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This study focuses on the approaches used by Czech social workers operating in the field of child protection to resolve parental conflicts and looks specifically at their inclination to employ defensive practice. Defensive practice involves prioritising regulations and prescribed rules over the interests of clients, i.e. parents and children. The aim of this study is to verify, with the help of a questionnaire, the theoretical connections between the use of defensive practice and several factors that represent working conditions and external pressures. The research indicates that the factors connected with the use of defensive practice to deal with parental conflicts have the opposite effect in the Czech Republic that that observed in international studies or have no influence whatsoever. Child protection social workers who emphasise compliance regard their working conditions as favourable and have somewhat conservative attitudes and beliefs. The authors' interpretation of the findings is that the emphasis on regulations in Czech child protection is not a defensive reaction to threatening working conditions, but an expression of loyalty to an organisation that offers them a pleasant work environment where they need not be afraid of any potential failures or consequences of their decisions. They also propose redefining Czech defensive practice by placing less emphasis on compliance as a reaction to unfavourable working conditions.

Various state authorities take an active part in ensuring the protection of families at the state level, in particular, guardianship and custody bodies perform special tasks to protect the rights and legitimate interests of minor children. This article covers the analysis of the main problems in the activities of guardianship and custody bodies.

This qualitative study based on art aimed to analyze the critical path of women in coping with situations of violence in the city of Santa Maria/Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, in these women’s perspective. It has as settings the Women’s Police Station (DEAM) and the institutional care service for women in situations of violence, named Casa Abrigo (Shelter House). The “talking map” creativity and sensitivity technique was used in conjunction with the in-depth interview to analyze the critical path of 12 women in situations of violence. The driving factors of the critical path of women in coping with situations of violence were related to their knowledge about the DEAM’s assistance, their perceptions about the experience of different types of violence, the fact that they can no longer stand the violence and that they worry about their children, as well as the support of their family, of the ex-husband’s or ex-partner’s relatives, and of their female friends. The decisions executed and actions taken by the women included reporting the aggressor, requesting a restraining order, seeking help from the guardianship council and family members, getting back together with the aggressor, and leaving home. There is a need to strengthen the decision-making process of women in situations of violence to break the silence and the situation of violence. For this purpose, it is urgent to broaden the information for and knowledge of women about where and how to seek help, through access to clear and precise information in all places that compose the assistance network for these women.

For young people who have migrated unaccompanied by parents or other legal guardians, it is important to feel a sense of belonging. However, belonging is not fixed to one place. This study aims to ...

The paper deals with the legal institution of dissolution of marriage in the context of creating conditions for the marriage preservation. It is concluded that it is necessary to change the procedure of dissolution of marriage in order to ensure the possibility of reconciliation of spouses, for example, to determine the powers of the court to refer the case to a specialist, who performs conciliation (mediator or psychologist), if this procedure is free of charge for spouses. Given the importance of preservation of the family when there are minor children in the family, the possibility of reconciliation must also be extended. The second approach to changing the existing law in the area of marriage dissolution with regard to the grounds, may include the transition to the concept of “divorce/ sanction” (including its flexible application). This approach is widely used in foreign legislation, it has long been traditional for domestic law and is approved in legal consciousness. The third approach may involve the modification of law enforcement practices relating to post-divorce upbringing of children, which indirectly motivates one party to divorce, even though this practice does not correspond either to the law or to social expediency. As a possible option, we recommend the use of the foreign institution of “joint guardianship” adapted in our system of law as determination of the place of residence of the child on a parity basis.

