The Prague 8 town hall has handed over to the Fund for Endangered Children a renovated house to which a Klokánek facility will move, increasing its capacity by four places.
On 6 October 2026 the Prague 8 town hall handed over to the Fund for Endangered Children (FOD) a renovated house to which the children from the Klokánek located in a school building on Chabařovická Street will move. According to FOD, the previous premises were unsuitable.[1][2]
The move and capacity
The children will now be housed in two houses owned by Prague 8. Three flats were created in the house that has been handed over; the second house will have two flats, and according to Prague 8 deputy mayor Radomír Nepil (ANO) the town hall should hand it over by the end of 2026.[1][2] According to Nepil, the renovation of the handed-over house took about a year and cost roughly eight million crowns.[1][2] In both properties the Klokánek will have a total of twenty places for children, which, according to FOD chair Hanka Kupková, means a capacity increase of one flat, that is, four places.[1][2] Each flat will house at most four children and one carer, and two staff members will alternate looking after the children.[1][2] Kupková said that the Klokánek on Chabařovická Street was one of the first facilities of this kind created in the Czech Republic.[1][2]
The situation of Klokánek facilities in Czechia
According to Kupková, the capacity of Klokánek facilities across the Czech Republic is inadequate. The Fund for Endangered Children runs a total of fourteen Klokánek facilities for children requiring immediate help, with a combined capacity of about 260 children; as of 6 October 2026 they housed 232 children.[1][2] According to Kupková, 60 to 70 children pass through an average twenty-bed Klokánek in a year, and children stay in the facilities for seven to nine months on average.[1][2] Under the current rules, children younger than four may stay in a Klokánek for at most two months unless they are with an older sibling; for children up to 18 the recommended length of stay is six months. Kupková said that this time limit is unsuitable and that there is a shortage of transitional foster carers.[1][2]
Staff shortages and funding
Kupková said that in some Klokánek facilities a total of eight flats with 32 places are closed because of a lack of carers. Nationwide the Klokánek has about 120 carers, of whom, according to Kupková, 16 are missing.[1][2] She gave as the reason difficulties in recruiting staff, partly because of low pay of about 25,000 crowns gross per month.[1][2] Half of the organisation's budget comes from a state contribution, and the rest from regional authorities and donors. Kupková said that the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs of the Czech Republic would need to set up better funding for similar facilities.[1][2] According to Kupková, the entire system of social and legal protection of children is failing, because the Czech Republic lacks educational institutions, diagnostic institutions and children's homes, while the number of children needing help has risen.[1][2]
Related articles: Fund for Endangered Children
Chronology
- — In Prague 8, the district handed the Fund for Endangered Children a reconstructed house for the Klokánek facility, which is to move into two houses with about twenty places and increase its capacity by four places. Pražský deník Pražská Drbna
Sources
- Pražský deník — 6 October 2026
- Pražská Drbna (ČTK) — 6 October 2026