PREPARATION OF CHILDREN TO LEAVE INSTITUTIONAL CARE AS A MEANS OF SUCCESSFUL SOCIAL INTEGRATION

In the Czech Republic, a children's home is defined as a type of school facility for institutional education. Children are placed in children's homes on the basis of a court decision in cases when they cannot grow up in a biological family because of a variety of circumstances.

The long-term residence of children in children's homes, according to Matoušek (1999), often leads to typical personality deformations, in terms of social relations, attitudes, values system, and self-evaluation. For young adults growing up in children's homes, the situation regarding independence in many respects is different from that of those leaving their own family. The fundamental difference lies in the very preparation for an independent life. In a biological family, this strategy is more unorganized, individuals are being prepared for their own independent life continuously with the expectation that their families provide help.

The aim of the paper is to describe the situation regarding the preparation of individuals to leave institutional facility (children's homes) for the purposes of independence. For this purpose, the data gained by using a questionnaire research.
In the Czech Republic there are 142 children’s homes run by the Ministry of Education, privately, Church. 128 establishments are within the competence of relevant regional authorities.

During the first stage of the research, the leading employees of children’s homes run by regional authorities in the Czech Republic were addressed. Children’s homes that are not operated by regional authorities were deliberately excluded from the research sample due to their different regimen and methods of working with children.
The basic research sample consisted of 128 directors of state-run children’s homes; the selection sample included 98 directors (final sample, return rate 78%).

The data were analyzed through common statistical SPSS assistance procedures, especially in the descriptive plane, but at the same time, selected relationships between the variables will be captured. Conclusions from the quantitative research will be complemented by an analysis of interviews with 3 children who are growing up in a children's home and are about to leave for the sake of independence. The interviews were analyzed using a qualitatively oriented Meaning Constitution Analysis method. The author of method is Roger Sages, a Swedish psychologist, who constructed the MCA based on Husserl's empirical phenomenology. This method allows us to understand the meaning of the phenomena (feelings, situations, relationships and experience) for the personality of the person under investigation.

The main finding based on the responses of the directors of children’s homes is the fact that preparing children for leaving institutional care is a very challenging process with uncertain success. This process is not systematically treated by the state, and significant responsibility is transferred to children’s homes and their staff. Selected children’s homes have their own strategy for preparing children for independence and their successful integration in society; others consider it a continuous process in the context of regular childhood education. Many children’s homes use cooperation with selected non-profit organizations to focus systematically on children leaving these establishments.