The article is devoted to the memory of the outstanding Russian scholar Dmitriy I. Meyer (1819—1856) — the ancestor of Russian civilistics who declared that the rights of individuals depend on different circumstances that are, to some extent, natural and, to some extent, historical. Meyer’s statement that “there are different degrees of insanity: sometimes it is stronger, sometimes weaker” turned out to be accepted by the Russian legislator only in 2015 by making appropriate changes in the Russian legislation regarding the problem of legal capacity of citizens. The paper has investigated the evolution of the content of legal personality of individuals in the field of private legal relations, including family relations, as well as in the field of relations complicated by a foreign element, i.e. in the field of private international law. On the basis of the analysis, the author explores a civil legal personality of a natural person category as her ability to be a subject of civil law including such elements as capacity and legal capacity. Civil capacity should be understood as a legally equal abstract opportunity for everyone to have civil rights and duties. It is unacceptable to consider capacity as a subjective right to have the right: this leads to an unjustified doubling of the category of “subjective right” and hinders a proper understanding of the mechanism of civil regulation. The article investigates the subjective right as implementation of capacity of a particular person, and, therefore, citizens being legally equal in their capacity, to be not equal in the presence of specific subjective rights that constitute the content of their capacity in the abstract form. The authors have analyzed the amendments to the Civil Code of the Russian Federation introducing a new basis for limiting the legal capacity of citizens, as well as taking into account the degree of actual reduction of the ability of citizens to understand the meaning of their actions or to be in control of such actions. The article analyzes the conflict-of-laws principles of determination of capacity and legal capacity of foreign citizens. Jurisprudence, along with the recognition of the national regime of foreign citizens on the territory of the Russian Federation, indicates the need to apply foreign laws in determining the civil capacity and legal capacity of foreign nationals. The article analyzes the private law component of the institute of retortions the immediate purpose of which is to protect private rights and legitimate interests of Russian citizens. Thus, the content of the concept of civil personality of natural persons in the field of private law relations that consists of such categories as capacity and legal capacity evolves into the recognition of equality and the protection of the interests of all persons on the basis of the principles of justice, humanity and reasonability. At the same time, the State secures legal guarantees applied for the completion of the legal capacity of minors and certain categories of adult citizens through institutions of parental responsibility, guardianship and custody and establishes procedural guarantees of observance of the rights of these persons in judicial proceedings.

In modern society, female parents from different strata are involved in the process of constructing their motherhood through education. But mothers of different social classes have different ways o...

This paper presents the initial results of an anonymous pilot quantitative survey on Muslims’ conception of marriage and divorce, which was conducted in Germany between February and June 2018. The ...

Purpose This paper aims to examine demographic differences between individuals who do not take measures to protect themselves from identity theft victimization and those who do. A majority of the research on identity theft has focused on predictors of victimization, reporting behaviors of the victims and their health and mental outcomes. However, little remains known about the individuals who choose to take any identity-theft measures despite concerns over this fast-growing breed of crime. Design/methodology/approach Guided by Felson and Cohen’s routine activities theoretical framework (1979), this study uses the 2014 Identity Theft Supplement of the National Crime Victimization Survey to identify the demographic characteristics that influence the use of self-protection measures among individuals in the general population. Findings This study finds that these individuals are much more likely to be white, older, female and highly educated. The decision to undertake protection against identity theft is also influenced by the following factors: prior experience of misuse, possession of a bank account in the prior 12 months, current possession of at least one credit card and awareness that one is entitled to a free copy of one’s credit report. Originality/value This study addresses the gap in scholarship on identity theft prevention by applying the concept of guardianship in Cohen and Felson’s routine activity theory (1979) to the usage of self-protection measures in a general population. Future findings will identify the areas which agencies and researchers can focus on to inform policies that foster individuals’ own initiatives to take self-protection measures against potential identity theft.

