Usually, grandparents play an important role in their grandchildren's life and often take care of their grandchild when his or her parents cannot or do not. The Marriage and Family Relations Act grants three measures for protection of children; namely adoption, foster care and guardianship. Grandparents as caregivers for their grandchild can be his or her foster parents and guardians. They are not allowed to adopt their grandchild, as according to the Marriage and Family Relations Act adoption of relative in direct line is prohibited. Grandparents as foster parents are limited in providing care for their grandchild and are not autonomous as they would be, if they were allowed to adopt their grandchild. The Marriage and Family Relations Act does not grant the adequate permanent protection of children for which their grandparents would be the most appropriate caregivers. Therefore, the Family Code adopted on 15. 4. 2017 enacted a new measure for protection of children; namely granting parental care to a relative. By granting parental care to a grandparent, the grandparent acquires the parental care for the grandchild and is in the rights and obligations equated with the status of a parent. The granting of this measure preserves family relationships, which is an essential reason for prohibiting the adoption of grandchildren. The parental care for grandchild is given to grandparent only under condition that grandchild's parents are not alive. But since this condition is very narrow set, this measure should be granted also in other cases where it can be certain that the child will not return to his parents. Only by granting parental care on a number of grounds the main purpose of temporary foster care of children placed with their relatives can be sought, and the maximum benefit of the grandchild can be ensured.
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