Deinstitutionalising the System of Care for Vulnerable Children in the Czech Republic

1. Deinstitutionalising the System of Care for Vulnerable Children in the Czech Republic Marta Miklušáková Department of Social and Family Policies Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs

2. Institutions in the Czech Republic • Residential care in the CR • Beneficiaries • Numbers • Structural funds: Pros and Cons Challenges: • Large numbers of institutions + beneficiaries • Sectorial fragmentation • Nonuniform central policy

3. Institutions in the Czech Republic: Numbers(by the end of 2011) • Total no of children placed in institutional care based on a court decision: 7.468 • No of „voluntary placements“: about 2.500 • Institutions under the Ministry of Health (infant facilities for children up to 3 yrs of age): 1.428 • Institutions under the Ministry of Health: 7.150 • Institutions for disabled persons: 834

4. Infant Institutions in the Czech Republic: Numbers I(by the end of 2012)

5. Infant Institutions in the Czech Republic: Numbers II(by the end of 2012)

6. UN CRC: Concluding observations 2011 12. While noting that the State party’s Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs (MoLSA)has been mandated to coordinate implementation of the Convention, the Committeeremains concerned about the fact that coordination between the different governmentministries, departments and institutions dealing with children’s rights is insufficient atnational, regional and municipal levels.

7. UN CRC: Concluding observations 2011 36. The Committee reiterates its recommendation (CRC/C/15/Add.201) for theState party to introduce a comprehensive legal provision establishing the right of thechild to participate that would be applicable to courts, administrative bodies, institutions, schools, childcare institutions and families in matters affecting children, and guarantee the right to appeal against the decisions, in accordance with article 12of the Convention. … TheCommittee also recommends that the State party take measures to allow for the directhearing of the views of the child in all proceedings involving children, providingadequate safeguards and mechanisms for ensuring that such participation can becarried out effectively, free of manipulation or intimidation…

8. UN CRC: Concluding observations 2011 46. Drawing attention to the Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children …, theCommittee calls upon the State party to urgently formulate a coherent national policyon de-institutionalization, and in particular to: (a) Develop comprehensive assessments of the family situation, preventiveservices, admission criteria and strategies to reduce the number of children living in care institutions and ensure that placement of children in institutions is only used as a last resort and regularly monitored and reviewed in cases where it is applied; (b) Develop community-based family-type services and foster care to avoid institutionalization of children. (c) … establish a uniform set of standards for public and private institutions and voluntary homes and a system to monitor them regularly;

9. UN CRC: Concluding observations 2011 (e) Ensure the timely development of individual childcare plans from thetime a child enters an institution and strengthen inclusive education policies and practices, thereby facilitating the child’s expeditious return to a family-type environment; (f) … (g) Ensure that the proposed improvements to the system of institutional care are guided by a clear timeline with concrete benchmarks for implementation whichare effectively monitored at regular intervals.

10. De-Institutionalization in the Czech Republic: Aims and Strategies • Prevention services • Emergency protection services • Substitute family care Strategies • Focus on the work with families and creation of conditions for a network of services for families and children (the service providers will include NGOs). • Mandatory procedures for the local authorities in charge of protection of children. • Increased support of foster care, incl. temporary foster care, changes in the trainings for prospective foster parents, creating conditions for the introduction of support and respite services for both new and existing foster families.

11. De-Institutionalization in the Czech Republic: Positive Development • Government National Plan of Action (2012) + • Action Plan to Fulfill the National Strategy 2012-2015 • Amendment to the Act on Social and Legal protection of Children (2013) • IP Systematic Transformation of Care for Vulnerable Families/Children, ESF (2012+) • EEA Financial Mechanisms (CZ04) Reform involves a shift from a system that depends heavily on institutional placements, to a system that focuses primarily on family and community based care.

12. National Plan/Strategy CR Government commitment to create a functional system to protect consistently all rights of children and to meet their needs by 2018. Basic principles + 16 areas of activities to gradually fulfill this objective, incl: • activities, fulfillment indicators, time schedules • responsibility • human and technical resources • financial costs, funding resources and the impact on public budgets • legislative changes required to achieve the objectives • the monitoring mechanism • Strategies to involve civil society and children Regular evaluation.

13. Amendment to the Act on Social and Legal protection of Children (2013) vis-à-vis Foster Care • Increased financial remuneration for foster parents • Remuneration related to no of children, health conditions, type of care • Agreements on Foster Care • Related training + respite entitlement  • Increase in no of applicants for foster care • Increase in no of applicants for temporary foster care (7 in 2012, 89 in mid-2013, expected 150 by the end of 2013) • Most of temporary foster parents fully involved • Majority of children leaving temporary foster care for permanent solution in 2-3 months

14. Trends in Numbers I

15. Trends in Numbers II: No of institutionalized children

16. ESF Project “Systemic Support of Processes within the Transformation of the System of Care for Vulnerable Children and Families” Focus areas: • Analysis (demo, services, foster care) • Quality Standards • Assessment / Individual Planning • Development of Services • Strengthening Foster Care • Training • PR Budget: Eur 8,8 mil.

17. Prevention mechanisms • Quality Standards (local authorities + service providers) • Assessment / Individual Planning (GIRFEC) • Family Group Conferences (pilot 2014) • Development of Services

18. Strengthening Foster Care • Piloting new system of training for prospective foster parents (PRIDE) in three regions; • Adapting PRIDE to Czech audience; • Development of services in the three pilot regions; • Local recruitment campaigns;

19. Foster Parent´s Training in the CR Act on the Social and Legal Protection of Children: • Standard training    48hrs • Temporary/Emergency FC        72hrs • Regional Governments in charge of the content • Psychological testing • No time limits • Analysis 2013: Significant differences in both length, content, scenario

20. PRIDE training Step by step: • Licence agreement with CWLA • Translation of PRIDE • Arranging for extra topics to be included (+ temporary FC) • Recruitment of lecturers • Identification of 20 prospective PRIDE trainers • Training of trainers: May – December 2013 • Training of prospective foster parents: September 2013 – January 2014

21. PRIDE training II Training of prospective foster parents: September 2013 – January 2014 Three pilot regions Olomouc region 3 groups Ostrava region 3 groups Zlín region 3 groups each group per about 15 about 130 individuals Highly positive feedback from lecturers, applicants, regions.

22. Thank you Marta Miklušáková Department of Social and Family Policies Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs Prague marta.miklusakova@mpsv.cz