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Last Thursday, Viktorija from Klaipeda took her decade-old son with autism spectrum disorders to the special children’s camp “Rose Planet”, where autistic children develop their social skills, communicate more with each other, so the camp is very important not only for children but also for their parents.
On August 6, one of the camp activities took place on the seashore: the children were taught to surf, after which they all traveled to the camp.
“I took the child with me for about half an hour. In the morning I approached the manager, handed over the child, still warned that I would return with the child’s belongings because I forgot to take the backpack with his clothes. An hour later I returned, handed over my backpack and When I left I saw the manager going with the child, we talked more, ”recalled the child’s mother.
According to Rita Karvelienė, director of the public institution “Elgesio sprendimai”, after the bath, she rearranged the child, because his character is a little more difficult, the child does not allow everyone. At the same time, another boy had to be rearranged, who was extremely restless that day. A son from the Victorian era had to be put into a car on the way back to camp by a volunteer.
“We don’t have a lot of funds, so we can’t rent a bus, the volunteers have cars, so we transport the children in separate groups,” R. Karvelienė told the “Western Express”.
There was no communication due to interference.
After returning to the camp, the director began to check the list to see if all the children had returned safely, and noticing that there were no children, asked the volunteers where they were. The volunteers assured that the child had been taken by the mother.
The director, to make sure that the child was safe, called his mother to verify if she had taken the child. The entire telephone conversation, according to the director, was very incoherent because there was a lot of noise in the environment.
“I asked her if she had taken the child, she replied,” Yes, I did. “She also asked if everything was okay, I said yes, we are in the camp,” said R. Karvelienė.
As it turned out, the girl’s mother was in the store at that time, where there was also a lot of noise, and she also heard everything vaguely.
The woman heard the director ask if she could pick up the boy, who replied that he would pick him up immediately and left for the camp.
“I came to the camp, because in the second hour I had to pick up the boy not from the beach, but from the camp. When I got to the camp, they gave me a child’s backpack with clothes, but since I couldn’t find the boy, I went to the tent where the manager was. I asked him where my son was and saw the manager’s eyes square. Then he said I took the boy, “Victoria recalled.
Victoria and the camp volunteers immediately realized that the boy was missing and began calling the police and rescuers.
“When I found out that the child was missing, I did my best, I tried to trace the sequence of events while everything was happening. I asked the volunteers what they were doing, who was driving them in the car, how they were driving to find out everything. I called both the police and the rescuers, “said R. Karvelienė.
At that time, the boy’s parents, who went to the sea to look for the boy, learned that he was alive and well, just sitting in an ambulance due to a small cold.
The story also reached social networks: rumors began to spread that the child had been handed over to a stranger.
“The child rights officers called me immediately, they had to find out everything to see if it was not the parents’ fault that the child was left unattended. We explain the whole situation that the child was placed in the care of an institution. At that moment the director of the camp arrived and we tried to find out everything, because we were all in a panic, ”said Victoria, the mother of the decade.
According to Victoria, she did not rule out from the outset that it was simply a tragic sequence of events, that the child could have escaped or lost, but she sought to clarify the whole situation and make sure that it was not really the kidnapping of the child.
“We spoke with management on Monday because it was very important for us to understand how things happened. He explained everything to us, we realized that it was not an attempt to kidnap our son, it was just a tragic event that did not take care of the child ”, said Victoria. He didn’t blame the institution, he just hoped there would be no more misunderstandings of this kind in the future.
Surprised by the indifference of the vacationers
Journalists from “Vakarų ekspress” also managed to contact Vaida from Klaipėda, who noticed the boy on the beach and supervised him for more than an hour. He said that when he got to the beach, he immediately noticed that a child was running and behaving differently. According to Vaida, she is a social worker, so she immediately realized that this child is different.
“I was surprised by the indifference of those around them, they just looked indifferently and said: ‘Look, the child is about to sink.’
The woman assured that everything had to be done very quickly because the water was already reaching the child’s neck.
After the boy was successfully brought ashore, the woman took care of him, sitting nearby and asking people to call an ambulance or the police.
“It just came to our knowledge then. First of all, before taking him out of the water. Later he had to hold him close to himself because he was very restless. I tried to calm down, caress, warm up. Everyone saw the boy go into the water, but nobody was doing anything, and I knew that if something happened to me, I wouldn’t be able to live in peace, ”said Vaida.
The woman was happy that the situation ended happily and that the girl is safe at home with her parents.
Changes in the camp
In response to a message in a social space about a forgotten and kidnapped child, the Elgesio sprendimai Public Institution issued a public apology and an explanation of the situation.
“We responsibly confirm that the child has not been handed over to a stranger. The camp employs many enthusiastic volunteers and staff. So far, we are only happy with the good experiences, emotions and social skills of the children.
On Thursday we had an exciting day by the sea. The children returned from the seashore to the camp with different crews. When we returned to the camp, we immediately missed the boy and immediately contacted our mother. It was only because of the interference of the telephone conversation with the mother, the noise that we did not understand that the child is safe with the mother.
We are sincerely grateful to the woman who saw and cared for this child before handing it over to the officers. We thank the child’s parents for their understanding and kindness, “says the explanation.
R. Karvelienė believes that the “Planet of the Roses” camp will face major structural changes to prevent such an event from happening again.
The head of the camp told the Western Express that the volunteer cards were introduced immediately in response to the situation. From now on, when a child is received, a card is also received, so if someone needs to leave the child for at least a minute, that card will be given to the person in charge.
“These kids are special, they just have to turn around for a minute and they can disappear. You must be extremely vigilant. We held a meeting after this event and immediately discussed everything with the staff about what and how we would do it. We have introduced a card system and restricted driving until we have the opportunity to rent a bus, ”said R. Karvelienė.
Also on Tuesday, R. Karvelienė, director of the Public Institution “Elgesio sprendimai”, resigned as director, but after the holidays she will continue to work with children as a methodologist.
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