New national office for child protection faces resistance from regional authorities
The proposed nationwide Office for Family and Child Protection is being delayed as regional governments object to transferring some of their duties.
Aleš Juchelka announced that the draft legislation establishing a national Office for Family and Child Protection is in its final wording stage and will be presented to the cabinet and the lower house shortly. He noted that regional administrations are reluctant to hand over certain functions, slowing the reform’s progress. The planned institution aims to create a unified methodological framework for social-legal child-protection bodies, provide support to their workers, ensure quality control and oversee the entire network.
The structure envisions a central authority plus fourteen regional offices, taking over some child-protection and substitute-family-care tasks currently managed by the regions, as well as inspection duties now handled by the ministry. Municipal offices are not slated for immediate transfer, though further consolidation is being considered. The reform also includes a single information system to ease data sharing and reduce administrative burdens.
Why it matters
Centralizing child-protection services could improve coordination and quality of care for vulnerable children.
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