Norway takes steps towards adoption of Czech boy

Publication date: 30 April 2015

?TK | 30 APRIL 2015

Prague, April 29 (CTK) - The Norwegian child welfare service started taking steps towards the adoption of the younger of the two Czech brothers who had been taken from their mother and placed in foster families, although Norway said that adoption is not considered, Foreign Minister Lubomir Zaoralek said Wednesday.

According to information that the Czech Office for International Legal Protection of Children (UMPOD) received in April, the Norwegian child welfare service asked the regional authorities to launch the proceedings that would enable the adoption of the younger son of Eva Michalakova, Zaoralek told the lower house of Czech parliament.

The Czech Republic protested against this in writing.

Michalakova should authorise UMPOD head Zdenek Kapitan to have access to all the documents on the case. Based on this, Kapitan could negotiate with the Norwegian authorities, Zaoralek said.

Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka submitted a report on the complex case to the lower house session Wednesday.

Sobotka said the reason for which the two boys were placed in foster care in Norway four years ago remains valid. A new decision might be made only based on a new examination of the case that Michalakova's lawyer proposed last December.

The children may be returned to the mother based on the conditions set by Norwegian law, Sobotka said.

He said Michalakova has to prove that the situation has changed since the latest decision.

Sobotka said Norway is aware that the case is very sensitive and might affect Czech-Norwegian relations.

The Barnevern office took the two boys from the Michalak family in May 2011 due to suspected sexual abuse and maltreatment in the family. The Norwegian police investigated the case, but they halted the investigation and no charges were brought.

MP Jitka Chalankova, who has been backing Michalakova for some time, proposed that the parliament call on the government to establish contact with the Michalak boys and check their wellbeing in their foster families and that the government exert maximum effort to return the boys to their homeland.

The lower house rejected Chalankova's proposal, however.

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Countries: Norway, Czech Republic