The protection of children's rights is a specific activity whose task is the protection of minor children from undesirable effects of the environment and social problems. All definitions of social-legal child protection and social curatorship have one common goal: the best interest of the minor child.

Child protection in the Slovak Republic, as in the rest of the world, has developed and been implemented according to its own specific conditions, history, tradition, and social system.

From the prehistory of family law we cannot omit the Code of Hammurabi (1792–1750 BCE) and the Laws of the Twelve Tables, which were among the main legal documents of family-law relations in the period of the Roman Republic. They regulated family-law relations among father, husband and wife, and children. In the 16th century in the Kingdom of Hungary, where Slovak territory also belonged, customary law applied. It included the "Temporary Court Rules". This legal regulation is associated with the Hungarian jurist István Verboci. From more recent history, an important milestone in this field is the Austrian General Civil Code of 1811, which introduced the institution of legitimate and illegitimate children and thereby codified discrimination against children born out of wedlock. The beginnings of social-legal protection started to develop at the end of the 19th century, when by the Austrian Poor Law of 1868, municipalities were assigned the duty to care for orphans. Voluntary associations dealing with help to children began to appear at the beginning of the 20th century. A key milestone in the development of child protection was also Act No. 256/1921 Z.z. on the protection of children in foreign care and illegitimate children. This legal regulation ensured protection for all children under 14 years of age, who could be placed in substitute care only with permission from the competent state authority (Oláh, Roháč, 2008).

The First Czechoslovak Republic

In terms of legal regulation at the time of the breakup of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy and the establishment of the Czechoslovak Republic (1918), the law establishing the independent Czechoslovak state was important for this issue. The named law contained an adoption rule, and therefore the general Austrian Civil Code could apply in Bohemia, while customary Hungarian law was valid in Slovakia. In this period, spouses had the right to joint supervision of their children, and the right to educate and punish children. The male father held a leading position in the family, was the legal representative of the child, and administrator of the child's property. Family law in the period of the First Republic was uniform and even the so-called marital amendment did not remove the unequal position of man and woman or discrimination against illegitimate children. Equality of women and men's position in society was strongly emphasized only by the Constitution of 9 May, published as Constitutional Act No. 150/1948 Zb (Oláh, Roháč, 2008).

The period after World War II

The stage of duality of Austrian civil law in Bohemia and Hungarian customary law in Slovakia ended in 1950, when a new Civil Code No. 141/1950 Zb. was adopted, taking effect on 1.1.1951. Through this code, after thirty years of the Czechoslovak Republic’s existence, a unified code of civil law was created for the whole republic. Family-law relations were excluded from the material scope of the Civil Code and regulated separately by Act No. 265/1949 Zb. on family law (Oláh, Roháč, 2008).

Another milestone in historical development was Act No. 46/1959 Zb. on changing the jurisdiction of courts and amending certain provisions on courts and state notaries, which amended Family Law Act No. 265/1949 Zb. and transferred certain judicial competencies regarding minor children to the then state authorities, which were the national committees. As stated by the authors’ collective of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic and the Central Council of Trade Unions (1985), the task of national committees was to ensure that harm children and youth might suffer in families, workplaces and elsewhere was prevented and to protect them from harmful influences. They identified cases of broken families and children whose development was endangered or disturbed, and tried to remove the causes and consequences.

Besides this, according to Filko (1986), the task of national committees was, among other things, to create conditions for satisfying legitimate needs and interests of citizens, conditions for a healthy way of life, to develop cultural and social life, and to protect public order and citizens' rights. In the social affairs area they managed social welfare institutions.

In former Czechoslovakia, social-legal protection was regulated by Act No. 69/1952 Zb. on social-legal protection. According to this law, social-legal protection consisted mainly of general guardianship and fosterage, and of special protection of children who were not in parental care, as well as counseling and support activities and state contribution toward meeting personal needs of children in need of help. This law was repealed by Act No. 94/1963 Zb. on family. This act included social-legal protection in legal regulation as well, i.e., it contained both private-law and public-law regulation.

The philosophy of social-legal protection in former Czechoslovakia was based on the conviction that protecting a child and ensuring healthy development is best achieved by isolating the child from a pathological family. The foundation was ideological upbringing, a strictly structured daily routine, controlled selection of activities, broad extracurricular activities and upbringing built on the dynamics of the collective (Oláh, Roháč, 2008).

Protection of children’s rights after the social changes of 1989

The main guarantor of child rights protection in former Czechoslovakia, as well as today, was and is the state. However, after the social changes of 1989, a major contribution in this area has been the third sector, which fills gaps in the social network. Today in Slovakia, many civic associations, foundations, volunteer groups, and self-help groups operate.

It is also important to note that until 1996, care for children living outside their biological families was managed by three sectors. Care for children under three years of age was provided by infant institutions managed by the health sector. Children’s homes for children up to sixteen years old belonged to the education sector. The Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Family managed the organization of substitute personal care and care in social welfare institutions for severely disabled children.

