A new specialised care centre for minors who’ve been sexually abused or exploited is being created by the Institut Mallorquí d'Afers Socials, or IMAS.
It will cost around 600,000 euros, have eight places and be located in a municipality of the Part Forana.
The IMAS President Javier de Juan, said it was essential that the centre to be outside Palma.
”One of the most important things in these cases is to get these boys and girls out of their normal environment and we must recognise that the most problematic place is in the city,” said.
In many of the cases of abuse or exploitation, the victim is referred to the Peninsula, but having a new centre in Majorca to cater for those who’ve been abused or exploited means that they can stay closer to home.
“The centre will open its doors this year at a location that has already been chosen and professionals will be exclusively trained to work at the centre,” said Javier de Juan. “We always talk about an open environment in which one works from education in the protection system. We do not want closed centres.”
de Juan also pointed out that “the children under guardianship are children who go to school and they must have the opportunity to develop a normal life without stigma, they already have enough wounds when they arrive.”
The director of the Balearic Office of Children and Adolescents, Serafín Carballo, defended that the creation of the centre saying “an infrastructure is needed to temporarily deal with specific cases.”