Introduction
The issue of special educational institutions is an important part of the system of care for children and youth with behavioral disorders or in difficult life situations. This text focuses on an overview of the individual types of facilities, their legal framework, and the differences between institutional and protective care. It also highlights certain professional terms and legislative changes that affect the organization of this care in the Czech Republic.
Special Educational and Other Similar Facilities
The issue of special educational institutions is complex, yet relatively logically structured. A characteristic feature of these institutions is that they fall under the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic. Other facilities of a similar nature fall under the Ministry of Health or the Ministry of Justice. Specifically, this text discusses facilities falling under the education sector, namely children's homes, children's homes with schools, educational institutes, diagnostic institutes, and educational care centers. For a more complete picture, we will also mention infant homes. These facilities fall under the Ministry of Health of the Czech Republic, as the professional staff are not educators but healthcare workers. According to Czech legislation, infant homes have been de facto abolished as of January 1, 2025. Children from these facilities were largely transferred to other facilities or to foster families. The Ministry of Justice operates so-called security detention, where juvenile delinquents are placed for an act committed while not criminally responsible. These are exclusively facilities in Brno and Opava. Detention to some extent resembles a prison, but people with a sentence go to prison, while people with a protective measure go to detention.
Another category is facilities for extreme behavioral disorders, abbreviated as EPCHO. Both children and adolescents are placed in units for extreme behavioral disorders. These facilities accommodate, for example, child murderers. In the Czech Republic, these units are established within educational institutes or children's homes with schools. EPCHO units are therefore located, for example, in Boletice, Frýdek-Místek, and Jindřichův Hradec.
To understand the entire issue, let us also mention a few terms that might be useful. The first term is detention itself. This term essentially means protection. Security detention thus protects society from dangerous individuals. Another important term is aberration. This term denotes a deviation from the norm, and thus relates to the concepts of norm and normality. Such a frequency-based concept of normality indicates that what is common in society is considered normal. If we apply this to our issue, it is not common in society to take someone's life. Next, we mention so-called attachment, which refers to disorders of relational bonding that often have the indirect consequence of placing children in alternative family care. In summary, it should be noted that the terms inmate and ward are now outdated, and the terms child or client are commonly used today. Similarly, what were once psychiatric hospitals are now simply referred to as hospitals.
Institutional and Protective Care
There are significant differences between institutional and protective care, although these mean little to the general public. Institutional care is essentially a protective measure ordered by a court in civil proceedings due to behavioral disorders of a child or adolescent, or because the family is unable to ensure the child's proper upbringing, or because the legal guardian has died. However, it must be noted that institutional care is not desirable, and preference is given to alternative solutions, such as foster care.
A court may order institutional care up to the age of 18, and exceptionally it can be extended until the age of 19. According to the new Civil Code, institutional care can be ordered for a maximum duration of 3 years, with the possibility of further extension, repeatedly, before the period expires. However, the reasons for the continuation of institutional care must be reviewed every six months (Slomek, 2010, p. 55).
Institutional care is not punitive in nature, which is often overlooked by the non-professional public. A motion to terminate or order institutional care is submitted to the court by the child welfare authority or the public prosecutor. Therefore, it is important to remember that institutional care is ordered while protective care is imposed.
As for protective care, it is an educational measure imposed by a court for acts that would be characterized as criminal in adults. However, protective care is also not punitive in nature and lasts as long as necessary to fulfill its purpose. Similarly to institutional care, protective care is imposed up to the age of 18, with the possibility of extension until the age of 19. For children aged 12 to 15, protective care is imposed in civil proceedings, and for adolescents aged 15 to 18, or 19, it is imposed in criminal proceedings (Kaleja, 2013, pp. 127-128).
There is also a difference in the facilities where institutional and protective care are carried out. Institutional care takes place mainly in children's homes, children's homes with schools, and educational institutes. Protective care is then carried out in children's homes with schools, educational institutes, children's diagnostic institutes, and units for extreme behavioral disorders. The only facility for which a court decision is not required for admission is the educational care center. Legal guardians place their children in educational care centers on a voluntary basis; these are so-called voluntary stays.
