Some 100 people attended a protest against the seizures of children who have been taken into foster care by UK officials, which took place in front of the Presidential Palace in Bratislava. The protestors sought to bring attention to alleged inactivity of the Slovak authorities over the matter, the TASR newswire reported on October 6.
“Everybody knows very well that these kinds of cases need such demonstrations of protest, as the people up there [the politicians] do not know what is happening down here,” said Eleonóra Študencová, as quoted by TASR, adding that the politicians are only interested in macro economics and ratings.
Študencová is a grandmother of children of Ivana Boórová, who were taken by British social workers two years ago and were almost given up for adoption in the UK last month.
The main organisers of the demonstration read aloud a letter addressed to Prime Minister Robert Fico, President Ivan Gašparovič, heads of respective ministries and MPs in which they called on them to take appropriate measures to deal with the situation. They appealed especially to the president, whom they asked to publicly express his view on the issue, TASR wrote.
In addition, the organisers maintained that they want to see the British social workers punished, the children returned to Slovakia, and changes to the social-care system carried out.
Meanwhile, spokesperson for the president Marek Trubač has pointed out that the president had been actively showing interest in the case even before it caught the attention of the media. Moreover, he has been trying to help in cases where there has been suspicion that children have been taken and offered for adoption unjustly.
“We sent a letter to the [Slovak] prime minister in August so he could prompt the respective ministries to deal with these cases more intensively,” said Trubač, as quoted by TASR.
The case of Slovak citizens Ivana Boórová and her husband Vladimír Boór caused outrage in Slovakia in mid-September after their two children were set to be given up for adoption after having been taken into foster care nearly two years ago based on a doctor’s suspicion that one of the children had been interfered with.
The British government vehemently rejects the accusations raised against its social system in the Slovak media, saying that the move only observed protection of health and safety of the children, TASR reported.
Source: TASR
Compiled by Radka Minarechová from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
