Institutions, (anybody even thinks about this?)

[Ah-eh-ioh-uh]

Hello everybody. This is an aspect of societies that I wonder if anybody has put any thought into on here and otherwise. I imagine my own Nation (Nihon) finds the state of institutions abroad totally barbaric. The culture here is very different from much of anywhere else so things that lead other nations to do certain things are entirely unknown to us in Nihon.

Are there lots of orphanages in your nations? How about psych wards? Are psych wards horror stories like in the U.S. and are people in your nation at all aware of this? What are the laws and regulations regarding these sorts of institutions in your nations?

In Nihon places like boarding schools are utterly unrecognizable in comparison to other places on the globe. For instance, there is generally nothing remotely religious about orphanages in Nihon. The classical Catholic orphanages named after saints or other religious figures simply doesn't exist here as religion isn't that big of deal to Nihon compared to other places. We don't have hospitals or psych wards run by nuns or anything like that in Nihon. Hospitals and the like abroad seem to be always named after St.Jude or Saint Cyril or some other holy figure but here religion and institution are entirely divorced in part due to just the culture being very irreligious and partially due to legislation dating back quite far into ancient times dictating religious neutrality in institutions public and private.

[Great Nortend]

Orphanages
Orphanages in Great Nortend are primarily run by the Church of Nortend, although private orphanages do exist in towns and cities mainly. They primarily cater for working class or peasant orphans. Religious orphanage institutions are often located in the countryside near or with abbeys and priories, and are almost all run by religious sisters although with lay nurses. Statutes have been passed to ensure that orphans are brought up with a worldly outlook, although there is still a heavily religious and monastic element to them.

Orphanages by law are required to educate their children, which often means sending them to the local schools. Orphans conventionally will conclude their studies at the end of Form III. Girls thereafter are usually trained for the domestic industries, mainly as seamstresses or in household service. Boys will be similarly trained into manual jobs or trades. Rarely, those who excel academically may finish school and enter into a profession or go to university as a servitor.

There is considerable state oversight of the orphanage system, partially by virtue of the establishment of the Church. There are frequent visitations, at least once every one of the four terms in a year, by official visitors, inspectors, the diocesan archdeacon and the bishop. Adoption is practised; however, the number of adopted children is far lower than the total number of orphans. Adoptive families are carefully vetted, and generally are upper or middle class who have no children of their own. In any case, the child becomes a ward of his or her new guardian.

Hospitals
Most hospitals are independent voluntary institutions, although there are a number of notable state hospitals. Most rural hospitals are in the form of 'cottage hospitals', often on the grounds of and run under the patronage of a religious abbey or priory or similar, and funded through donations and subscription. They generally employ only one or two doctors and a small number of nurses, and cater for the people living in two or three villages. Hospitals in cities and towns are larger. All hospitals are accredited by the Board of Health, and are regularly inspected.

Mental institutions
Psychological hospitals are known as asyla. Those found to be unfit to stand trial or convicted of the crime of insanity may be sentenced to a period in an asylum. Additionally, victims can check themselves into an asylum voluntarily. Most asyla are run publicly, although private asyla exist. They are not run as religious institutions, although religion plays a role in asylum life.

[Thermodolia]

Only hospitals can be run by a religion in Thermodolia. And those hospitals must agree to several conditions such as equal access to care for all individuals, and access to abortion. Those hospitals that do not agree to such conditions are taken over by the state.

All mental institutions, called mental health facilities in Thermodolia, are run by the federal government through the Mental Health Administration. Private and religious mental health facilities are illegal under the Federal Mental Health and Welfare Act of 1963. Mental health facilities are strictly monitored to maintain a proper professional atmosphere. Those who are committed to a mental health facility may be either voluntary, involuntarily by means of a Judge, temporary, or voluntary by means of a caregiver.

Orphanages are rare and either state run or private. Adoption is pushed heavily in Thermodolia, so the need for a bunch of orphanages is small. For those that do exist orphanages must send all children to school until they have completed all mandatory schooling, which is around 12th grade. Orphanages are also monitored by the ministry of Health for any issues.

Boarding schools are extremely rare in Thermodolia to the point that people have no idea what those things are. Almost everyone either goes to the public schools or they go to a private school.

[Arthenius]

There are both religious and secular-run mental facilities and orphanages in Arthenius. The religious-run kind are primarily found in more backwoods parts of the country where religion still plays a major societal role. Arthenius is very pro-adoption.

