What should you do when your child is in hospital and you as a parent don’t want to be separated from them? To help answer this questio, we’ve partnered with the civic association Iniciatíva žien Prešov (Women’s Initiative Prešov) to bring you a practical tool. This e-book will help you navigate situations where healthcare facilities prevent parents from being with their child. Through this guide, you’ll learn how to effectively advocate for your child’s right to your presence during hospitalization. The e-book was written by lawyer Ľudmila Macejová.
What you’ll find in the e-book:
- Legal foundations that guarantee a child’s right to continuous contact with their parents
- A concrete manual with step-by-step procedures for asserting your rights
- Information about who to contact in case of rights violations
- An explanation of why parental presence is crucial for a hospitalized child
No one is allowed to separate you from your newborn without your consent. You and your newborn have the right to remain together at all times, even if your newborn is born small,
premature or with medical conditions that require extra care.— Charter of Respectful Maternity Care
Why is this e-book important?
We have long observed a disturbing practice of violations of children’s and parents’ rights by healthcare providers. These include for example:
- Routine separation of prematurely born children from their parents
- Lack of beds for parents
- Charging fees for hospitalization or meals for non-breastfeeding parents
- Charging fees based on the age of the hospitalized child
Did you know? Parents’ rights can only be restricted and minor children can only be separated from their parents against the parents’ will by a court decision based on law.
Download the e-book
As we know, awareness is the first step toward change. Download our e-book and gain tools for advocating for your child’s rights in healthcare facilities.
Our e-book is also available in Slovak, Hungarian, and Ukrainian language versions.
Acknowledgments
This e-book is part of our project “Closeness Works Wonders – Parents of a Hospitalized Child Are Not Visitors”. Ebook was created thanks to the support of more than 200 people who contributed €4,428 in a crowdfunding campaign on the Donio platform.
We also thank the Open Society Foundation Bratislava for supporting this project with a matching grant of €4,000 as part of the Stronger Roots for Civil Society Program.
Special thanks go to the law firm BP Advokáti, specifically Mgr. Lucia Vaculínová and Mgr. Marek Šimka, for their expert and precise preparation of the legal opinion on children’s rights during hospitalization. The analysis became a key foundation for this e-book.
We believe it is essential that this information reaches people living in Slovakia who do not speak Slovak as their native language. The English translation of this e-book was kindly provided on a voluntary basis by Urszula Leginus.
No child should be alone in hospital
Thanks to your financial support, we can help parents better advocate for their rights and the rights of their children during hospitalization. We create educational materials, raise awareness, and we also provide individual counseling.
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Co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily
reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency. Neither the European Union nor
the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
