Best interests of a child are a primary consideration of family law. Special attention is also placed to best interests of a child by the Family Code, which entered into force on April 15 2019, and substituted previously valid Marriage and Family Relations Act. The Family Code elevates the legal standard of best interests of a child to a level of a legal principle. This way the legislator emphasized the importance of this value and firmly established the primary position of a child and their best interests in family law. The Family Code entrusts the primary role in child’s care and in safeguarding best interests of a child to their parents, as well as requires anybody with a connection to the child to protect their interests in all activities and processes. When parents perform their parental duty inadequately, it is the duty of the state to intervene in family relationships and protect the child and their best interests. Family Code also brings changes to the distribution of competence between national authorities that protect the best interests of a child. The Family Code names the courts and social services as the main institutions for carrying out all the necessary actions and measures within their competence for the protection of best interests of a child.
A novelty brought by the Family Code is a unified system of measures for protection of interests of a child, that the court imposes when such interests are threatened. The Family Code divides measures for protection of best interests of a child in three groups: temporary regulations, emergency removal of a child and long-term measures. This master thesis presents long-term measures that include: restriction of parental care, decision about medical examination or treatment, restriction or removal of the right to parental contact, child removal, placement of a child in an institution and removal of parental care. Long-term measures are intended for protection of personal interests and proceeds of the child. The court decides on the implementation of long-term measures, while taking into the account the opinion of social services.
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