Current situation

In recent years, the issue of child rights protection has been strongly influenced by European Union strategies and globalization processes. It is also influenced by various conventions to which the Slovak Republic is a contracting party. Significant documents include the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Declaration of the Rights of the Child, the Declaration of the Rights of the Unborn Child, the Convention on the Protection of Children and Co-operation in International Adoptions, and the Convention on the Recovery of Maintenance Abroad.

The most important milestone in the current development of social-legal child protection and social curatorship was 2005, when Act No. 305/2005 Z.z. on social-legal protection of children and social curatorship and on amending certain laws was adopted.

In our view, contemporary child protection does not sufficiently correspond to the current new needs of society. We believe legal changes are needed in the regulation of social-legal protection of children, social prevention and substitute family care. Likewise, the transformation of children’s homes into family-type facilities should be completed. In such facilities, children are better prepared for future life; they learn to live in a “family,” manage household finances, participate in running a household, fulfill roles arising from that, and more. These experiences and skills gained will be useful when forming and maintaining their own families and successfully integrating into life.

At the same time, in our view, field social work with the family should be improved with the aim of remedying the family environment. There is much room here for continual improvement of cooperation between the public sector and non-profit sector. Further progress should also be made in decentralizing and modernizing public administration. Within decentralization some social-legal child protection services were transferred to municipalities and higher territorial units (§64, §75, §76 of Act 305/2005 on social-legal protection of children and social curatorship). Yet, municipalities are generally not able to this day to ensure these goals professionally, adequately in capacity, or financially within their own municipal social policy. For this reason, it is the task of the state to establish mechanisms so that the delegated tasks to municipalities—within family remediation, field social work, granting financial support to socially vulnerable families, financial support to families whose children are placed in children’s homes, providing social counseling, and similar—are fulfilled in practical operations as well. Continuous modernization and digitization of public administration are needed to improve task performance. The aim should be to build a modern public administration with which citizens are satisfied, one that performs its duties effectively, is transparent and burdens citizens minimally.

At the same time, it is important to ensure implementation of international documents to which the Slovak Republic is a contracting state. For more flexible handling of socio-pathological phenomena, competencies of state authorities should be expanded, but networking of all institutions operating in the social sphere should also be made more effective.

We believe that for a more effective performance of the social curator’s work, as well as to raise the social status of this profession, the law should define his or her competencies more precisely. A major benefit, especially in the role of court-appointed special guardian, would be the ability to use certain diagnostic methods. We are convinced this would contribute to faster outcomes in court proceedings. It is widely known and professionally confirmed that long unresolved court disputes cause children irreparable harm to their mental and physical health. Of course, further training of social workers would also improve child rights protection, for example in the area of therapeutic techniques. We cannot omit the missing mediation and supervision in this field. Although mediation and supervision are regulated by legislation, their practical use is insufficient. Mediation, as a method of conflict resolution, would be an effective tool for solving family problems and parental disputes over minor children. We believe mediation should be considered for legal regulation so that it could be provided by employees of social-legal protection. Alternatively, a family mediator should be part of the team. Likewise, regular use of supervision methods would ensure increased professional competencies of social workers, broaden possibilities for resolving client problems, correct ineffective procedures, protect clients from incompetent interventions by social workers, and help prevent burnout syndrome.

Similarly, to enable more effective performance of social workers’ duties, and to strengthen the status of the social curator while protecting the rights and legally protected interests of minors, we believe legal regulation of duties should be developed as with psychologists and psychiatrists, who are expressly bound by law to confidentiality. Social workers, of course, are also bound by confidentiality, but this derives from the ethical code, the data-protection law, and internal institutional rules, which does not in sufficient scope protect minor children. Because a social curator is an employee of state administration and in procedural acts is governed by Act No. 71/2967 Zb. on administrative procedure and Act No. 211/2000 Z.z. on free access to information, their duty is to provide parents with information, allow file access, and make copies and photocopies. In this way, parents have access to statements, home checks, and the like from the other parent. These circumstances therefore are often reasons for parents to exert pressure and manipulation on minor children, as well as to attempt to manipulate and influence the social curator’s opinion.

Conclusion

A key problem of the whole society today is social-pathological phenomena. The task of social-legal protection and social curatorship is the removal of arising unwanted social problems and conflicts, but also prevention of social-pathological phenomena. As these are addressed, social prevention and social counseling are gaining greater importance. Providing timely and effective help can to a large extent prevent, or prevent the occurrence of, social-pathological phenomena and lead to the removal of their social consequences. For this reason, the child rights protection agenda has a significant position in society.

Author: PhDr. et Mgr. Oľga Jarošová List of used literature:

FILKO, J., 1986. Národné výbory – miestne orgány štátnej moci a správy. Bratislava. Fotorotaprint SÚK ČSSR. 1986. 66 s. KOLEKTÍV AUTOROV MINISTERSTVA PRÁCE A SOCIÁLNYCH VECÍ ČSSR A ÚSTREDNEJ RADY ODBOROV: 1985. Sociálne istoty v Československu. Bratislava. Práca, vydavateľstvo a nakladateľstvo ROH, 1985. s. 186 OLÁH, M., ROHÁČ, J. 2008. Sociálnoprávna ochrany detí a sociálna kuratela. VŠZaSP sv. Alžbety, 2011. 256 s. ISBN 978-80-89271-35-1