HCLU's initiative "I'm with a child" aims to ensure parents the right to stay with their child in all institutions, 24 hours a day.

A recent representative survey commissioned by HCLU reveals that 78 percent of the adult population thinks that parents should have the option to stay with their ill child during hospital treatment. In the case of people having children, this number rises to 88 percent. However, only 35 percent of respondents who have children said this was possible.

HCLU's survey, which was based on public interest data requests, shows that out of 59 hospitals, only 29 (49 percent) allow at least one parent or caregiver to stay continuously with their child (under 18), according to the information provided by the institutions.

In many cases, the right to maintain permanent contact is not given to children older than 10 or 14 or relatives. A third of institutions require special permission to allow permanent parental presence.

The situation is even more complex with regard to providing a bed for the parent who stays with the child. Some of the hospitals have a so-called mother hostel, or provide extra beds placed in the children's ward to parents staying overnight, while other institutions may allow them to bring in a mattress, or let them stay sitting in a chair during the night.

Different policies

HCLU's survey points to significant differences among institutions, which cannot necessarily be explained by dissimilarities in the infrastructural conditions of the hospitals.

In many cases it looks like it is up to the head of the institution whether parents may bring in their own mattress, under what age children are not allowed in as visitors, or if visitors may enter patients' rooms (which is allowed in two-thirds of the cases), or instead be made to visit their relative in a specifically designated area (as in the remaining one-third of the cases). There is no unified regulation determining whether parents have to pay a fee to stay with their child.

Comparing the responses to HCLU's data requests with the policies of hospitals, it turns out that often the everyday practice of hospitals and written internal regulations are not harmonized. In many institutions, the written policy is relatively relaxed.

However, as suggested by the responses to HCLU's queries, institutions often have stricter rules with respect to parental presence. Parents' experiences in specific situations may be even tougher, which is suggested by the difference between the results of the representative survey of the population (35 percent said they were allowed to be present) and the data provided by the institutions (49 percent said they allowed parents to be present).