Zagreb (IKA) – The Justitia et Pax Commission of the Croatian Conference of Bishops issued a public statement on May 9 emphasizing that it is carefully following the events in connection with the alleged abuses of children in the Caritas home for children as well as other children’s homes, and has invited everyone to present the truth but to refrain from unfounded attacks on the honor and reputations of those who care for children in a commendable manner.

In the statement, the Justitia et Pax Commission harshly condemned every violation of the rights of children, violence against children and particularly the physical and mental abuse and neglect of children, as well as the violation of the human dignity of the child, and concurred with the conclusion of the Episcopal Council of the Zagreb Archdiocese that it is necessary to establish all the important facts as soon as possible.

The Commission urges the public as a whole, particularly those responsible, to create a positive atmosphere for improving the overall care of children who lack suitable parental care and cautions that the articles in the media attacking the dignity of the entire profession of social and charitable care are of no benefit to anyone.

Social welfare on the government level, particularly in the area of family protection, has been neglected for a long time and is insufficiently developed for various objective reasons, including inadequate recognition of its social value, the statement emphasizes, and cautions that the large majority of professionals and foster families who attempt to replace a child’s own family in various forms of public welfare are working under unsuitable material conditions with inadequate psychosocial support for children, but nevertheless work professionally, conscientiously, unselfishly and care for their wards with great love. It is true that some individuals are not completely prepared to meet such tasks, which require a great degree of self-denial, concludes the Commission in the statement.

The Commission notes that many children lacking suitable parental care have been placed in a home after having endured traumatizing experiences within their own families, often causing behavioral disorders for which the children require suitable psychosocial assistance.

The statement, signed by the president of the Commission, Auxiliary Bishop Vlado Košić of Zagreb, was adopted by the Justitia et Pax Commission on May 9 in Zagreb.