Mental and psych centers are required by state to report operations and patient profiles for fraud prevention purposes and are given a minimum fund from government tax money.

[Taihan]

Orphanages are protected by the civil foundation and supported by the state. Hospital in Taihan runs by the government in the majority and several private sectors. meanwhile mental facilities also too.

[Victorious Decepticons]

Are there lots of orphanages in your nations?

We don't have lots of these institutions, and this may be a surprise considering the fact that most Decepticons make their money by raiding other planets, which is a trade that typically involves risk to one's life. Fortunately, our practice of saving up enough money to temporarily stop raiding during the time of raising a child has minimized the incidence of orphans.

Our Government Raising Centers, as they are called, aren't just for true orphans. They also raise new-builts who were taken from their Coders. New-builts can, in some cases, also come to them on their own if they believe (and convince the relevant official) that their Coders are unfit to raise them.

In all cases, Raising Centers are more than adequate at their jobs, and they turn out young adult Decepticons who are fully equipped for life in our society. However, they are well-known for their strong tendency to produce fanatical loyalists, and this fanaticism is so extreme that some people are surprised that their graduates actually pass the Sapience Test. Raising Centers also tend to focus more on martial-style games than the popular raid games for their socialization exercises, and while this produces better soldiers, it's seen as more boring for their charges. Due to the accusations of "boardwashing," some immature Decepticons avoid the Centers when possible and take their chances on the streets instead.

The fanatical loyalism is not seen as problematic by the dictatorship government. Instead, it would see it as a failure if a Center turned out even one rebel, and would surely investigate the head nanny for treason.

How about psych wards? Are psych wards horror stories like in the U.S. and are people in your nation at all aware of this?

We have no such things, and the very idea of them strikes us as horrifically backwards - and, as proof of biological inferiority. Our Debugging Centers do not incarcerate anyone, voluntarily or not, for there is no need for such a weird and ineffectual practice.

Instead, Debuggers access the mind-code (the literal programming) of the subject, and if errors are found, the person is temporarily shut down. During this downtime, a patch is written to correct the errors, and it is then applied. The client is then re-activated. It is literally as if he goes to sleep with a problem, and wakes up totally fine. This is not only a painless process, both physically and psychologically, but a fast one. The most common patches can be written and applied within a matter of minutes or hours. Even the most complex and unusual ones take no longer than a few days.

The very idea of having to keep someone locked up on a long-term basis is chilling. The "closed system" nature of biologicals is what makes it impossible to fix them properly! Even drug-based treatments are merely fiddling with their problems in indirect ways. True access to the Mind-Code is needed in order to effect real repairs. With it, problems that biologicals may think of as intractable are often fixed with just 10-100 lines of corrected Code.

Debugging also produces custom patches and upgrades. While Decepticons are capable of fiddling with their own Mind-Code even down to root level, most prefer to let the experts at Debugging do this work so that they don't accidentally code insanity into themselves (or worse, create a literal fatal error). Unlike repair patches, these are charged-for. Think of them as a sort of "cosmetic surgery for the mind."

