Serious allegations and systemic failures are coming to light within Hungary’s child protection system, as revealed by a whistleblower from inside the industry. Gábor Kuslits, the former director of the Budapest Regional Child Protection Service, spoke to Válasz Online about the scandal surrounding the Szőlő Street juvenile detention centre: a case he says is just the tip of the iceberg.
Allegations involve sex parties for politicians
The facility’s former director, Péter Pál Juhász, was arrested this May on charges including human trafficking, forced labour, and abuse of official authority. According to Kuslits, signs of serious misconduct around Juhász were evident for some time, and he was being “protected by very powerful circles.”
“Two high-ranking politicians are being mentioned. Reportedly, boys were taken to one and girls to the other. From what we’ve heard, there were actual sex parties in Juhász’s office, and another rented house near the Szőlő Street orphanage was used for similar events,” said Kuslits.
If these rumours are true, Kuslits believes Juhász “has the entire government in his pocket.” Yet he suspects Juhász will only face a maximum of six years in prison, even though the formal sentence could be up to twenty years.
Broken system, burned-out professionals
Kuslits argues that this scandal is not an isolated incident, but rather a symptom of a collapsing child welfare system. He points to a crumbling professional base as the root of the problem: few applicants are entering the field, the profession lacks prestige, salaries are dismal, and training programs do not appeal to young people.
“A child with normal needs enters the system, and within a year or so, they develop special needs because the environment we, the adults, create for them essentially sets them up to become aggressive, commit thefts, turn to drugs, and engage in criminal behaviour,” he explained.
He added that centralisation has only worsened the situation for institutional leaders. As independent directorates were eliminated, a single manager became responsible for multiple institutions, “a task no one could handle rationally.”
Window-dressing and performative politics
Kuslits claims that official communications are focused on masking reality. He recounted an incident shortly before last Christmas when Prime Minister Viktor Orbán was scheduled to visit a children’s home, but the building had severe water damage.
“The Social and Child Protection Directorate staff literally hung a plastic garland over a crumbling plaster patch. That’s Hungarian child protection for you,” he remarked.
He believes centralisation is less about professional logic and more about consolidating EU funds. As an example, he cited a previous energy modernisation project during his tenure that was carried out “at an exorbitant cost and worst possible quality,” while accounting for billions of forints in expenditures.
“This system is no longer about children”
According to Kuslits, Hungary’s child protection system has shifted away from serving children’s best interests and now primarily meets the survival needs of adults in the system. “The adults are building regimes because they’re isolated, just trying to survive, keep the kids and themselves safe. […] What’s the result? Kids with normal needs end up with special needs in just over a year.”
He argues that municipal authority should be reinstated, the Social and Child Protection Directorate should be dismantled, and decision-making should return to the local level.
“The system is falling apart,” he said, adding that in its current state, Hungary’s child protection network is no longer capable of fulfilling its core mission: protecting kids.
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I can’t stand by while powerful people prey on the vulnerable, stealing the innocence of children. The pain they cause is unimaginable, scars that last a lifetime. Every child deserves safety, respect, and the chance to grow without fear. When those in power use their influence to harm, they destroy lives, not just bodies.
The trauma never goes away. It lingers, a constant reminder of the betrayal. The shame, the isolation: it’s not something children should carry. This is a failure of society. A failure of every institution that should have protected them.
I don’t just want justice, I want punishment. I want the abusers to face the consequences of what they’ve done. No more cover-ups. No more immunity. They need to pay. The systems that protect them need to be torn down.
No more silence. No more looking the other way. WE should fight for every child, for every survivor, until the predators are held accountable and the pain they caused is recognized for what it truly is.
No sweeping this under the carpet with statements that this is some “failure of society” in some kind of extended blog trying to whitewash Pedofidesz. This is a failure of Fidesz which has been protecting and enabling pedophiles for years. Fidesz are the child abusers. It is Fidesz, Fidesz, Fidesz. Get that straight. We all know what we have to do which is get rid of Fidesz and have a new government protect the children who are vulnerable in orphanages and group homes.
Pedofidesz scum. Novak and Judit Varga had to resign over their involvement in pardoning one of these facilitators of pedophiles. Fidesz are cockroach scumbags abusing children while pretending to be ‘family friendly”. Hungarians elect these people. Why?
Huge words from someone who, I am 100% sure, dismisses “PizzaGate” as a ludicrous “conspiracy theory.”
Larry, the self-proclaimed expert on child protection, secret deals in international oil trade and so on, loves to blame Hungary’s Fidesz government for everything. But there in Poland, you have got some serious problems of their own that he conveniently ignores:
Catholic Church: Polish priests have been abusing children for years, with the Church covering it up instead of protecting victims. Larry should ask the people who’ve suffered under this system.
