Social and legal protection of children

The Slovak Republic thoroughly observes the compliance with the rights of the child and ensuring of the protection of a child required for their wellbeing while respecting their best interests pursuant to the international convention.

The basic aim of measures concerning the social-legal protection of children and social guardianship is to provide necessary assistance to families so that children can be raised under the care of their parents.

Social-legal protection bodies regarding children and social guardianship fulfil preventative tasks, particularly in situations where the child’s parents are divorced or unable to resolve problems or conflicts in the family. For example, this pertains to recommending, ensuring or providing social counselling, psychological assistance, professional methods for work on the solution of conflict situations in the family and adapting to a new situation. They may also decide to impose various educational measures if necessary. Local government plays a significant role in preventing the occurrence of crisis situations in the family and in restricting and eliminating their negative impacts.

The institution of the family has a strong tradition in Slovakia; this is reflected by the fact that the majority of children who cannot be brought up by their own parents are entrusted to the care of other family members, most frequently grandparents. The social-legal protection and social guardianship body arranges to find a new family for the child only when child care cannot be provided by other members of their family. 

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