Archive: Society | Family Family
Using classical music to help children out of poverty
In this special programme, David Vaughan looks at a unique project to
encourage children with musical talent who come from some of the poorest
families in the Czech Republic. The project enables primary school children
to learn to play with some of the country’s foremost classical musicians.
Its success is a reminder of the power of music to cross boundaries of
language, class and culture. More
Dr. Pavel Boček – child oncologist and founder of a charity for young cancer patients
Dr. Pavel Boček is a Czech child oncologist who works at Motol
hospital’s children oncology ward, sees patients in his own practice and
has founded a charity for children with cancer. He also spent some time
working in the United States, where he says he learned a lot about
communicating with patients. For this edition of Czech Life, I spoke to Dr.
Boček about his work, the field of child oncology and what first made him
decide to go into that specific area of medicine. More
Home births under fire as court case highlights family tragedy
The issue of giving birth at home once again came to the fore this week
after the country's most senior midwife was found guilty of criminal
negligence after overseeing a botched home birth in Prague. A baby boy was
left severely brain damaged after being deprived of oxygen, and later died.
The midwife denies any wrongdoing, and says the complications were
unforeseen and unavoidable. More
Czech Republic to abolish infant homes by 2013
The Czech government plans to abolish all of the country’s infant homes
where babies under the age of three are placed if they are considered at
risk or their families cannot take care of them. Some 2,000 infants spent
time in these homes last year – but beginning in January 2013, the
government wants to place babies in individual foster care. Most experts
have welcomed the idea but many warn that much needs to be improved in the
foster care system before infant homes can be abolished. Radio Prague spoke
to Petra Vrtbovská, the head of the NGO NATAMA which helps to find foster
parents for children at risk. More
Czech Constitutional Court rules against sending ten-year-old boy to psychiatric facility due to custody battle
The Czech Constitutional Court has just issued a verdict in favor of a
mother fighting to prevent her ten-year-old son – a perfectly healthy boy
-from being returned to a psychiatric hospital. The boy had already spent
six months there during his parents’ custody battle on the basis of a
previous court ruling. The court dealt with the case at the instigation of
the boy’s father who demanded that the boy be taken from his mother’s
care because she was biased against him and was having a bad influence on
the child. More
Five years since same-sex registered partnership was introduced activists say bill didn’t go far enough
It has been five years since the bill on registered partnership between gay
couples came into force in the Czech Republic. During the period, more than
1,200 gay and lesbian couples in the country formed civil unions. While
most within the gay community welcomed the original legislation as an
important milestone, many still feel it didn’t go far enough as it failed
to recognise gay marriage or adoption rights. Radio Prague spoke to Zdeněk
Sloboda, a representative of PROUD, a Czech initiative promoting human
rights.
More
UN to Czech Republic: find alternatives to institutional care for children
The Czech Republic has once again come under fire for failing to adequately
protect child rights. In its latest report the UN Committee on the Rights
of the Child criticized the high number of institutionalized children in
the country saying the authorities had done little to resolve this chronic
problem. It also recommended that the country close its network of baby
boxes –safe and anonymous hospital facilities for leaving unwanted
children - which it claims violate several provisions of the UN Convention
on the Rights of the Child. More
Czech Helsinki Committee helping children with jailed parents
At the present time there are close to 30,000 children in the Czech
Republic whose parents are serving time in prison. Due to the country’s
legislation and rooted prejudices family bonds are severed in the worst
possible way –the maximum time these children are allowed to spend with
their jailed parent is three hours a month – the less fortunate ones are
simply told that mummy or daddy went away. The Czech Helsinki Committee is
fighting to improve these children’s lot arguing that the restrictions in
place can do irreparable damage. I spoke to Monika Bunžová of the Czech
Helsinki Committee about the NGOs Invisible Children campaign. More
New initiative aims to promote the country’s foster and adoptive families’ system
June 1 marks International Children’s Day in the Czech Republic, where
more than 11,000 children who cannot be raised by their biological parents
live in institutionalized care – an unusually high number compared with
other European countries. Widespread institutionalized care is a legacy of
communism, when children’s homes were the only option and foster families
did not exist. A new initiative, odsouzeni.cz, is aiming to change that. I
spoke to Roman Pavlík, the coordinator of the initiative which aims to
promote alternative forms of child care, such as foster and adoptive
families, in the Czech Republic. I started by asking him to describe the
typical situation of a child who cannot be raised by his or her parents
here in the Czech Republic. More
New royal couple looks Czech gift horse in the mouth
Amid all the disagreements in the cabinet there has also been wrangling of
a different sort – apparently the issue of what to give the new Duke and
Duchess of Cambridge, William and Kate, for a wedding present. The powers
that be in fact agreed on quite a lot on Wednesday, and between an
anti-corruption bill, welfare reform and a ten-year outlook for the armed
forces, they also hammered an agreement to give the new royal couple a
horse. It is of course a horse as souped up as they come, a rare young
stallion with a radiant pedigree, but London apparently wants a look under
the bonnet before they welcome the gift horse to the queen’s own stables.
More
+1
+10