Mechanics - We have no government-run institutions of this sort. Every Decepticon knows how to read his manual and fix his own body! Mechanics' shops are available for jobs like switching out engines or transmissions, which can be hard for one person to do on his own. However, for jobs like that, we really prefer to mind-transfer to a spare body and then use that form to fix the main one.

~~~~~~~~~~

What are the laws and regulations regarding these sorts of institutions in your nations?

Raising Centers - No Raising Center may present any ideology as valid other than the Decepticon Way, nor any religion as valid except for Megatronism. All personnel must pass a strict Loyalty Test, which involves a code-read administered by the Main Debugging Center. Personnel directly involved in the raising of new-builts are known as "nannies," and the top manager of a Raising Center is the "head nanny."

Newly-built Decepticon offspring are automatically eligible for boarding at a Raising Center if orphaned. It is officially mandatory for those who have not yet attained at least 60% sapience, as determined by the Official Sapience Test administered by the Debugging Center system. (Typically, these are children with the equivalent of 0 years to around 12 years of mental age, as figured by human standards.) Those who are more mature have more choice, while those "on the cusp" may decide to intentionally evade Raising Center personnel and subsequent boarding.

New-builts may also be taken by the State and brought up at a Raising Center if they have unsuitable parents, as determined by Domestic Intelligence. If a child presents himself and accuses his Coder of being unsuitable, he will be taken in at the time, but a Domestic Intelligence investigation will be conducted to make sure that the accusation is legitimate. If it is, the child will be made a ward of the State.

Notably, those who lose their children for malfeasance in parenting are executed as traitors against the Decepticon People, for attempting to weaken the Nation (by intentionally trying to nerf the up-and-coming new Decepticon), or usually, both types of treason. For this reason, investigations for these crimes are very thorough. However, unlike some biological nations, we do not leave the offspring in potential jeopardy while the wheels of State churn. The child is kept safe, in the Raising Center, until the investigation is complete.

Debugging - Debugging is usually voluntary, and in fact, it is recommended that everyone be checked over every 3 months (though this is often stretched to 6 months or a year, since it isn't mandatory outside of the military). That said, some glitches cause delusions or other problems that may keep someone from voluntarily seeking help. In those cases, the person may be forcibly debugged if his problem is clearly interfering with his ability to live a lifestyle that is free of severe degradation, or if he is a danger to others or himself. (An example of "severe degradation" would be a glitch-fueled refusal to repair his body, live under shelter, or other major problem of that nature.)

Mechanics, being private operators, are unregulated beyond the rules against selling Decepticon specs to foreigners. However, as with all other private operators in the Empire, it is completely legal to blast them or take other forms of revenge if they screw you over. People are also much more likely to come after a mechanic with lethal intent if he causes errors instead of fixing them. This, along with more typical market forces, has led a rare type of people to concentrate in this industry: Honest Decepticons.

[Anollasia]

All orphanages, hospitals, and mental institutions are state-operated, secular, and must meet a certain national standard. Orphanages mainly exist as a temporary place to stay for orphans until they are matched with a family. Orphanages are often proactive with finding foster families instead of just waiting for a family to drop by.

Hospitals are publicly funded and available for anyone. Recently hospitals have started charging a small fee of 1 Anolla, however, as an incentive to reduce strain on the system. Only time will tell if this will work. Most hospitals also have a mental health department.

There are different mental institutions: a hospital's mental health department/psychiatric ward, a mental hospital, and psychological/social counselling services. A hospital mental health ward is meant for short, acute care, such as administering medication to temporarily ease symptoms. A mental hospital is meant for longer, chronic care, often for the most severe cases. Patients usually can't be kept here against their will, unless they might pose a threat to others' or their own safety. A mental hospital is not the stereotypical foam padding room depicted in some media, but is meant to be a welcoming and therapeutic place for those experiencing extreme mental illness. Psychological/social counselling offers psychotherapy, such as cognitive behavioural therapy or group therapy, but cannot prescribe medications.

[Creslonia]

Orphanages are state-owned and operated and are overseen by the Ministry of Children's Directorate of Adoption and Care. Orphanages are secular, as are hospitals. Hospitals are also run by the government and overseen by the Ministry of Health. Mental health services (including social services, mental hospitals, and psych wards) are run by the Ministry of Health's Directorate of Mental Health and are free. All these institutions are provide emergency care for free. The Ministry of Children's institutions are the only ones that are completely government-funded.

[Ah-eh-ioh-uh]

Long overdue bump

[Olwe]

Institutions tend to be irreligious in Olwe as well (for one thing, Christianity specifically is banned). We strongly regulate them and abuses are dealt with harshly. Boarding schools are illegal, as are all other forms of private education. It’s either homeschooling (necessary for some carnivorous or otherwise potentially dangerous species) or public curriculum. Orphanages, hospitals and mental institutions are likewise state-run.

[Tangatarehua]

Orphanages are somewhat unheard of in Tangatarehua, as Tangatarehua has a slightly different concept of family. If both parents of a child die, then they would be considered the responsibility of wider family and if that's not possible they become the responsibility of their Hapu (sub-tribe). Generally children are raised more by their wider community than by their parents and so because the western concept of a nuclear family doesn't really apply, neither does the western concept of being orphaned. An abandoned child would lead to a national outcry.

Psych wards are just a service of the Tangatarehua Imperial Health Service. A court can order an individual to be kept in psychiatric care for a certain amount of time if they are deemed a danger to themselves and/or others with such an order constantly reviewed at a minimum of once every month. People can also go in voluntarily, but effectively they are just part of a regular hospital like the burns ward and the maternity ward.

Boarding schools are fairly common, particularly for children living in remote rural areas who might otherwise have to travel several hours to their nearest school. Children of the nobility or upper middles classes also tend to go to boarding schools as they can afford the higher fees.