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Published on March 18, 2020 News

Child’s right to be in contact with his/her tutors

On application of a body for social and legal protection of children (BSLPC), the court issued a preliminary injunction whereby it removed a child from his tutors and placed him in a diagnostic institution. The BSLPC failed to discuss the situation with the tutors forthwith after the decision was made, did not inform them of further steps, and failed to co-operate with them. Based on a mere notice from the Police of the Czech Republic, i.e. without a statutory basis (court decision), the diagnostic institution then prevented the tutors from contacting the child, did not communicate with them and did not provide them with sufficient information on the child. The BSLPC knowingly tolerated a long-term violation of the right to mutual contact between the child and his tutors.

According to Ombudsman’s view, the relationships between children and their tutors are protected by the right to family and private life provided that these relationships have actually attained the level of family ties. This must be respected by the competent body for social and legal protection of children in addressing the situation of the child in tutor’s care.

The BSLPC and the diagnostic institution eventually accepted all the measures the Defender proposed with a view to achieving a remedy. If contact is to be prohibited in the future, the diagnostic institution will strictly require a decision rendered by a court or a public prosecutor’s office. At the same time, it will support the least invasive interference with the child’s right to be in contact with persons responsible for his/her upbringing. If contact with the child needs to be restricted, the institution will continue providing these persons with information on the child unless this is prohibited by the court. It will properly record all its procedures.

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