, allows minimizing the impact of unpleasant memories on a child and getting reliable information from a minor. The first interviewing room was opened in Minsk in 2009. Today there are eight such rooms in all oblasts of the country. By 2012, Poninmanie is planning to open such rooms in all regional courts and in four district courts of Minsk. According to Andrei Makhanko, Ponimanie jointly with the national mental health center is launching a 24/7 nationwide children’s hotline on 1 July. This line as well as child-friendly interviewing rooms will help develop an efficient rehabilitation system for abused children and become an integral part of the country’s child protection system, he said. The NGO “Ponimanie” was founded in 2000. It has branches in Belarus, Ukraine and Lithuania. One of the major goals of the association is to provide support to motherhood, childhood and fatherhood protection; promoting the prestige of the family in the society; preventing violence and neglect of children; participation in projects and programs for scientific and practical basis development in psychology. Barnahus technology envisages only one specially trained psychologist working with a particular child who has become a violence victim, or a crime witness. The use of modern telecommunication technologies help other experts (law-enforcement officers, forensic experts, lawyers) engaged in the inquiry receive information on a real-time basis and interview the abused child via his/her psychologist.

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