It will be simpler to adopt Ukrainian children in the Czech Republic under a change in the agreement between the Czech Republic and Ukraine on legal assistance in civic matters passed by the Chamber of Deputies Wednesday, according to the Czech News Agency .
Under the original agreement, consent to the adoption of a child living in the Czech Republic had to be given by Ukrainian authorities, whereas in the future the decision will be made by Czech courts.
This is to speed up not only the decision on the adoption of Ukrainian children, but also the court proceedings about their stay in children`s centres if they cannot live with their parents.
In the future, Czech courts are also to regulate legal relations between the parents and children of the Ukrainian families staying in the Czech Republic.
They are also to decide in the situation when Czech citizens want to adopt children of their Ukrainian partners.
At present, Czechs must turn to Ukrainian courts.
Justice Minister Jiri Pospisil said the children could have dual citizenship in the future.
The decision of Ukrainian courts about adoption sometimes lasted years, Czech Television (CT) said earlier.
The new agreement is to shorten significantly the proceedings. Pospisil said they were to last months and less than one year.
The agreement is yet to be debated by the Senate.
