Prague, April 16 (CTK) – The costs of institutional care for children is six times higher than field work with the families in need in the Czech Republic, as the former costs 44,570 crowns and the latter 7,250 crowns a month on average, based on an analysis by the Labour and Social Affairs Ministry released to CTK.
The analysis of the funding system of care for children in need uses the data on state expenses released in 2016, when the total costs of the care reached 10.8 billion crowns.
“The overall costs are higher without a doubt and the data must be regarded as the minimal expenses,” the authors of the analysis have said.
It is impossible to calculate the total costs due to the system of distribution of the care among the labour, education and health ministries, as well as the fact that support is also provided by the local municipalities, the authors wrote.
The infant care institutions (for children under three years) contributed to the average monthly cost of institutional care the most, with 55,100 crowns per child a month. The stay of older boys and girls in children’s homes cost over 36,300 crowns per capita a month, while the care in facilities for children in need was 22,800 crowns a month. The costs of foster care were around 20,000 per child a month, according to the analysis.
Field work with a family cost roughly 7,250 crowns a month.
In 2016, the total costs of care for children in need reached almost 11 billion crowns. About three quarters of the amount were used for institutional and foster care. Only about 8 percent of the amount went to prevention.
“This structural deficit is not systematically solved in the means from the EU funds, which should, however, be primarily determined for development, and not to fund the ‘operation’ of the system,” the authors wrote.
The proportion of the expenses is gradually beginning to change as in 2016 about two fifths of the overall expenses went to institutional care compared to one half in 2015.
The share of funding used for foster care increased from 29 percent in 2015 to 36 percent in 2016.
