The government was to convene a special meeting Oct. 18 to discuss drafting a code that would set out ways to better respond to cases of child endangerment and begin setting out ways to overhaul the country's problematic childcare system.

"We still lack a complex document that would deal with the issue of endangered children," said Vladimír Vokál, a ministry spokesman.

More than 7,500 cases of abuse or neglect were registered last year, the report said. Cases in which mentally disabled children were mistreated increased twelvefold in the past decade, according to the report.

These figures are coupled with shortcomings in the country's childcare system, which has seen a steady decrease in social workers and space for at-risk children in protective homes. Legal adoptions also remain a challenge here.

"The ministry considers these figures alarming," Vokál said. "Maltreatment can result in a physical trauma that lasts long years, if not for a child's entire life."

About 20,000 children currently live in state facilities, either in social care institutions, orphanages, correctional facilities or special homes that care for infants and babies.

If the ministry's report is somewhat vague—it defines mistreatment as sexual and physical abuse, neglect and bullying, but doesn't break down statistics into those camps — the solutions officials are proposing are not. The ministry promises to hire more social workers, launch a public education campaign and promote better communication across the system.

The government has already earmarked 1 million Kč ($44,200) through 2008 to develop a plan to overhaul the system.

Also in the offing, the ministry said, is an effort to move more children out of special care and into adoptive and foster homes.

Nongovernmental organizations here and abroad have long criticized the country for the number of children living in state-run facilities.