Children, as the most vulnerable part of our society, require special care. This care should be provided for every child in his family. However, due to various reasons children cannot always grow up in their biological families. In order to protect those children and provide them with healthy environment, the state has to intervene. There are many different measures to ensure the best interests of a child. One of those measures is adoption.
Since 15 April 2019 adoption is regulated by the Family Code which replaced the Marriage and Family Relations Act. One of the novelties, introduced by the Family Code, is the transfer of competence. Earlier the adoption procedure was led by social work centres. According to the regulations of the Family Code social work centres only have the competence to provide opinions and advice to courts, which are now in charge of adoption procedure.
Furthermore, the Family Code incorporated the new institute of granting parental care to a relative. This saved the dilemma of adopting a relative, which is prohibited in Slovenian legal system. Parental care is granted to a relative, who agrees to raise and take care of a child whose parents died. However, parental care can only be granted if it is in accordance with child's benefits. The child's benefit was elevated into a principle by the Family Code and has to be taken into account in all procedures where children are concerned.
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