Child abuse happens everywhere. Even in child-loving Greece. I wrote a post a while ago about the almost 500 children that went missing from a state-run Aghia Varvara institution. It seemed to me then that it was because these children were not Greek that the authorities did not care. I was wrong. The government does not care about abused children FULLSTOP.

Lack of central co-ordination, infrastructure, funding and endless red tape are to blame for the failure of the system to protect children from physical and sexual abuse. In an article for Kathimerini, Yiannis Souliotis writes:

There is no single authority to deal with welfare needs of the young, resulting in serious failures that can have fatal consequences.

As there is no central co-ordination of services, Gianna Despotopoulou, general secretary for social solidarity said:

We find out about most cases from television. The correct procedures are not always followed.

Imagine that. Authorities having to trawl the television channels to find out about abused children!
The Athens Prefect Yiannis Sgouros states:

Services work below par and the state seems incapable of dealing with the issue.

Smile of the Child’s President Constantinos Giannopoulos said:

The state cannot guarantee decent shelter for abused children. In places run by the ministry or other authorities such as prefectures, there is only one social worker for every 15 children, compared with a ratio of one to three abroad. Beds may be available but not child care. These are not high-quality places, but in most cases just somewhere to sleep.
These children have been abused already and they continue to suffer at the hands of the state.

In another article in the same edition this survey was published:

Almost 60 percent (or 676) of 1,134 adults questioned for a survey conducted by the Sociology Department of Panteion University by professors A. Manganas and T. Manoudakis, said they had witnessed or heard of cases of physical or sexual abuse of a minor.

Of the sample, 506 mentioned physical abuse and 77 mentioned sexual.

Questioned about their relationship with the perpetrators, 167 said they were neighbors, 126 relatives and 109 friends. Parents were the culprits in 57.99 percent of the cases.

The hotline number to report child abuse is 1056