القوامة في الأسرة بين التعليل والتقصيد ميادة محمد الحسن . قسم الفقه والأصول، کلية الآداب ، جامعة الملک فيصل ، المملکة العربية السعودية . البريد الإلکتروني : drmmalhasan@gmail.com مستخلص : تعد القوامة في الأسرة من أهم المفاهيم المنظمة للحياة الأسرية، والسائرة بها نحو تحقيق السکن والمودة والرحمة، وقد وردت معللة في کتاب الله تبارک وتعالى، إلا أن علتها لم تتحرر من حيث النوع، ولم يستبن کون القوامة مقصدا أو وسيلة لتحقيق مقصد. يأتي البحث ليوضح علة القوامة المرکبة، ويبين جزئيها، ويتناول تقصيدها تحت مظلة مقاصد النکاح الأصلية، إضافة إلى بيان مقتضياتها في حق القوام ومن يقوم عليهم، وبيان مواقف الفقهاء عند تخلف جزء من أجزاء العلة، أو عند تقاعد القوامة عن تحقيق مقاصدها . وقد توصل البحث إلى عدة نتائج، من أهمها: أن القوامة هي سلطة تنظيمية لشؤون الأسرة قائمة على الشورى. وأن علة القوامة مرکبة من جزءين : القوة البدنية والعقلية من جهة، والإنفاق بالمال من جهة أخرى. أن القوامة من الأحکام المقصودة لغيرها، فهي من علم الوسائل لا المقاصد. أن القوامة خاضعة للتفويض والتفاوض، ويمکن للرجل تفويض إدارة المنزل کاملا إلى الزوجة. تکون القوامة على الزوجة وعلى سائر أفراد الأسرة من البنات والبنين غير البالغين. تقصيد القوامة يبرز قيامها على الاستقرار واکتمال معاني المودة والرحمة والتعامل الوظيفي. الکلمات المفتاحية: القوامة، الأسرة ، التعليل، التقصيد، المقاصد. Guardianship in the family Between Reasoning and purposes Mayada Mohammed Alhasan Department of of Jurisprudence and its Foundations college of Arts/King Faisal University, Saudi Arabia. E-mail : drmmalhasan@gmail.com Abstract Guardianship in the family is one of the most important organizing concepts of family life, which is moving towards achieving (tranquility, affection and mercy). It was mentioned as reasoning in the Book of God, the Blessed and Exalted be He. . The research comes to clarify, the problem of the compounded guardianship, clarify its two parts, and address its purpose under the umbrella of the original intentions of marriage, in addition to, explaining its requirements regarding the right of the Qiyamah, and those who are based on them, and clarifying the positions of the jurists, when a part of the parts of the problem is left behind, or when the retirement of the guardianship, from The fulfillment of its purposes. The research has reached several results, the most important of which are: The guardianship is an organizational authority for family affairs, based on shura. The problem of stewardship has two parts: physical and mental strength on the one hand, and spending with money on the other. Guardianship is one of the rulings intended for others, as it is a science of means, not intentions. The guardianship is subject to delegation and negotiation, and the man can fully delegate the management of the house to the wife. The custody of the wife and the rest of the family members, girls and boys, who are not adults. The intransigence of the guardianship, highlights its basis on stability, and the completeness of the meanings of affection and compassion, and functional interaction. Key words: guardianship , family , reasoning , purposes, The intentions.

The Convention on the Rights of the Child, approved by the General Assembly of the United Nations on 20 November 1989, states in Article 2 that “States Parties shall respect and ensure the rights set forth in the present Convention to each child within their jurisdiction without discrimination of any kind, irrespective of the child's or his or her parent's or legal guardian's race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national, ethnic or social origin, property, disability, birth or other status.” Therefore, the child becomes a citizen from birth and is competent to learn from birth. Competent in learning, asking questions, seeking answers, and generating a culture of their own. By affirming the right to be recognised as a citizen of the present, competent, culture-generating, we affirm the strength and extraordinary potential of the child and their right to express it. Infant-toddler centres and preschools are excellent educational places, where to build the paradigm of care and community for the child as citizen. Not all-encompassing places for education, but essential. They help to process, rework and update childhood data, to define childhood and to be defined by them and to define societies. It is not just the care of the child, it is the child’s culture, it is the child’s look at the world, their generative whys. The great cultural and political “revolution” of the last century – never completely accomplished – is making children active protagonists, leaving them their autonomy, considering them as holders of rights and culture. But now we know that society needs its childhood, too.

This paper presents the results of an empirical study into the relationship between family functioning and the level of moral development in senior students (adolescents), designed and conducted to take into consideration the more complete definition of the modern family, which gives preference to intra-family determinants over its external features, and relies on the results of previous relevant studies of the influence of the family on the formation of the child's personality. A functional and healthy family is one that aspires to or successfully achieves its goal of raising and educating children and youth, responsible parenthood/guardianship, promotion and maintenance of the mental and physical health of all family members, and provision of support to their work, life, and social fulfillment. The aim of the study was to ascertain whether there is a statistically significant correlation between family functioning and the level of students' moral development and overall school performance. It included 220 senior primary school students. The results show that about two-thirds of students see their families as optimally functional, and that the rest of the respondents believe that they live in families that do not reach the same functioning mark. Every third respondent perceives their family as functioning adequately, but quite a few students (7.27%) perceive their family as functioning moderately (according to the Beavers Systems Model, such families are considered dysfunctional). Students from optimally functional families had the highest average scores on moral development tests, while those from moderately functional families scored the lowest average number of points. The differences are statistically significant not only on these tests, but also for overall school performance as the control variable. A statistically significant correlation was found between the level of family functioning and student achievement on moral development tests. Such results allow us to conclude that family functioning (with all intragroup determinants that have positive educational effects) is one of the key factors in the moral formation of young people's personalities and their academic performance. Therefore, it is extremely important to improve the social position of the family, continuously train/instruct parents on pedagogical issues, and continuously work in partnership with pedagogical and other institutions and organisations engaged in children's upbringing and education.

