Griss will examine SOS Children's Village structures after allegations

"One must work thoroughly," said Irmgard Griss on Tuesday in the "Ö1-Mittagsjournal". She wants to focus on the entire period of the allegations. The investigation will therefore "take some time".

Griss: SOS Children's Village very interested in "clearing the air"

She hopes that the commission can contribute to "ensuring that such things can be excluded in the future [...] and that children no longer have to have such terrible experiences," said Griss. The organization is very interested in "clearing the air," Griss said regarding discussions with representatives of SOS Children's Village. Griss stated on Tuesday that the supervisory board must also ask itself: "Did we overlook something?". No one can be "excluded" from responsibility, said Griss. It must also be considered where the situation of village mothers can be improved. "The structures most likely need to be changed and new guarantees built in" to prevent abuse.

Two SOS Children's Village locations affected

Supervisory board member Willibald Cernko and managing director Annemarie Schlack announced on Monday that Griss would take over the leadership of the reform commission that is to investigate the allegations against SOS Children's Village. In addition to Griss, the commission includes the head of the child protection organization "möwe" Hedwig Wölfl, social worker Veronika Reidinger from the Ilse Arlt Institute for Social Inclusion Research at FH St. Pölten, as well as three members of the supervisory board.

According to a "Falter" report, children and adolescents were allegedly mistreated, locked up, and photographed naked over the years. The information from the weekly newspaper comes from a study that SOS Children's Village itself commissioned but never made public. The allegations in Carinthia relate to the period from 2008 to 2020. In Tyrol, there were reportedly five cases of abuse between 2017 and 2020, as recently reported by the "Tiroler Tageszeitung".

(APA/Red)

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