Do foster parents have the same rights as parents of children?
Parental responsibility determines the scope of the parents' rights and obligations towards the child. If the parents are not completely deprived of parental responsibility - they can decide on issues important to the child. Examples:
What are biological parents' rights regarding their child in a foster family?
Treatment
In order to perform tests, treatments and surgeries, a written consent of the child's biological parents is required. If contact with them is difficult or they do not want to express such consent, the final decision is made by the guardianship court (competent for the place where, for example, the child's surgery or surgery was performed)
Documents
In the case of passports - the application for issuing such a document is submitted by foster parents, but the issuance of the document requires the written consent of the biological parents. If the parents cannot reach an agreement, consent to issue a passport is replaced by a court decision.
religion
The biological family determines the child's religious sphere. Foster parents cannot baptize a child against the will of the biological family or they cannot decide on their own to raise him in the spirit of atheism or other beliefs they represent.
Biological parents may, for example, contact the school and ask about the progress in learning, assessment of the child. In the event of problems arising from this issue, it is worth asking your child's educators.
Education
If foster parents face difficulties and lack of cooperation on the part of their parents, they can file an application to the court to extend their rights (and at the same time withdraw these rights from the parents - further limitation of parental authority).
Are the persons exercising foster care subject to any control?
Yes. Both foster families and family orphanage owners should be assessed by the organizer of family foster care (most often PCPR) in terms of their predisposition to perform the function entrusted to them and the quality of the work performed.
The first such assessment should be made no later than one year after placing the first child in the family / orphanage, and the next one - one year after the first one, and the next one at least every 3 years.
If the assessment is negative, another assessment should be made no later than within 6 months. If the person holding custody obtains a second negative assessment, the organizer of the family custody is required to submit to the court a motion to revoke the decision to place the child in this family.
At the same time, regardless of the assessment procedure, in the event that a foster family or a family orphanage operator fails to fulfill its functions or performs them incorrectly, the starost is obliged to notify the competent court. If the court - due to these circumstances - changes the decision on placing the child in the family / orphanage, the starost may terminate the contract with this family / family owner without notice.