The subject of the research presented in this paper is focused on the assessments of experts in social welfare centres on the consequences, security risks and recovery needs of children witnesses of violence in parental partnerships, which were submitted to the court in the proceedings for protection from domestic violence associated with the proceedings in a marital dispute, in which the court decides on the exercise of parental rights. The aim is to describe the characteristics of professional assessments and opinions and to map the present problems and point out possible improvements, in accordance with the principle of safety/security of victims and the standard of best interests of the child. In processing this complex topic, thematic analysis was used, as a qualitative descriptive technique. The sample consisted of two groups of reports on the findings and opinion of the social welfare centres, in 62 cases completed in 2010/2011, and 15 cases completed in 2019/2020. The legal and by-law changes related to the subject of the research were expected to produce a positive effect on the content and quality of expert assessments in the second, later sample. The conducted analysis indicated an unsystematic approach and the absence of relevant data, which is also present in the reports from the later period. A positive change was observed regarding the assessment of security risks, but it was insufficiently integrated with the proposals for entrusting custody and determining the model of contact between children and the violent parent. Although it is acknowledged in public documents that children are also victims of violence when witnessing it and that the safety of the victim is the organizing general principle of protection from domestic violence, assessment methods are insufficiently operationalized and the understanding of the difference between partner conflict and violence/abuse of the woman is inadequate. Decisions on children’s contact with the violent parent remain inconsistent with protection measures against domestic violence, and when they are not respected, there are no or rare guardianship authorities’ proposals to ban contact, even when the consequences for children and their relationship with mothers are obvious. Therefore, it would be important to supplement and refine the guidelines in existing treatment protocols, develop and harmonize specific expert guidance for these assessments, specialize knowledge and increase the experts’ capacity and resources, develop specific and available services, in line with relevant standards. An increased number of researches on various aspects of professional practice in this sphere would also be important for progress in the field.

Background Reducing the maternal mortality ratio is one of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. These maternal deaths are preventable with appropriate management and care. Birth preparedness and complication readiness (BPCR) is a strategy to make prompt decisions to seek care from skilled birth attendants, resulting in reduced maternal and neonatal mortality. Despite high global rates of adolescent pregnancy, there has not yet been a study of BPCR status and associated factors among pregnant adolescents. Objective To assess the proportion of, and associated factors for, good BPCR in adolescent pregnant women attending antenatal clinic in an urban tertiary care hospital. Materials and methods This cross-sectional survey was conducted among adolescent pregnant women attending antenatal clinic at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Faculty of Medicine Vajira Hospital, Thailand, from September 1st, 2018 to March 31st, 2019. A total of 134 adolescent pregnant women were recruited. The participants and their parents or legal guardians were informed of the study process at the antenatal clinic before their parents or legal guardians, granted written consent on their behalf. The participants were interviewed using the BPCR index, which was adapted from the John Hopkins Program for International Education in Gynecology and Obstetrics. Results The proportion of good BPCR in adolescent pregnant women in an urban tertiary care hospital was 78.4%. The most mentioned aspect of BPCR was planning to give birth with a skilled provider (92.5%). The significant associated factor for good BPCR was the number of ANC ≥ 4 (odds ratio 3.2, 95% CI 1.13-9.05, p=0.023). Conclusion This study demonstrated that the proportion of good BPCR among adolescent pregnant women attending an urban tertiary care hospital was high. The associated factor of good BPCR was the number of ANC ≥ 4.

This work is devoted to a relevant topic in modern Russia related to the placement of children without parental care under custody (guardianship). The aim of the work is to study the features of the legal regulation of contractual custody (guardianship) of minor children in modern Russia. The work is written using general scientific and special methods of cognition: historical, dialectical, formal and logical, empirical. We pay special attention to the comparative legal method, which is due to the purpose and objectives of the study. Based on a brief retrospective analysis, the legal nature of the foster family contract and foster care contract is examined. We substantiate the position that the custody (guardianship) contract, having certain features, has a mixed legal nature. We emphasize that guardianship and custody contracts have elements of both civil law contracts and family law contracts. We analyze the legal nature of remuneration to custodians and guardians. It is concluded that the contractual regulation of custody and guardianship provides the opportunity for more flexible legal regulation of relations on the transfer of a child to a family, allows you to accommodate the interests of both wards children and custodians (guardians).

