Guardianship

In a guardianship order, a judge grants guardianship of a child to a Certified Institution. This can be after parental authority has been removed from the parents or when both parents are deceased (and no guardian was appointed in the last will and testament). The guardianship is imposed when a child grows up in such a way that their development is seriously threatened and the parent is not able to take authority for the care and upbringing of the child or when the parent abuses the authority. In many cases the court will have already imposed a supervision order and out-of-home placement before a judge decides to remove parental authority from the parents entirely. The guardianship is definitive and ends when the child turns 18. This category only includes cases in which the guardianship is exercised by a Certified Institution, and the child is raised with a foster family or in a youth care home. This excludes cases in which a foster parent (foster guardianship) or someone else who is close to the young person (civil guardianship) takes over guardianship from the Certified Institution.