Prague, April 6 (CTK) – The number of Czech foster parents is rapidly rising, but still it is insufficient because the state is about to further reduce the number of children staying in institutions due to which professional care of them will be needed, daily Mlada fronta Dnes (MfD) writes on Wednesday.
In 2010, there were 8,500 foster parents in the Czech Republic and the number surged to almost 11,000 by 2015, MfD writes.
However, the Czech government will discuss the proposal on Thursday, due to which their role will be even increased.
The Government Human Rights Council wants to restrict institutional care even more than now, MfD writes.
At least until their pre-school age, children are to be brought up in the environment that is the closest to the family, especially with foster parents, it adds.
In 2014, there were over 2,000 children in children’s homes and infant institutes, MfD writes.
If all of them are to pass from the institutes to the family care, the number of current foster parents will not be sufficient, it adds.
“This is why we have proposed a transient period during which the conditions will be approved and the number of foster parents will be increased,” Klara Laurencikova, chairwoman of the Child Rights Committee, told the paper.
The state primarily needs “professional” foster parents who only look after a child for a transient period, MfD writes.
Small children are to be moved to professional foster parents who would accept them into their families for a limited time.
The number of such faster parents has been growing by the year. In 2011, there were only 15 of them and last year 550, but still this is not enough.
“The people must know that they are supported and that they will not be left alone in the difficult situations associated with foster care,” Laurencikova said.
The people providing transient foster care are paid 20,000 crowns a month, even if they are not in charge of any child, MfD writes.
The remuneration for a long-term foster parent is much lower. If the care is provided for one child, it is 8,000 crowns a month, it adds.
However, unlike the “professional” foster parents such people may have a normal job, MfD writes.
In the past years, the Labour and Social Affairs Ministry carried out a number of recruitment campaigns for foster parents.
“We support the idea of reducing the placement of the smallest children in institutions,” Labour and Social Affairs Minister Michaela Marksova has told the paper.
The Czech Republic is one of the last countries in Europe whose law does not embed an age limit for the placement of children in institutions, she added.
