Prague, Aug 24 (CTK) – It has repeatedly happened that Czech social workers take children away from a loving parent and place them in institutions so that the children would learn to love the other parent, daily Pravo wrote and condemned such practice.
In reaction to an article about such a case, the editors received many letters from desperate mothers whose children were taken away from school by social workers one day and they were banned from seeing the children, although no court verdict was mostly issued, the paper writes.
Ludmila is one of such mothers. Her two sons, Antonin, 5, and Vojtech, 8, were taken away from her on April 28, 2016.
Ludmila told her version of the whole story of the parental dispute to Pravo. She said the boys started to be afraid of their father in 2014 and when they explained their fear to her during Christmas holidays, she felt she had no other option than to leave and raise them alone.
The father showed regret about the situation and the boys always met him in the presence of somebody else. But this arrangement did not work and the mother applied to get custody of the children.
“Doctors repeatedly recommended to limit the meetings with the father to stabilise the psychological condition (of the boys). We therefore had only assisted meetings,” Ludmila told Pravo.
In reaction to this, the father applied for his sole custody. He demanded that the sons not see the mother and the court met his demand based on a single expert report.
In April, unexpectedly, social workers arrived at the kindergarten and school of the two boys and drove the brothers to an institution for children in need. Ludmila heard from the teachers that the social workers told the boys that they were going for a short-term school trip, the paper writes.
Before this incident, the above-mentioned expert that had a three-hour session with the two brothers concluded that the children live in a paranoid setting, fear their father, are close to the mother and seek her protection, and recommended their placement in an institution.
Based on the expert’s report, a worker of the Office for the social and legal protection of children (OSPOD) in Plzen, west Bohemia, proposed to court that the children be taken away from the mother, placed into an institution and the mother be banned from seeing them. On the following day, the social workers moved the boys to the institution.
The court will deal with the case only later this week, although the children have already been living four months in the institution, the paper writes.
As Ludmila was not allowed to see Antonin and Vojtech, her friend went to see the boys in the institution at least. Ludmila accompanied the woman to the institution. The boys saw the mother, ran to her and embraced her. The judge fined Ludmila 12,000 crowns because of this.
This happened once more and Ludmila was fined again, 10,000 crowns this time. Ludmila said she met the children accidentally when she drove her parents to the institution so that they could see their grandsons.
Ludmila said an educator from the institution told her that she would not see her the children anymore because she violated the ban on contact.
Ludmila said a psychologist from the institution concluded that she took good care of the children. The psychologist told the social workers and the expert that there is no reason for the boys to be in the institution and that they have been harmed by being forced to stay away from their home, but her effort has been in vain so far, the paper writes.
The psychologist also called on the father to allow the children to see their mother, but he insisted on the ban.
The father told Pravo that sending the boys to the institution was the only solution in the parental dispute. He did not answer any further questions.
Pravo writes it called on Labour and Social Affairs Minister Michaela Marksova, Minister for Human Rights Jiri Dienstbier and Ombudsman Anna Sabatova to comment on the case.
