Prague, Dec 22 (CTK) – Expensive toys may harm children in institutional care in the Czech Republic since they can thwart their view of real prices and of what they can afford after they leave children´s homes and must stand on their own legs, daily Lidove noviny (LN) writes yesterday, referring to experts.
Sponsors of some children´s homes are really generous, especially before Christmas when they bring luxurious presents for children, such as notebooks, mobile phones and brand trainers.
However, experts point out that an overflow of such presents is harmful.
Social workers estimate that only one in ten children manages to adapt to reality behind the walls of the children´s home. They realise that it is not so easy to find and keep a job, pay a rent and save money and they often get in troubles due to their low “financial literacy,” LN says.
This is why they rank among the groups of inhabitants that are the most threatened with homelessness, it writes.
The children´s homes therefore cooperate with sponsors in various ways to target their aid. They mostly ask them to send presents to a particular child. Some homes also run an e-shop on their website in which donors can buy, for instance, notebooks or ski trips for children.
Martin Lnenicka, deputy head of the Federation of Children´s Homes and director of one home in Prague, says children must be involved in the operation of the home they live in as much as possible to be prepared for a real life.
“We have training flats, training wages, our kids participate in shopping and in obligatory holiday work,” he told LN.
Children in his institution can find about six presents under the Christmas tree each, including small ones, and he decides how much money is to be spent on them.
Education Minister Katerina Valachova (Social Democrats, CSSD) admits the criticism of too many expensive presents for children living in institutions. However, she says potential sponsors now try to find out the homes´ real needs beforehand. Sometimes, it is better to spend time with such children than to buy them gifts, she says.
Valachova considers the projects that help children command basic routines the most beneficial. These programmes focus on sport as well as other activities they will need in a real life, such as to manage a job interview and open a bank account.
The number of start-up flats for young people leaving children´s homes has also increased, though they are not available in all regions yet, Lnenicka said.
LN writes that about 1000 young people annually leave children´s homes in the Czech Republic. Some do so only after they complete their secondary-school or university studies as they can stay there until the age of 26 if they study, while others, mostly boys, want to become independent as soon as they come of age at 18, LN writes.
Under law, they are entitled to a single bonus of about 25,000 crowns when leaving institutional care. Its real level is calculated on the basis of their attained education as well as behaviour and the length of stay in a children´s home, LN adds.
($1=24.947 crowns)
