A CHILD between the FAMILY and INSTITUTIONS

WHY

This programme is the STREP´s response to the needs of children who have been placed in institutional care and to the fact that the Czech Republic has been criticized by the international human-rights institutions for the high number of children placed in institutional care and for the length of their stay there. It is needed to develop programmes focused on help to endangered children and their families.

FOR WHOM and HOW

This project is intended for children already placed in institutional care and their parents/families. The STREP´s employees work on the contact between placed children and their families. The separation from the family is a difficult situation for children to cope with. They might feel abandoned by their families. It is very helpful for them to know when they will see their parents or when their parents will call them. They need to know that their parents still love them and are interested in them.

The STREP´s workers help parents to improve their conditions to such an extent that their children are allowed to go home for the weekends⁄holidays or they are allowed to gradually and safely return home. It is essential to support responsibility of parents for their children and their parenting roles. The placement of their child⁄children in institutional care does not mean that they are not responsible for it/them any more.

STREP cooperates with workers of other relevant institutions intervening in children lives (staff of institutional care facilities, social workers, etc.). The really effective help to these children is impossible without such cooperation.

The realization of this project started in 2007.