9194: restavek data (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: JHUDICOURTB@aol.com

Note:  I thought since someone had asked for hard data on restaveks, it would 
be useful to them.  As an educator I may have some reservations about the 
type of descriptions of behavioral characteristics but I am just translating 
what's in the report.   My only comment is that it looks like in Haiti we do 
not love other people's children.
Josiane
 
There is a report from UNICEF dated 1993 called "Les enfants en situation 
specialement difficile en Haiti" containing a chapter on the Restavek 
situation.  In 1984 it was estimated that 11% of children between the ages of 
6 and 15 were in servitude.  In 1990 the total population of children in 
servitude was estimated at 200.000.  
61% of them in Port-au-Prince, the rest in the major cities of Haiti.  
60-80% are girls
66% work in lower middle class families whose income is less than $500/month 
Don't have time to play: 70% in PAP, 62% in Okap, 39% in Okay
Get corporal punishment:  77% in PAP, 81% in Okap, 69% in Okay
Get 3 meals a day: 17% in PAP, 33% in Okap, 48% in Okay
Would like to go back home to visit or permanently: 74% in PAP, 71% in Okap, 
69% in Okay.
In PAP 11% go to school, 19% in other large cities, 6% in the rest of the 
country.
The report adds that "domesticite" generates frustration, mental illnesses 
that bring on insomnia, lack of appetite, phobias, anxiety, lack of trust, 
feelings of guilt and inferiority .  All of these generate pathological 
behaviors, run-aways, or neurosis and psychosis.
Characteristics of children in servitude:
-looks confused
-shows identity problems
-lacks attention
-passive in the presence of adults
-below normal score in IQ tests (IQ around 75; report mentions lack of 
cultural relevence of test)
-lacks self confidence
-comes from a poor family
-lives in a poor family
The report also has a chapter on homeless children living on city streets 
(82% boys).  They were estimated at 2000 in 1991 and predicted to reach 40-50 
thousand in the year 2000 if life in Haiti did not change.  More than half 
admitted using drugs back in 1991.