Parliament votes in favor of a resolution allowing minors to stay overnight in a crisis center they flee to without parental consent.
A majority of members of parliament voted in favor of a law allowing minors to stay overnight at the “Joannahuset” crisis center in Copenhagen without parental permission, and they can stay at the center for 48 hours.
Children who come to the crisis center are those who have fled their homes due to psychological and physical violence, neglect, or honor-related conflicts.
The Joannahuset Crisis Centre is the only one in Denmark for children under the age of 18, where they can spend the night and receive advice around the clock all year round, and it has eight beds.
Previously, staff at the Joannahuset Children and Youth Crisis Center had to obtain parental consent before they could provide a bed for children under 18, but the center's founder and director, Jette Wilhelmsen, has fought hard to offer this right to minors since the home opened its doors three years ago.
According to the Ministry of Social Affairs and Senior Citizens, the center is still required to inform the parent that the child is spending the night at the center, without needing to obtain consent as before.
In addition, the ministry is proposing that children aged 14 or older can stay at the center for up to 14 days, whereas previously the maximum was seven days.
Calls from concerned parents, but the children's best interests come first.
Managers and counselors from the Copenhagen municipality have previously encountered situations where parents contact the municipality when the Joannahuset center requests parental consent for their child to stay. A municipal manager cited an example of a distressed mother of a 13-year-old girl who contacted them late one Saturday night, saying, “I feel like my child has been kidnapped.” The center’s director acknowledges the parents“ difficult situation but emphasizes that parental consideration should not come at the expense of the child’s well-being. She adds, ”Parents, of course, must receive appropriate treatment. We inform them that they have the option of seeking counseling from the municipality. We also know that there is often a conflict of interest, as children can tell us things that parents don’t want to disclose.”.
The report explained that there are children who come to the crisis center seeking guidance and support, while other children ask for a place to stay.
“"The children are hiding on the train."“
According to Jette Wilhelmsen, the center's director, the guaranteed bed space provides children with the safe space they so desperately need, and she hopes that the right to a bed will help pave the way for more children in acute crisis to get the help they need when they ask for help independently. The center is practically seeing an influx from all over the country.
Since the home opened its doors, 361 children from all over the country have come to it. Many of the minors take long train journeys to reach the crisis center in Copenhagen. The center's director says, "We hear that someone boards the train without a ticket, then hides on the train so that they are not discovered." She explains that some children call in advance, and the center helps them book a ticket. However, other children do not go that far. The director mentioned that in one case, the center was in contact with a child whose parents had boarded the train, and the center got the child out of it.
Source: DR
