Around 7,000 children currently live in children’s homes in Hungary. A report produced in early 2024 exposed appalling conditions in these institutions, but the Orbán government chose instead to conceal the reality: abuse, a lack of psychological support, starvation, and outdated, unusable furniture and equipment. The new government has promised action, but for now it has only reached the stage of assessing the conditions.
The Orbán government tried to conceal the truth
Starving children, mouldy bathrooms, dangerous furniture and flooring, a shortage of psychologists, and sexual abuse among peers: these were among the findings revealed by child-protection inspection reports commissioned by the Orbán government in early 2024, following the presidential pardon scandal. The government kept the results secret until the very end. Direkt36 eventually obtained the documents through litigation, and following the change of government they were handed over by the successor to the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Social and Family Affairs, on 31 July.
According to Telex, the government was initially seeking to establish whether sexual abuse had been covered up in other institutions, as it had been in the Bicske case. The inspections found only one such instance. However, the examination of all 530 residential childcare institutions uncovered a large number of other deeply troubling failings.
Abuse, starvation and peer violence
One of the most important lessons from the documents is that the problems extended far beyond individual cases of abuse. A report from Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg County found that it was almost commonplace in state-run institutions for children affected by abuse not to receive appropriate psychological support, while a shortage of psychologists had persisted for years. There was also a significant shortage of professionals in other areas: there were too few educators and child supervisors, while staff turnover was another serious problem.
The findings on violence between peers paint an especially grave picture. In Vas County, for example, the number of cases of sexual abuse between children in children’s homes was rising, and the youngest perpetrator was just nine years old. In Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg County, inspectors found that an abuse case at a church-run institution had not been properly investigated.
Perhaps the most shocking case emerged in Bács-Kiskun County. At a specialist children’s home, dinner ended at half past six in the evening, after which the children had no access to bread, butter, jam or any other food. This was despite the fact that the institution housed children who took part in sport and had special care needs; according to the report, they therefore required more food. Citing a police investigation, the document states that some children submitted to sexual abuse by their peers in exchange for food.
Why did the government fail to provide basic conditions?
The physical conditions also fell short of what could reasonably be expected in many institutions. In a Bács-Kiskun County children’s home, inspectors found outdated and dangerous beds and wardrobes, torn furniture and cracked flooring. In Budapest, one building had just two working lights out of 20; elsewhere, donated equipment could not be used because of the outdated electrical wiring. The capital also had bathrooms that were nearly 50 years old and impossible to clean, while several institutions did not even have cleaning staff.
In Vas County, inspectors also found children’s homes where the bathrooms had become unusable because of leaks. As a result, 12 children had to share a single bathroom, whose walls had become mouldy from the damp and whose plaster was crumbling. According to the report, conditions had deteriorated further since the previous inspection.
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The current Ministry of Social and Family Affairs says that, by 2026, the child-protection system had effectively become completely gridlocked, creating an urgent need for new places and a solution to the provision of crisis care. The ministry says it will publish, on 31 August, a report concluding the first part of its Child-Protection Diagnosis, which will also include relevant data from the latest partial report on child protection. Only then might measures finally be introduced to improve conditions.
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These findings are just sickening. Right wing conservative Fidesz were not just corrupted thieves. They are responsible for these child abuses due to withholding proper funding for child homes. And they know it, they did it deliberately, that is why these reports were kept secret – so public would not find out that for years and years they had stolen from children. And so many of these right wing conservatives call themselves devoted Christians – is this how devoted Christians treat the most needy, the most vulnerable children? Absolutely disgusting that nothing was done to this during Fidesz, and now Tisza has another massive job to fix these right wing conservative wrongdoings against Hungarian children.