As a parent, you have the right to maintain a personal relationship and direct contact with your child. At the same time your child has the right to contact both of his/her parents, too. Your parental access rights are protected by the human right to family life. The aim of parental access rights is to ensure the best interests of the child.
Contact & Information about a child
There may be several reasons why you may be separated from your child. It may be your choice to live separately, or a situation brought about by the decision of a state institution, such as placing your child into public care or a criminal conviction resulting in a prison sentence. However, as a parent you have a right and obligation to maintain personal relations and direct contact with your child. At the same time, your child enjoys the right to maintain direct contact with both parents. Access rights are protected by the human right to family life.
The parent who does not live with the child has the right to receive information about him/her, especially information regarding the child’s development, health, educational progress, interests and domestic circumstances.
important Your parental access rights are not terminated by the taking of a child into out-of-family care. In such a case, the legal guardian, foster family or child care institution should facilitate the communication between you and your child.
Determination of access
If a child is living together with one parent, both parents may mutually agree on the exercise of access rights by the other parent. This agreement should include the time (length and frequency), place and duration of meetings. In case of separation of parents, such an agreement will have to be confirmed by the court.
If the separating parents cannot reach an agreement, the decision on the parental access rights of the parent without parental custody will be decided by the court in accordance with child’s best interests.
If a child is separated from a family (taken out of a family), the exercise of parental access rights will also be determined by the court.
Restrictions & Termination of access rights
A civil court may restrict or terminate your access rights, if the child is endangered as a result of parental access and it is only possible to sufficiently protect his/her interests by restriction or termination of parental access rights.
The civil court may decide on the time (length and frequency), place and duration of meetings. If necessary, the court may order that meetings with the child can only take place in the presence of a specific person (under supervision).
The court may also decide that parental access rights not be executed by way of face-to-face contact, but through other means, per example through writing letters or phone calls.
important The civil court may take a decision to fully deprive you of your parental access.
important Your parental access rights will also be irrevocably terminated from the moment your child is adopted by another person.
Change of circumstances
You may request the court to reassess the situation and cancel restrictions on your parental access rights if the circumstances which were at the basis of these restrictions have changed.
Length of the decision-making & Enforcement process
The obligation to respect your right to family life requires that any issues regarding parental access in the future should be determined as soon as possible. Proceedings should not be unnecessarily delayed by state institutions.
If you have been granted access rights to a child, it is in your interests that this decision be enforced as soon as possible. A delayed enforcement procedure may violate your right to family life.
If the other parent does not obey the decision regarding your parental access rights, effective sanctions may be requested to be taken out against him/her to ensure the exercise of your rights. Read more about sanctions and the enforcement procedure in the Family Code.
What human rights violation may there be?
Unlawful restrictions of your parental access rights may violate your right to family life. If you have not been involved in the decision-making procedure regarding these rights, your right to a fair hearing may also have been violated.
Read more about whether your access rights have been lawfully restricted.
Read more about how to complain in order to protect your rights.