Kbely tent children in Prague: ombudsman names municipal error

The case of two girls who lived with their mother in a tent near the military airfield in Prague's Kbely could have been uncovered much sooner had it not been for a mistake by the authorities of one municipality. That is the conclusion of children's ombudsman Beneš. The elder sister, at eight years old, should already have been in third grade, but she did not attend any school.

The girls were found in the tent in March this year by a Prague city police dog-handler patrol. Their mother and her partner were nearby. Since then, according to the ombudsman, the situation of the whole family has changed fundamentally.

Registered at a mailing address

The mother and daughters were registered as residents at a so-called mailing address at a municipal office, where post is delivered. This is common practice, for example for homeless people. The family did not actually live in that municipality, so officials considered the address purely formal and did not report the children to the school in the registered district or to any other primary school. Teachers did not know about the girls and so could not turn to social workers for help.

“The mayor somehow decided on his own that since there were no children in the municipality, they presumably lived somewhere else, where they surely went to school,” Beneš stressed. In his view, the municipality should have acted differently: first try to find the mother, then notify the higher-level “authorized” municipality, which would have stepped up the search and brought in the child social protection authority (OSPOD).

The children fell out of the system

The ombudsman is convinced that social workers, with police help if needed, would have found the girls and checked that everything was all right. “It is not only about school. These children fell out of the entire system of care that the state provides to children for a time,” he explained.

Beneš recalled that in Czechia mandatory pre-school education begins at age five by law, and compulsory school attendance at six. Among other things, it is tied to medical check-ups, and a teacher can notice during preparation that a child needs help.

“These children somehow slipped through the entire system. Now we must make sure nothing like this happens again. I don't even want to think about how tragically this mistake could have ended for both girls. Fortunately, that did not happen,” the ombudsman added.

He urged municipalities to “check very carefully” that all children registered as permanent residents of a town or municipality are actually invited to enroll in kindergartens and schools. It is not enough to assume the children “probably go to school somewhere else.” Although in his assessment the case is most likely isolated, the Ministry of Education and representatives of city, municipal and regional offices have been informed. The ombudsman did not name the municipality that made the mistake, but stressed that its staff have already been trained so that it does not happen again.

Read also: Registering your address in Czechia as a foreigner: deadlines, documents, landlord refusal

Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz