“If I remember correctly, the first answer to whether they wanted the boys at my house for care was no. They were very scared of everything,” recalls Karolína Vránková in the Radio Wave Houpačky podcast. At the age of eleven, he has his brothers Dan and Samuel in foster care. “But then they were at my house and they really liked my kitchen, I think that made a big difference.”
Prague
22:28 May 5, 2024
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Karolína Vránková with son Dan | Photo: Adam Ryšánek | Source: Czech Radio
Dan was nine years old when he and his younger brother Samuel were sent to a diagnostic institute. “We were there for about two months. Then it was decided that we would go to a children’s home and see what happens there. If someone would marry us, or if we would stay there until we were eighteen,” Dan recalls.
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After only a few days there, however, he met Karolína Vránková, a publicist, who began tutoring him.
“At that time I was divorced, childless and wanted to have a family. I did various things for it that I am not proud of. But one of those ideas was pretty good. I thought I could take a child into foster care,” she describes her journey, which started with volunteer work and ended with raising Dan and Samuel for more than ten years now.
They were ten years old and four years old. And it went unusually quickly, admits Karolína: “In the three months they were in the orphanage, they said they couldn’t return home. I found out and got down to business.”
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“I haven’t even decided to be a foster parent yet and I’ve already met the boys and started pursuing them. It was unsystematic and scared people. Including boys. It’s usually a complicated process, and I was the lucky lady who threw myself into it,” she evaluates in retrospect.
Gradually, however, everything settled down, and after the initial shock, Dan decided to move in with Karolína and his brother. “They liked my kitchen,” laughs Karolína.
“I was the big brother who needed to take care of the younger brother, he just annoyed me sometimes. But when we were in the process, I would never leave him. If we’re both in it, we’re both in it,” he emphasizes.
It was crazy
“It was expected if I could do it. It’s generally difficult to take siblings into foster care, and I was alone,” Karolína describes the situation in which she brought her little brothers home.
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“And it’s fair to say it was crazy at times. Maybe I squirted juice on you once,” she turns to Dan. “I think it was for learning,” Dan muses.
“Sámík was four years old, he didn’t talk much, and if he did, it was rude. In the evening, he ran around the apartment completely possessed by demons, climbed on the bookcase and couldn’t be taken down,” recalls Karolína.
“But it never occurred to me that I shouldn’t have done it. And let’s look at a handsome, young, handy man here today,” he turns to Dan.
Salary and assistance
As a long-term foster carer, Karolína praises the help of accompanying organizations and the state.
Foster care
Based on a court decision, the child is cared for by a person selected by the regional office or a person related to or otherwise close to the child. Parents retain their parental responsibility and maintenance obligation. The foster parent is entitled to a reward or allowance for foster care and other foster care benefits. New rights and obligations arise for the foster parent (for example, the obligation to cooperate with the accompanying entity, the obligation to get an education, and others).
Source: mpsv.cz
“The foster parent has a salary, money for the child’s needs, and then there are also funds for some other expenses. For example, we spent a lot of money on good therapies for both boys. I mean, it probably saved the younger man’s mental health,” he emphasizes.
“In addition, the foster parent has mandatory training sessions, which he spends with experts and with other foster parents, which is priceless. I never felt alone,” she emphasizes, adding that she also got a so-called key worker, another foster mother, whom she could consult at any time.
Live normally
“The best thing was that I could try to live a normal life,” says Dan today.
“I was supposed to be in a children’s home until I was eighteen, then this option opened up. I don’t know what would become of me, how my future would unfold. It was one of the best decisions I could have made, even though my fear of change was very great,” he recalls.
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What is special about their story is not only the fact that Karolína herself took her siblings home. It is generally considered a more challenging situation. It is also unusual that the brothers stayed in contact with their biological mother more often than usual.
“I used to go to my mother’s on weekends once a month, once every two weeks. And then Samuel used to go there too,” says Dan.
But it was very difficult for little Samuel. “He was crying, he wanted to be with his mom. We discussed a lot what would be good for him, whether a visit for a few hours or the whole weekend,” admits Karolína. “We’re two moms today, but there were all kinds of tensions.”
“I love my mom and I’m glad we’re in touch. But I don’t regret anything that happened, I’m glad for it. I don’t know what my future would have been if it hadn’t ended like this,” concludes Dan.
Listen to Swings with foster mother Karolína and her foster son Dan.
Michaela Sladka
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