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Czech Social Affairs Ministry: Quintuplets' parents deserve support

08 January 2015
3 minute read

The Czech Labor and Social Affairs Ministry has issued a press release in response to remarks made by Klára Vítková-Rulíková in an interview with the online news server iDNES.cz on 5 January 2015, including her interpretation of the alleged opinions of some ministry staffers about the first quintuplets born in the Czech Republic. According to the press spokesperson for the ministry, those remarks reflected the personal opinions of Ms Vítková-Rulíková alone and were not in accordance in any way with the ministry’s position.

Staffers from the ministry have long monitored the situation of the family of Ms Kiňová, Mr Kroščen and their children, and staffers are also in contact with the Municipal Authority of Lysá nad Labem, which is providing the family with immediate care. Given the number of children they have, the family’s situation has been assessed as unusual, and it is completely understandable that the parents would need assistance in providing care for five (or actually six) young children.  

"Simply put, our system is not prepared for such multiple instances of ‘good luck’. The law entitles the family to one additional caregiver, which is not enough for five infants. We will, therefore, continue to attempt to find sources of support that will be adequate to the family’s needs," said Czech Labor and Social Affairs Minister Michaela Marksová, who has taken a personal interest in the family since the beginning and visited them.

In collaboration with the Municipal Authority of Lysá nad Labem and other service providers, the family will continue to receive the necessary care, including with respect to the changing needs of their children. The Labor and Social Affairs Ministry distances itself in particular from any remarks made that violate the basic ethical principles of the "helping" professions.  

Ms Vítková-Rulíková was entrusted by Labor and Social Affairs Minister Michaela Marksová with coordinating aid to the family only to the extent of her professional capacity in caring for multiple birth families and the activities she has developed on her own initiative (i.e., the Club of Twins and Higher Multiples), and the Czech Labor and Social Affairs Ministry is not responsible for her behavior outside the framework of that arrangement. The Municipal Authority of Lysá nad Labem is also expressing disagreement with the remarks by Klára Vítková-Rulíková and has been providing the quintuplets’ family advice and support since before the children were born, including collaborating with childcare services and the Central Bohemian Regional Authority, which arranged for aid to the family immediately after the children were born.

The children of Ms Kiňová and Mr Kroščen have never been and are not considered at risk from the perspective of child welfare law, and therefore the relevant child welfare protection agency is not authorized to intervene in the family, to say nothing of considering removing the children. An apartment has been provided to the family by the Municipal Authority of Milovice, and the family is being provided advice and support on the basis of collaboration with the quintuplets’ parents.

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