from the Copenhagen Post, 1999
By Cathy Conlon
The Tvind organisation's plans to open a new school with space
for approximately 60 children from socially challenged backgrounds fell through
last week after a majority of Funen County Council officials voted to reject the
plan.
The proposal for the new school found fruition after a foundation comprising of
members closely connected to the Tvind organisation bought the run-down Kakkebølle
Sanatorium close to Fåborg last year. Foundation members had planned to convert
the sanatorium into a small boarding school for children and youths who had been
involved with crime, or had family and drug abuse problems.
However, the Funen County Council's Social Affairs Committee halted the school
plans last Wednesday, ruling that it would be inadvisable to congregate so many
children from disturbed backgrounds in one institution.
"Normally institutions of this kind have a maximum of 20 boarders. Anything
more than that is not considerate. These children and youths are very fragile
and many of them have never experienced a proper home. They need peace and a
small homelike environment." Said Gunnar Lorentsen, the Deputy Chairperson
of the council committee to the daily newspaper Politiken last Thursday.
According to Lorentsen, the committee's rejection had absolutely nothing to do
with the fact that the foundation involved comprises of Tvind members.
The Danish based charity organisation, which is called after a
Jutland town of the same name, has been immersed in controversy after being
accused of exploiting its workers, of ignoring visa restrictions and of
indulging in cult-like activities. Lorentsen stated last
Thursday that these allegations did not colour the committee's decision.
"Our actions were based on a concrete evaluation of the educational
overtures and the physical setting combined with the organisational and economic
frameworks." Said Lorentsen.