Guardian ad litem and intervention by the guardian ad litem assuring the best interests of the child during regulation of rights and duties towards children

Abstract

Backround: Social-legal protection of children is an important matter in modern society, which implements principles assuring the best interests of children into its legal regulations. In Slovakia, social-legal protection of children is chiefly assured by social workers of the Office for Labour, Social Affairs and Family, Department of Social-Legal Protection of Children and Social Guardianship. Intervention carried out by the social worker - guardian ad litem during regulation of rights and duties towards children, pursues the best interests of the child. Methods: The primary method is univariate analysis of secondary data on intervention by social workers from the Office for Labour, Social affairs and Family, Department of Social- Legal Protection of Children and Social Guardianship. The purpose of this analysis was to establish the development of selected intervention indicators during the period from 2004 to 2019, which are crucial during the process of regulation of rights and duties towards children while assuring their best interests. Results: The results of quantitative analysis pointed out the interest of the state in assuring additional staff for the Social-Legal Protection of Children and Social Guardianship Department, because protection of children is an important matter in relation to the protection vulnerable groups such as children Despite the declining number of submitted petitions for regulation of rights and duties towards children, the number of children to whom a guardian ad litem was appointed by the Office for Labour, Social Affairs and Family is rising. We also registered increase use of institutions, which allow the child's opinion to be established, which creates opportunity for assurance of the child's best interests. Conclusion: Children are considered individuals with their own rights and personal protection in modern-day society. The principle of the child's best interests is closely connected to parental rights and duties, which unavoidably leads the state to supervise their due execution in relation to care of the child. One important subject for European Commission is protection of children against adverse effects. Social-legal protection of children in the European Union is implemented into the relevant legal systems and its assurance is realised by means of the laws, decrees and regulations of the specific country, and also common conventions and agreements between member states.