Reunited with his mum, Ben the deported baby
Slovak waitress who gave up son for adoption has change of heart
BEFORE she even gave birth to Benjamin in Britain, this Slovak mother decided she didn’t want to care for her little boy.
But when she saw photographs of the blue- eyed baby being deported to Slovakia, 23-year-old Bibiana Stranska had a change of heart – and decided she did want him after all.
Yesterday the cafe waitress was given permission to pick up her six-month-old son from a foster centre. She has been awarded temporary custody of Benjamin in Banovce nad Bebravou in Slovakia, but will have to prove that she is able to take care of him.
Her U-turn came after Benjamin was sent
‘I am happy I have him back with me’
to Slovakia last week. This was the culmination of a farce that began when Miss Stranska became pregnant in Liverpool but decided not to tell her family in Slovakia.
She told social services that she did not want to look after the baby, and when Benjamin was born he was immediately taken into care in Sefton, Merseyside.
The waitress continued her party lifestyle in the city before deciding to return to Slovakia. Courts in Britain have been warned that they need to be far more sensitive to the rights of other European countries when it comes to child welfare. And as Benjamin is technically a Slovak citizen, a judge decided that he would have to be handed over to Slovak authorities rather than adopted in Britain.
Last week Benjamin was taken on a Ryanair flight from Liverpool to Bratislava in the company of two British social workers, and placed with a foster family.
Miss Stranska then launched a legal bid for the baby and applied to the courts for access to her child – six months after she last saw him. The Slovak court ruled in her favour after hearing she was living with her parents who could have a positive impact on Benjamin’s upbringing. Yesterday, as she took her son back to the flat she shares with her parents – Pavol and Jana – Miss Stranska said: ‘I am happy I have him back with me.’
And during the emotional reunion in front of the foster home in Nove Mesto Nad Vahom, her father said: ‘This is one of the nicest days in my entire life.’
An onlooker added: ‘It was a chaotic scene with both Bibiana and her father desperate to get Benjamin and take him back to their home. Quite a few of the staff at the foster centre had tears welling up in their eyes. This whole episode has obviously been very emotionally charged.’
Jana Lukacova, spokesman for Slovakia’s Central Office of Labour, Social Affairs and Family, said: ‘According to the court ruling a provisional remedy obliges the children’s home to hand the baby to personal care of the mother.’
However, a spokesman for the court said the handover was only a ‘preliminary step’. Social services have granted her supervised access under the attention of staff and she will have to apply to the courts for full custody.