Youth Sports: Coaches in Poland have been preying on young athletes, and authorities have done little to stop it. But hey, Larry’s too busy pointing at Hungary.
Czarna Lista: A list of suspected pedophiles in Poland shows just how widespread the problem is. But that’s not as important as criticizing Fidesz, right?
Care Homes: Polish orphanages are places of neglect and abuse, with children left in dangerous, harmful conditions. Larry doesn’t seem to care about that.
Foster Care: Abusive foster parents go unchecked, leaving kids in harm’s way. But why worry about that when you can keep bashing Hungary?
Hypocrisy in Focus.
Larry, if you really care about child protection, maybe it’s time to stop pretending this is just a Hungarian issue. Poland has its own massive problems, and it’s about time we deal with them instead of deflecting blame. Maybe you should be more concerned with your own country. Larry, Polak no?
Your whole diatribe was an amateurish attempt at deflection which is what those who are wrong do when they cannot directly address the issue presented. Fidesz is the government. Fidesz runs the orphanages and is responsible for what takes place there. Pedofidesz is Guilty, Guilty, Guilty and nothing you can post can change that and you and everyone else know it.
Who mentioned Poland before you? Hungary is what matters here, this site is called DNH.
Here we go again – more elaborate essays to try and divert the focus into something different than what the article is about.
This article tells clearly, with expert comments in the article, how under Fidesz leadership the child protection and especially ophan children protection in Hungary has failed completely.
If anyone cares about orphan Hungarian children and Hungarian child protection system in general, do not let Fidesz continue ruling.
Certainly, here we go again. Blaming Fidesz for child abuse scandals in Hungary misses the bigger picture. The root issues go beyond politics. Cases like the Pécs foster care abuse (2012) and boys’ home scandal (2013) point to long-standing problems in the child protection system: underfunding, weak laws, and poor oversight, which have been around for years, long before Fidesz took power.
The Catholic Church abuse scandals in Hungary are part of a global issue. Similar cover-ups have happened worldwide, regardless of who’s in charge in each country.
The Orgovány child trafficking case (2017) shows that Hungary is part of a larger, international child exploitation problem that needs cooperation across borders.
The problem of underreporting and stigma around abuse is cultural, not political. Focusing on one party doesn’t fix the deeper, systemic issues. Real change requires reforming the child welfare system, improving international efforts, and shifting societal attitudes. It’s a bigger issue that demands a broader, long-term solution.
Just think.
Shameless deflection. Fidesz is the government. Fidesz is responsible and who are these politicians who have been abusing these children? Pedofidesz. What a shithole country run by scumbags who are abusing children when they are not busy stealing the public’s money or sticking their tongues up Putin and Lavrov’s asses.
I apologize. I left out Lukashenko’s ass whom Szijjarto was busy licking in Minsk’s right while Russia was firing its drones at Poland from Belarus. The man with the Nazi haircut actually said that Hungary has no open political issues with Belarus and looked forward to expanding economic relations with the ruthless dictator.
PolakGollumLarry is just like Gollum, obsessively blaming Fidesz for everything wrong in his life. He hisses and rants about how Hungary’s ruining Europe, while completely ignoring the mess he’s living in. Like Gollum clinging to the Ring, PolakGollumLarry clings to his scapegoat (Fidesz) because it’s easier than facing the uncomfortable truth: his own country’s politics are a disaster, and his life’s a mess of his own making.
He won’t look in the mirror, just like Gollum never saw how the Ring was destroying him. Instead, he keeps pointing at Fidesz, screaming that they’re the cause of it all, while he’s just as lost in his own mess. His obsession with blaming others is his precious, but it only keeps him trapped in a cycle of self-pity and delusion.
In the end, PolakGollumLarry is just a sad figure, like Gollum, fighting a battle that isn’t even real. He won’t fix his online life or his country, because it’s easier to scream at a distant enemy than face what’s really wrong.
To truly grasp what’s going wrong, it’s essential to pursue the truth, even if it’s uncomfortable or inconvenient, letting go of what you want to believe, resisting the temptation to cherry-pick information, and confronting the tension between your beliefs and the reality in front of you, so you can form a more nuanced and honest perspective.
But PolakGollumLarry, like his namesake, will never achieve this. His obsession with Fidesz blinds him to the truth, trapping him in a cycle of self-justification and convenient narratives, where the uncomfortable reality of his own situation will never break through. He’s too lost in his precious biases to ever see the whole picture. Ssssss… It’s all Fidesz’s fault, yessss..
I think it was better when the comments were disabled.