After the complaint of alleged sexual violence of which four girls and boys in the municipality of Piedecuesta, Santander, the Colombian Institute of Family Welfare (ICBF) have ordered the temporary and immediate suspension of services in a Community Home.
The boys and girls were cared for in the service unit and will be relocated to nearby ones, where they will receive psychosocial support, together with their families, by an ICBF Family Ombudsman team.
Immediately, the regional director of the ICBF in this department, Martha Torres, arrived on Wednesday, March 15, at the service unit to articulate with the Family Police Station the activation of the route.
“From the ICBF we will provide support to all the beneficiaries of the community home. In addition, we will provide the required information to the Office of the Attorney General of the Nation, where the criminal complaint has already been filed by the administrative authority that is handling the process for territorial jurisdiction,” the director said in a statement.
In the same way, the official rejected this fact, “it is unfortunate and reprehensible that, within the service units of the Institute, situations like this one arise in which the rights of children are compromised.”
“We cannot allow them to be with people and in environments that put their identity and security at risk. We expect all the speed on the part of the authorities in this case”, concluded the regional director.
25 minors intoxicated in an ICBF garden: authorities will carry out analyzes to verify the quality of food
In Bucaramanga, directors of the Colombian Institute for Family Welfare (ICBF) and representatives of the Ministry of Health will carry out an analysis of the water and food that the Piolín kindergarten delivers to the minors who attend the school.
This, because, in the last days, 25 children, from 1 to 5 years old, were intoxicated after the school day.
Therefore, delegates from both institutions were forced to travel to the Campo Hermoso neighborhood, in the center of the city, to verify the health conditions of the place and how food and drinks are handled.
“The food was prepared for them as we have been doing, as Bienestar has demanded of us, with complete safety, good handling practices. I don’t store any kind of food here. It comes to us almost every day. The children left well and after four in the afternoon the parents began to call asking what they had ingested because they were vomiting a lot,” said Eulalia Rueda, coordinator of the Piolín Kindergarten, in an interview for the Blu Radio station.
Versions inside the Piolín Kindergarten would suggest that, perhaps, the symptoms of the minors were due to a virus that three of the affected children would have presented.
However, according to the press release, issued by the Santander University Hospital (HUS), to which 7 of the 25 children were referred, due to gastrointestinal problems, it reads:
“The ESE Hospital Universitario de Santander is allowed to inform that yesterday, March 6, 2023, from 7:00 pm, 7 minors from a Bucaramanga Kindergarten entered the Pediatric Emergency Service, the minors were brought by their parents and caregivers at moments different, who presented gastrointestinal symptoms”.
Luckily, the minors managed to be stabilized and 24 of the 25 affected are already out of danger.
“Our multidisciplinary health team provided them with all the necessary care to stabilize them. Currently 6 of the 7 children have been discharged and one is under observation”, added the HUS.
The text highlights that “the institution carried out all the corresponding processes in accordance with the institutional guidelines and regulations”, which apparently paid off.
However, the fact will continue to be analyzed by the authorities in the capital of Santander, since they fear that a similar situation could be repeated in the future. with Infobae