Czech child protection cases hit 20-year high as EU proposes youth online rules

Czech child protection authorities recorded a twenty-year high of over 10,000 cases of child abuse, neglect, and exploitation last year, resulting in the court-ordered removal of 3,616 children from their families. Public defenders and social welfare experts emphasized that official figures represent an underestimate, attributing the systemic issues to an absence of standardized evaluation guidelines and a severe shortage of specialized family support services.

Concurrently, the Czech Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs is completing a seven-billion-koruna expansion of preschool care groups under the EU National Recovery Plan, though critics highlight a lack of quality control frameworks. Meanwhile, at the European level, the European Commission introduced the "EU KIDS Act", which proposes a total ban on social media for children under 13 and enhanced access restrictions for minors under 15 across member states.

Sources: Deník N, Hospodářské noviny, iROZHLAS, Respect, Seznam Zprávy