Punitive psychiatry and violence against children: it became known what happened in a boarding school in the Lviv region

In Ukraine, the topic of violence and abuse in children’s homes and boarding schools has been raised for years. Journalistic investigations, statements of human rights defenders, testimonies of pupils and graduates — all this proves for years that it is precisely in state institutions where the most vulnerable children end up, that they often become victims of humiliation, beatings and even sexual violence. It would seem that a full-scale war should change the country. The suffering of children who lost their homes, families or came under shelling should have sharpened the sense of responsibility of adults.

But the reality turned out to be even more terrible: even against the background of war, these children suffer not only from the enemy. They are humiliated, beaten and raped by their own citizens of Ukraine, those who should protect, support and educate. And the most terrible thing in this story is that this is not done by random people, not foreign criminals. This is done by those who have been entrusted with the right to educate – teachers, educators, directors of institutions. People who are officially responsible for the life and health of these children turn into executioners. And this is the biggest moral defeat of the system.

A shocking case in the Lviv region proves once again: things can happen in boarding schools that are hard to even think about. A real drama unfolded in the Velikolyubin educational and rehabilitation center, where the most vulnerable children were sent, which became a sentence for the entire system. Journalistic investigation NGL.media showed an eerie picture of how children lived and survived in this facility. Bullying, humiliation, sexual violence and punitive psychiatry — all this was a reality for the pupils.

According to Kyryl Nevdoha, the head of the Office of Children and Youth “DIiMO” under the Ministry of Social Policy, who was part of the monitoring group, no one went to the inspection to look for violations – they responded to the appeal of one of the girls. But what they saw was a shock even for experienced people. “But what we’ve seen is either a doom for the child welfare system or an opportunity to change it,” he said.

At that time, there were 57 children in the institution — all of them with difficult fates, without family support, in difficult life circumstances. And it was they, the most vulnerable, who told the monitoring group about how the management called them “prostitutes”, “animals”, “hate”, “no one needs”. And for bad behavior they were beaten with a ruler and slippers.

But the most shocking were the testimonies about the actions of the director of the institution himself – Stepan Mashchak. According to the children, he got into bed with them, touched their private parts, and forced them to kiss. Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets reported on children’s testimony regarding sexual acts by the manager, public humiliation and even threats to send children to a psychiatric hospital.

Criminal proceedings have been opened for sexual violence. As the lawyer of the “YurFem” association Oleg Ivanov said, more than 60 people have already been questioned.

“We are working with five victims aged 12 to 17 — four girls and one boy. The documents that had to be seized during the investigation have already been seized, the investigation is ongoing.” he said.

In addition, it turned out that violence between the children themselves took place in the institution. One of the pupils said that he was raped by a high school student in the school toilet – and after that both continued their studies at the same school.

The situation was only worsened by the fact that children who tried to complain or violated the “rules” were punished by being sent to a psychiatric hospital in Lviv. One of the students, Nastya Vanyo, said that she was there five times – for taking a cat to the boarding school or for not following the director’s order.

“No one liked to go there. I was there about five times, each time for bad behavior.”, – the girl remembers.

In a psychiatric hospital, she was given pills and injections, after which, in her own words, she “just stared at the wall.”

A separate story is financial manipulation. According to the children, bank cards with social benefits were taken from them. Mashchak allegedly promised to buy them phones, but did not do so.

Nastya Vanyo also mentions the moral pressure – during the lessons, the principal told them that the fate of “prostitutes” awaited them all, and at the meetings he called on the teachers to beat the children with pointers or rulers. And they beat – the children confirmed it.

Journalists also found out that Mashchak’s son took out a fictitious guardianship over one of the pupils in order to get a postponement from mobilization, but in fact the child remained in the institution.

The finale of this story is currently not set. But even those facts that have become known are a direct answer to the question of why Ukrainian children continue to suffer not only from the war, but also from their fellow citizens, from those who should be their protection and support. And this is the biggest tragedy. Because while Ukraine is fighting for freedom and independence, children are dying morally inside the system, where the so-called teachers are the perpetrators, and the word “protection” is an empty sound. The history of the Velikolyubinsky boarding school is a verdict on the entire system of boarding schools. And if nothing changes after this incident, then we have lost another war – the war for our children.

It will be recalled that after the story about the abuse of children in the Velikolyubin educational and rehabilitation center in the Lviv region became widely publicized, the Minister of Social Policy Oksana Zholnovich instructed the National Social Service Service to conduct a large-scale inspection of all institutions in Ukraine where children are in 24-hour care. Within the scope of this order, inspections were started in all 19 educational and rehabilitation centers of the Lviv Region.

Meanwhile, journalists of “Ukrainian Pravda. Life” published a video that confirmed the facts of physical violence in the Velikolubin center itself. The video shows how one of the teachers hits the child, and the child tries to cover up and protect herself. During this, the woman calls the pet insulting words, in particular, calls her a “beast”. Based on this fact, the police declared the teacher a suspect under Article 126 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine — “beatings and murders.” The court sentenced her to 100 hours of community service.

The finale of this story is currently not set. But even those facts that have become known are a direct answer to the question of why Ukrainian children continue to suffer not only from the war, but also from their fellow citizens, from those who should be their protection and support. And this is the biggest tragedy. Because while Ukraine is fighting for freedom and independence, children are dying morally inside the educational system, in which some so-called teachers are potential abusers, and the word “protection” has turned into an empty sound. The history of the Velikolyubinsky boarding school is a verdict on the entire system of boarding schools. And if nothing changes after this incident, then we have lost another war – the war for our children.