Changes in the Czech System of Child Protection and Hope for Children in Institutional Care

During the not very distant totalitarian past in Czech Republic, it was quite common for people in wheel chairs to be cleared from the streets of Prague before the great Communist Party meeting. The legacy of the past, to consider any departure from the working class image as an anomaly, has led to the continuation of widespread discrimination, even in the new democratic Czech state, of individuals who are visually different  owing to race, social status, physical challenges or mental disabilities. It can be said that public attitudes, over the years, are changing for the better for some groups, but the position of marginalised Roma certainly remains almost untouched. When these perceptions play into institutions like child protection departments, courts, children’s homes, the police, schools etc. Roma are forced to live in a limbo and continue to be the favourite object of state care. This article will present the experience of our nongovernmental organisation, Life Together, in the field of child protection and support for families endangered with forced removal of children to institutional care in the Czech Republic.