Prague, Aug 29 (CTK) – The indebted Klokanek facilities run by the Fund for Children in Need (FOD) will not receive a special subsidy of 20 million crowns, Czech Labour and Social Affairs Minister Michaela Marksova (Social Democrats, CSSD) has said, in line with a recent government decision.
Marksova said none of the children in need living in the Klokanek facilities would be threatened, if the FOD stopped operating due to its high debts. All of them would be moved to other facilities, she added, rejecting speculations about an unclear future of the children.
There are 302 children in the Klokanek facilities now.
President Milos Zeman criticised the government for not supporting the FOD.
The FOD is the biggest institution for children in need in the country, but there are 34 other organisation providing similar services, Marksova said on Friday.
She pointed out that none of the other organisations had such financial problems as the FOD.
“None of these organisations has acted like the Fund for Children in Need that provided services and opened new facilities irrespective of how much finances were available to it,” Marksova said.
If a special subsidy were granted to the FOD, this would be an exclusive and nontransparent support for a single organisation, she said.
The FOD debts have recently reached about 120 million crowns.
Marksova said the FOD gets a monthly subsidy of 22,800 crowns per each child, same as the other organisations. From January to the end of June, it received 55 million crowns from the state, she added.
The FOD plans to reduce the number of its facilities from the present 28 to 20 by the end of the year. Two of five shelter homes would be run by a different operator than the FOD. Out of 23 branches of the FOD only seven or eight would keep operating.
($1=24.999 crowns)
