Rent-a-baby

Rent-a-baby.cz is a fake website with an all-too-real situation as inspiration. Jana Stepanova, a graphic designer and artist, created the site to draw attention to the large numbers of Czech children who are taken into state custody instead of being allowed to stay with their families. And recently it caused some real problems for Stepanova.

The website is convincingly laid out like many legitimate online shops - click on a list of babies and children, choose the one you want to "rent" for a few days, add it to your shopping cart and head to the online checkout. But the whole thing was made up, created for a government-sponsored exhibition last year on childcare in the Czech Republic.

"The website works as a quite realistic e-shop," explains Stepanova. "There are children listed on the website, each specified with how old they are and why they're in a children's home... there's a little picture of the child – and you can actually choose the child as you like, and you may put it into a basket."

Stepanova said its "absolutely clear" that the children are not real, and that this is a fictional service.

"If you go to the menu, there is an explanation of what this website is, why we did it, information about me and the other people who cooperated," she said.

'Ridiculous' charges

The Czech Republic sends a higher proportion of babies and young children to children's homes and orphanages than any other country in the European Union. Since the website was unveiled at an exhibition last May, it has been the subject of both positive and negative reactions.

But in January, things took a rather Kafka-esque turn: the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs asked the police to file charges against Stepanova for trafficking in children.

Stepanova said she was dumbfounded when she heard the news.

"Trafficking in children was really ridiculous. I have no children to offer. These children are non-existent," Stepanova said.

The website, it seems, was just too realistic, at least for Czech officials. But the most ironic thing, said Stepanova, is that it was the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs that helped organize the exhibition in the first place.

Police have since announced that they will not be taking the matter any further, because there is clearly no case to answer. But now Stepanova wants a full apology.

Rob Cameron/svs
Editor: Rob Turner