Abstract
The presentation addresses highly current topic of child protection in the context of child custody cases in the Czech Republic. The system is nowadays subject to a criticism from the clients, general public and media for being too judgemental and biased in favour of mothers.
Current studies prove that child protection social workers are swamped with administrative duties with a high risk of burnout syndrome. The presentation aims to provide information on the child protection system in the Czech Republic followed by valid and topical research data on attitudes, approaches and values of the child protection social workers in the Czech Republic in the context of parental separation and divorce based on a research conducted between 2015 and 2017 in all regions of the Czech Republic.
The research has focused on verifying the internationally recognized typology of social worker approaches specifically at the departments of social and legal protection of children in the Czech Republic and with regard to child custody cases. It has also identified factors that influence existence of individual types while searching for unique data on the personalities, values and real experience of social workers at the departments of social and legal protection of children in all regions of the Czech Republic.
The sample involved ca. 650 social workers dealing with child custody cases, which makes it the largest research as yet realized in the Czech Republic focusing specifically on the agenda of parental separation and divorce. The agenda however makes up the biggest portion of the work and social workers perceive it as one of the most challenging agendas.