Now, the basic differences between the individual facilities in general. Children's homes are intended for individuals aged 3 to 18, or 19 years. A so-called stay by agreement is possible even beyond the age of 19 (Slomek, 2010, p. 47). This type of stay is used particularly by adolescents studying at university. Children's homes typically accommodate children and adolescents whose families are unwilling or unable to care for them, and who themselves do not suffer from serious behavioral disorders (Jánský, 2014, p. 116). Children therefore attend local primary and secondary schools on their own. Many children, however, attend special primary schools or vocational training centers.
A children's home with a school is typically intended for children aged 6 until the end of compulsory school attendance. Thus, individuals here are usually up to 15 years of age. These facilities were formerly called children's educational institutes. Children with behavioral disorders are placed in children's homes with schools. These are children for whom both ordinary upbringing and institutional care have failed. It often happens that a child is moved from a regular children's home to a children's home with a school, for example due to their aggressiveness. These facilities also have their own school, so children do not attend local schools in the given town.
As a general rule, children's homes today only exist in an arrangement of so-called family groups. The exact size of children's homes and family groups is determined by legislation. It is sufficient for us to know that a group typically consists of 6 to 8 children, and according to the decree, a children's home may not have more than 6 family groups.
If the behavior of an adolescent is even more severe, and neither a children's home nor a children's home with school is sufficient, the adolescent is placed in an educational institute. Thus, individuals aged 15 to 18, or 19, are placed here. If it includes a unit for extreme behavioral disorders, the client may be younger than 15 (Slomek, 2010, p. 48). EPCHO is, for example, part of the Educational Institute Ostrava-Hrabůvka or the Children's Home with School Boletice.
The last type of facility is the so-called children's diagnostic institutes or diagnostic institutes for youth. As the name of these facilities suggests, diagnostics are carried out there. Individuals should stay here for approximately several weeks. Due to lengthy court proceedings, however, it is not unusual for a child to remain in a diagnostic institute for over a year. After diagnostics, a decision is made whether the child will be returned to the family or whether a different approach will be chosen, for example within the framework of institutional care.
In addition to state-run facilities, there are also other facilities that fall within the so-called non-profit sector. Particularly important are facilities for children requiring immediate assistance (ZDVOP), which include, for example, Klokánek – the Fund for Children at Risk, and SOS Children's Villages.
Conclusion
The above overview shows that the system of special educational institutions is complex and divided according to the severity of behavioral disorders as well as the legal reasons for placement. It is important to distinguish between institutional and protective care, as well as to know the specifics of each type of facility. Although institutional care remains a last resort, it still represents an essential tool for the protection and support of at-risk children and adolescents.
Author: Bc. Jan Brychta, Ed.D.
The author works as an educator in a youth home. He professionally focuses on behavioral disorders in adolescence. He is a member of the school counseling center at a secondary school. He obtained his pedagogical qualification for the profession of educator and leisure time pedagogue through a lifelong learning program at the College of Physical Education and Sport PALESTRA. At the Department of Pedagogy of AMBIS University, he completed a bachelor's degree program in resocialization and penitentiary pedagogy. At the Faculty of Public Administration and Economic Studies of the Jagiellonian University in Toruń, he completed a postgraduate managerial study program Doctor of Education in the field of management of educational institutions. He is currently studying a follow-up master's degree program in social work.
References
SLOMEK, Zdeněk. 2010. Etopedie. Praha: Univerzita Jana Amose Komenského Praha, 2010. 96 s. ISBN 978-80-86723-84-6.
KALEJA, Martin. 2013. Etopedická propedeutika v inkluzivní speciální pedagogice. Ostrava: Ostravská univerzita, 2013. 262 s. ISBN 978-80-7464-396-5.
JÁNSKÝ, Pavel. 2014. Dítě s problémovým chováním a náhradní výchovná péče ve školských zařízeních pro výkon ústavní a ochranné výchovy. Hradec Králové: Gaudeamus, 2014. 292 s. ISBN 978-80-7435-534-9.