How to revoke parental rights?

Deprivation of parental rights is possible only in court, no other procedure is provided.

A mother or father can be deprived of parental rights for all or one of their children.

According to Article 164 of the Family Code of Ukraine, a mother and father may be deprived of parental rights if they:

• the child was not taken from the maternity hospital or from another health care institution and for 6 months did not show parental care for it (without a valid reason);

• shirk their responsibilities regarding raising a child and/or ensuring that he/she obtains a full general secondary education;

• treat the child cruelly (use physical or mental violence, impermissible methods of upbringing, degrade the human dignity of the child, etc.);

• are chronic alcoholics or drug addicts (these facts must be confirmed by appropriate medical reports);

• resort to any type of exploitation of the child (for example, involve him in hard work, engage in prostitution or criminal activities), force him to beg and wander;

• convicted of committing an intentional criminal offense against a child.

To revoke parental rights, the following actions must be taken:

1. establish that the person knowingly violates parental responsibilities, maliciously fails to comply with the requirements and recommendations of guardianship and guardianship authorities, services for minors, deliberately avoids treatment (chronic alcoholics, drug addicts, drug addicts) and collect all the necessary supporting evidence;

2. apply to the guardianship and guardianship authority in order to obtain an opinion on the living and upbringing conditions of the child, the behavior of the parents, their relationship with the children and their attitude towards fulfilling their parental duties;

3. apply to the court with a claim for deprivation of parental rights and receive a decision made by the court based on the results of the review.

After the decision of the court on the deprivation of parental rights has entered into force, the court sends it to the state registration body of civil status acts at the place of registration of the child's birth.