Klaus vetoes foster care legislation

Prague, Sept 12 (CTK) - President Vaclav Klaus Wednesday vetoed the amendment to the law on children's social care aimed to reduce the number of children in institutional care and to enhance foster care.

Klaus said the legislation had been passed under the pressure of international institutions that have criticised the Czech Republic over a high number of children in institutional facilities.

He said at his webpage the legislation had provoked the fear of closures of infant institutes and child centers and of a shortage of foster parents.

Now the bill will return to the Chamber of Deputies where at least 101 votes are needed to override Klaus's veto.

Critics say the bill would disintegrate the current functioning system, turn foster care into a market activity and basically destroy institutional care.

The government says the bill enables kids to grow up in natural environment after their biological families failed.

The amendment reckons with the professionalisation of foster parents whose remuneration would rise and who would receive it even while not caring for any children.

Facilities offering an immediate aid to children in need will receive less money from the state, but parents should pay them more.

Foster parents' remuneration will be newly assessed as a salary, which would secure their pension insurance.

Klaus said the bill was "rude and pitiless" and the lawmakers had passed it under the pressure of international institutions, naming the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the European Commission.

"There is the substantiated fear that we will have neither foster parents, nor institutes and the children will end up in the streets," Klaus said.

Klaus went on to say that the planned professionalisation of foster care was a source of concern.