Prague, Sept 21 (CTK) – Authorities abroad took 338 children from Czech families between 2010 and this mid-September, which related to 169 households, according to the data of the Office for International Legal Protection of Children CTK gained on Thursday.
Roughly two-fifths of the children were returned to parents or were sent to their relatives both abroad and in the Czech Republic.
Roughly the same proportion was entrusted to foster parents or for adoption, the UMPOD data said.
The children are largely removed due to their maltreatment, abuse and neglect. In some countries, corporal punishment of children is outlawed.
Most cases of separation of children occurred in 2016. This related to 74 children from 44 families. The number has been growing since 2010 because an increasing number of Czech stay abroad.
Most cases occurred in Britain. Since 2010 a total of 284 Czech children were separated from their families there. Britain is followed by Germany with 19 children, Spain with eight, Ireland and Austria with seven and Norway and Italy with three.
A total of 72 children were returned to their parents, 24 were entrusted to their relatives abroad and 35 to a broader family in the Czech Republic. A total of 100 children were passed to foster parents and 45 to adoption abroad.
Three children were sent to a child institution abroad and 14 in the Czech Republic.
“In Britain, children are usually entrusted to foster care or adoption. Approximately in one half of the cases, a Czech child was returned to the family or to the Czech Republic. Compared with the British system, we are much more successful,” UMPOD director Zdenek Kapitan has told the latest meeting of the Chamber of Deputies social affairs committee.
