Published: 12 June, 2008, 05:01
Edited: 12 June, 2008, 05:01
Parents in Moscow are being encouraged to use hidden cameras to make sure the people they trust to look after their children are not abusing them. Recent surveillance video has uncovered some shocking images of child cruelty. As a result, Russia is consid
It was designed as an experiment. A Moscow company that makes video equipment secretly filmed childminders at work, expecting to expose rudeness and cruelty. Instead they found something far more shocking. Their footage shows young children being dragged by the hair and even beaten.
The makers of the surveillance kit insist their results reflect a nationwide trend.
Galina Lineva from the Guardian Angel of Your Child agency says many female childminders are unsuitable for the job.
“Some cases we’ve come across are simply extraordinary. I get the impression that 30-40 per cent of women who work as nannies are psychologically unstable – the thing is no one can check it. That’s where we come in,” Lineva says.
In Moscow alone there are some 300 agencies offering nanny services, along with freelance babysitters.
Nikolay Dikov and his wife both work in the capital. They have to rely on a babysitter to look after their two boys. But after a series of bad experiences they’re much more hesitant about hiring help. Nikolay says he would prefer to ask other parents for advice before going to an agency.
The problem is that many nannies are employed casually, without contracts, cash in hand. This means that serious cases don’t reach court and that means that when a negligent nanny is dismissed from one home they often resurface in another.
Yet as more couples both go out to work, the dependency on nannies grows.
For their part, some babysitters feel they’re being unfairly scrutinised:
“I’d work the same with or without a camera but when I know I’m being watched it makes me feel tense and uncomfortable,” babysitter Natalia Strovyeva says.
Moscow City Council is attempting to deal with the problem. It has plans to create a list of qualified specialists. A bill is going through the city's parliament, which should make it more difficult for unsuitable nannies to slip the net.