Child protection measures

The Child Protection Council can submit a request for a court order to be issued. The court will decide whether the request submitted by the Council is granted or denied. If the court thinks the family is in need of help, the judge will agree to execution of the court order.

Supervision

Placing a child under supervision curbs parental authority. The parents are forced to accept help from a local youth care office or a national institution for (family) guardianship. The child can stay at home or be placed with a foster family but parental authority remains intact, although the parents are obliged to follow the instructions of the youth care worker.

Guardianship

If parents are considered unable to raise their child(ren) for whatever reason or in the case of serious neglect or child abuse, parental control can be withdrawn. The child is placed in the care of a foster family, i.e. a local youth care office or a family guardianship institution with nationwide authority. After a period of time, the parents can submit a request for reinstatement of parental authority.

This article solely deals with court-ordered child protection procedures. The situation, which arises if the parents have, for instance, died in an accident and other relatives agree to take care of the children, is not dealt with in this article.

Guardianship unaccompanied underage refugee children

The Ministry of Justice has appointed the NIDOS Foundation to deal with guardianship procedures involving unaccompanied underage refugee children (until recently referred to as single underage asylum seekers). NIDOS is the legal representative of the child watches over its rights.

Temporary guardianship

In the case of temporary guardianship, a juvenile court temporarily delegates parental authority to a local youth care office or a family guardianship institution with nationwide authority to prevent the minor child’s moral and mental interests from being violated.