Johnová (Prague seba): The professional public and the government agree on the photo to transform children’s homes
On Friday, August 19, the councilor hl. m of Prague for the area of social policy and healthcare Milena Johnová round table, where the transformation of children’s homes was discussed.
The invitation was accepted by the Ministry of Education Vladimír Balaš, Deputy Speaker of the PČR Chamber of Deputies Olga Richterová, Director of Charlotta Masaryková Children’s Home Radka Soukupová, Director of Dolní Čermná Children’s Home Stanislava Švarcová and representatives of the professional public. According to the results of the discussion, it is necessary to transform children’s homes as soon as possible.
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Prague and other regions are establishing children’s homes and trying to transform them. However, they often encounter obstacles that make it difficult or even impossible for the care of children in homes to be individualized and meet their needs. For example, it is not encouraged that children live in groups of less than six and that there is more than one guardian. During the talks with the Minister of Education and the experts present, many constructive suggestions and recommendations were made on how to simplify the process of transforming children’s homes.
“I consider it important to make changes, especially in the funding rules, so that individual facilities are supported and motivated to transform. Prague’s experience with the transformation of Charlotta Masaryková’s children’s home showed that the care of children in smaller ones with a greater number of educators is not only better for the children, but also for the employees. A reduction in the number of children in children’s groups combined with an increase in funding for individualized care is key. I’m glad that we are in complete agreement with the government in this respect,” said the councilor after the round table. m Prague Milena Johnová.
“We will prepare a change in funding that will allow children from children’s homes to receive care to the maximum extent possible, in apartments and houses in a regular environment. Given the number of these children, it is certainly within the capabilities of this country, and the investment in them will pay off,” said Vladimír Balaš at the meeting of the Minister of Education.
“The experiences of children’s homes that have undergone transformation have shown that it is possible to create a better and safer environment for children in ordinary households. This was achieved, for example, in the Pardubice region and in Prague. However, there were repeated complaints today that it is necessary to adjust the norms to support smaller households in the community – i.e. financing. Today, unfortunately, the rules favor bigger ones, which is not in the interest of children,” added Deputy Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies Olga Richterová.
There are a total of 138 children’s homes in the Czech Republic, of which 128 are established by regions. Regions, as founders, have the opportunity to decide what their residential care will look like. But this possibility is very limited. The current rules of the Ministry of Education, regarding, for example, the size of the facility, the size of educational groups, personnel or funding, effectively make it impossible for regions to determine or change the form of children’s homes. Therefore, the majority of children’s homes still have the form of large institutions with school canteens, where dozens of children aged 6 to 8 live together with an educator who is older than them in a shift operation (so-called day and one so-called night educator).
The Czech Republic is repeatedly criticized by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, the Czech government’s Committee on the Rights of the Child, experts and also people with experience in institutional care for violating the Convention on the Rights of the Child and fulfilling the commitment to complete the process of transformation and deinstitutionalization of the care system for vulnerable children.
In May 2022, Prague approved a memorandum of cooperation with the J&T Foundation in the preparation of a strategy for the development of a system of support for vulnerable children and their families in the capital until 2030. Prague is interested in modernizing care for vulnerable children and has taken significant steps in the last two years. The aim of the memorandum is the strategic role of the City Hall. m of Prague, define long-term goals until 2030 and plan their implementation. The transformation and deinstitutionalization of institutional facilities for children in the territory of Prague will be one of the goals of the strategy.
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author: PV
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