Most people in everyday life do not think about the forms of orphans. It seems to us that all adopted children are in approximately the same position and status. However, it is not. When future adoptive parents begin to deal with the legal side of the issue, they are faced with various subtleties and features of the device of each particular child. What forms of adoption are there? What are their advantages and disadvantages? Is there a difference - custody, foster care and patronage?
Child in an orphanage
Despite the fact that all the children in the orphanage actually live and are brought up together, often they are in different statuses. Some kids are orphans, others are left without parental care. Is there a difference between these definitions for potential guardians?
Orphans are children who have lost both or a single parent and are left without adult guardianship. Children left without parental care are not always orphans. Their parents, as a rule, shy away from fulfilling their duties, stay in places of detention, are deprived of parental rights or are reported missing.
From a legal point of view, the law does not distinguish between orphans and children left without parental care. In fact, children can be in a shelter with a different status, which regulates their relations with potential future parents or carers.
What are the forms of the device of children?
Today, there are 4 forms of accepting a child from an orphanage. All of them differ in the level of responsibility, the status of adults responsible for the child, as well as the rights of newly made and conscientious parents.
An orphan can be adopted, taken under patronage, guardianship and foster care. Each of these forms has its advantages and disadvantages and can often be a transitional option for a child who is in the process of obtaining a new status.
Adoption, guardianship, foster family - what is the difference between these definitions?
As a blood child
The priority form of placement of the child in the family is adoption. This form is established only by decision of a civil court. After the adoption of the child in the family, he receives all the rights of blood relatives, for example, the right to inheritance. Parents, in turn, are fully responsible for his life and health.
Adoption, in contrast to the foster family and guardianship, allows parents to change the name, surname, middle name of the child, as well as the date and place of his birth. The secret of adoption is protected by law, and people who violate it can be held criminally and civilly liable.
Monitoring the stay of a child in a new family is carried out during the first three years after the court ruling with a prerequisite for secrecy.
Prospective parents must meet certain requirements of state authorities. For example, they should not have a disability of group I, tuberculosis, malignant formations, a criminal record for an attempt on the life, health or honor of an individual, be incapable or persons without a fixed place of residence.
Custody
Sometimes it happens that the child is in a status that does not allow adoption. In this case, it can be taken under guardianship. In this case, the parents take the child into the family as a foster child. For children under 14 years of age, this form of the device is called custody, for children from 14 to 18 - guardianship.
Upon reaching adulthood, such a child who does not have his own housing has the right to receive an apartment from the state.
Despite the apparent advantages, custody has a number of disadvantages:
- Constant monitoring by the guardianship authorities.
- The lack of secrecy of adoption and the possibility of contact with blood relatives.
- When the applicant for adoption appears, the child can be taken from the family.
- Inability to change the name, surname and other data of the baby.
At the request of the guardians, the guardianship and trusteeship authorities appoint a lump-sum or monthly payment received from income from the property of a minor or from the local budget. The guardian also receives child support benefits.
Today in Russia there are two forms of compensated guardianship - patronage and foster care.
Contract Education
When a child cannot be placed under guardianship or adoption, he is placed in a foster home. The difference between guardianship and foster care is small, but still it exists.
Foster family - a form of adoption of a child in which education is carried out under an agreement between the family and the guardianship authorities. The main difference between the foster family from guardianship and adoption is that the parent-teacher receives not only benefits for the maintenance of the child, but also wages. Plus, he counts seniority. The term of custody in such cases is prescribed in the contract and may vary. Practice shows that usually it is concluded before the child’s 18th birthday.
Another difference between guardianship and foster care is that the latter form of device involves more control by the guardianship authorities. This is expressed not only in the financial statements, but also in the control of the educational process.
And the guardians, and foster parents, a representative of the guardianship authorities visits the first five years.
Patronage
The patronage is one of the forms of temporary paid custody introduced in Russia in 2008. Is there a difference for parents - custody, foster care and patronage? Yes, and it’s significant.
If the main difference between the foster family and guardianship is the difference in payments, then patronage is, first of all, a temporary device for the child left without parental care. He does not just retain the right to communicate with blood relatives: such communication is mandatory and is prescribed and regulated in a tripartite agreement.
The foster family is not relatives, but rather carers who take the child on time and are obliged to fulfill the plan of the guardianship authorities, reporting on the work done and the money spent.
What form of device to choose?
Research in child psychology shows that for a child, any family is better than an orphanage. The deprivation of children in state institutions leaves an indelible imprint on their personality, further relations with people and socialization.
For people who decide to adopt a child into the family, there is a choice which form of device is better. The most reliable and at the same time the most time-consuming is adoption. The requirements for adoptive parents are the most stringent. Immediately after the court ruling, the full responsibility for the life and health of the child passes to the parents. Such parents do not receive benefits and payments, but they are protected by law as much as possible: this includes not only the secret of adoption, but also the restoration of the rights of blood relatives.
The simplest form of device is custody. When choosing a guardian, preference is given to relatives of the child or friends of the family. If none are available, other device options are considered. The guardian receives social security benefits. In the event that applicants for adoption appear, the child may be taken from the family of the guardian.
The difference between the forms of guardianship and foster care is not only in the amount of money that the guardian-educator receives, but also in reporting to the guardianship and guardianship authorities. Applicants for the foster family are selected more carefully, and the requirements for them are more stringent. As in the case of guardianship, a relationship between foster children and guardians is not formed and all relations end when the child reaches adulthood.
Patronage is a form of temporary admission to a family of child caregivers.
Requirements for guardians and adoptive parents
While almost all people can have a blood child, regardless of the presence of problems with alcohol, drugs, health or living space, rather high demands are placed on guardians and adoptive parents.
People who want to adopt a child or take him under guardianship must be competent, they should not be limited in parental rights or deprived of them. Prospective parents should have sufficient housing (at least 12 square meters per person) and income sufficient to provide the child with a living wage.
In addition, adoptive parents cannot be people suffering from tuberculosis, having a degree I disability or malignant formations, patients with infectious diseases until remission is established, and people who have same-sex marriage.
The basis for a refusal may be a conviction under articles for crimes committed against the health, life, dignity and honor of an individual.
All potential adoptive parents must go through the "Foster Parenting School" and receive an appropriate document before applying for a child.
International guardianship and adoption
According to the law of the Russian Federation, US citizens, as well as those countries in which same-sex marriages are allowed, cannot become adoptive parents and guardians.
Otherwise, the same requirements are imposed on foreign citizens as on the Russians.