The phenomenon of domestic violence can be stopped by changing the population’s mentality. Such a conclusion was stated in the program “Replica” on Prime TV channel, where there was discussed the killing of a five-year-old girl by her mother, IPN reports.
Viorica Dumbraveanu, who heads the Child Rights Protection Division of the Ministry of Labor, Social Protection and Family, considers a part of the blame for this case is borne by the people who could have informed the authorities about the use of violence against children and could have thus prevented such tragedies. “The social workers are obliged to intervene when the children are ill-treated, but they cannot know the situation in all the families of the settlement. Civic involvement is needed so that the people inform the social workers about such cases. Regretfully, the people often remain indifferent and consider that the use of domestic violence against children is something normal,” she stated.
Lawyer Adrian Lebedinschi blames the authorities for this incident as they could have prevented the tragedy. “It’s known that they drink a lot of alcohol in Moldova. It’s not excluded that the killer suffers from a mental disorder. The psychiatric hospitals reduced the number of beds in the institutions so that persons suffering from such disorders live among us. Given the authorities’ attitude to this problem, it’s not excluded that such cases will repeat,” he said.
Psychologist Daniela Samboteanu considers that the whole society is to blame for this case because the people accept the use of violence against children. “In this case, the mother killer justified herself by saying that she watched a horror film. But not all those who watch such movies act like her and we should not point the finger at those who are mentally ill, who most of the times do not have a violent behavior. Violence against children is mostly used by mentally healthy persons. It is the mentality that should be changed as the people in our society consider that the education of children by beating is something normal. But the risks are not anticipated,” said the psychologists.
Daniela Misail-Nichitin, who heads the organization “La strada”, also believes that the mentality should be changed. “In a normal society, they react at the first gestures of violence against the child, when the mother or father slaps the child. In our country the people do not try to educate their children in a harmonious environment and the parents spend not much time with their children and seldom communicate with them,” she stated.
According to polls, violence against children is used in each second family in Moldova.
