Six staff members suspended at mental disability facility after humiliating residents

Six employees of a care facility for people with a severe mental handicap have been humiliating their clients, filming it, and sharing the footage with each other in a closed group on Snapchat. The videos were recorded in an assisted living facility in De Akker, Bodegraven, in Zuid-Holland. The workers worked for the care organization Sirjon. The organization has announced that they have been suspended immediately.

The residents at the De Akker location of the care organization have the mental capabilities of a child aged 0 to 3. Some also have a type of autism. They need physical care and guidance in their daily lives.

Jan van Ginkel, the chairman at Sirjon, watched the footage on Saturday. The oldest videos were taken around nine months ago. He did not mention the contents of the videos but described them as “explicit footage” and called it “disrespectful and humiliating.” According to him, no sexually explicit acts were shown in the footage.

Sirjon would not say how many clients were victims of these acts. “Educational psychologists will pay close attention to whether their behavior has changed and whether this could be related to the incidents.”

The residents will notice that six staff members have left abruptly. “We are discussing what we will say to the clients, because this requires a very careful choice of words.”

The resident’s parents were notified of the events on Monday. “This came with a lot of emotions. Shock, concern, anger, disappointment, sadness, confusion. I am also experiencing all these emotions,” Van Ginkel said.

It is not clear whether the group on Snapchat had more members in the past. According to Van Ginkel, there has been no evidence to suggest this, but an investigation will determine it. “If this were able to last for nine months, then the group must have been small.” Around 24 workers were working with the group that was being abused. Many of these are said to be shocked by the events.

Van Ginkel said that the suspended workers are “well trained and experienced, which is why we are even more surprised, and it affects us even more.”

Sirjon has notified the Health and Youth Care Inspectorate and the Dutch Data Protection Authority about the events. The organization has not ruled out a report being submitted to the police when the investigation has been completed.