The relevance of this study. Relevance of the topic. Children's support for parents is understood as the performance of their duties by providing parents with the support for their needs.This duty of children is a personal obligation that cannot be transferred to other persons and means that children must maintain supportfor their parents themselves. The right of parents to maintenance in Lithuanian law is linked to two mandatory conditions: 1) the parents are incapacitated for work due to disability, retirement age or illness (or other reasons); 2) the income or property received by the parents is not sufficient for subsistence, therefore they need maintenance.The main problem.The obligation of children to maintain the parents in need of their support is absolute, if it is established that the income received by the parents or their property is not sufficient to live and the parents have taken proper care of their children in the past and avoided improper performance of their duties.The aim of thisstudyto analyze the legal problems related with the obligation of children to maintain their parents. The following taskswere set for the defined goal: to reveal the concept of children's duty to maintain their support for parents; to examine the essential aspects of the legal regulation of the duty of children to maintain the necessary support for their parents; to analyze the problems of legal regulation of the duty of children to maintain the parents necessary for their support in court practice.The paper concludedEstablishing parental responsibility for children before death runs counter to the principles of equality, justice, proportionality and reasonableness, as the burden imposed is not equivalent to parental responsibility for children before adulthood.The responsible authorities do not take the initiative to protect the rights of obsolete parents.The novelty the law does not establish criteria for who should provide maintenance in order of priority - a spouse or an adult child.Neither the Constitution nor the Civil Code clarifies the concepts of guardianship and care.The criterion of incapacity for work established by law limits parents' access to maintenance.As the result to enable parents in need of maintenance who have not received maintenance from their adult children for more than a month to obtain maintenance from a public authority, which could subsequently recover the amounts paid from the adult children for whom maintenance has been imposed.Theused methodology is scientific literature analysis, analytical, comparative and descriptive methods

Resumen Objetivo: describir la problemática de hombres y mujeres trabajadores que al percibir vulnerado su derecho a la salud en el trabajo por sufrir presuntos o declarados ATEL, buscaron apoyo e interpusieron uno o más recursos constitucionales para lograr su restablecimiento efectivo. Materiales y métodos: estudio mixto. Se aplicó encuesta a 189 trabajadores que sufrieron un presunto o reconocido evento de ATEL y que buscaron apoyo en los servicios de extensión solidaria de la Universidad de Antioquia o en organizaciones de derechos humanos en Medellín. La encuesta captó datos sociodemográficos, de seguridad social, laborales, del SGSST, de los antecedentes, ocurrencia y consecuencias de los ATEL y los recursos interpuestos. Para el abordaje cualitativo se realizó: i) una entrevista en profundidad con un médico laboral y abogado independiente y ii) cuatro grupos focales con trabajadores que sufrieron ATEL, sindicalistas, abogados y médicos representantes de ARL, académicos. Resultados: los trabajadores más vulnerables fueron los más afectados en su derecho. Los agentes que integran el SGRL hacen un abordaje fragmentado de la salud y el trabajo que facilita la vulneración del derecho. Los trabajadores que sufren ATEL deben enfrentar barreras económicas, administrativas y de acceso a salud para restituir su derecho. Conclusiones: el trabajo decente y digno es un horizonte hacia el cual se deben apuntar los esfuerzos para que los trabajadores más vulnerados históricamente conquisten y sostengan una vida plena, digna y saludable. Los recursos como la acción de tutela contribuyen a lograr el cumplimiento del derecho a la salud en el trabajo. Abstract Objective: to describe the problems of working men and women who, when perceiving their right to health at work violated due to alleged or declared workplace accidents or illnesses (ATEL for its acronym in Spanish) sought support and filed one or more constitutional resources to achieve their effective restoration. Materials and methods: Mixed study. A survey was applied to 189 workers who suffered an alleged ATEL event and who sought support in the solidarity extension services at Univesidad de Antioquia or in human rights organizations in the city of Medellin. The survey that captured sociodemographic data, social security data, labor data, the Occupational Health and Safety Management System (SGSST for its acronym in Spanish) data of the background, occurrence and consequences of ATELs and legal resources interposed. For the qualitative approach, an in-depth interview was conducted with an occupational physician and an independent lawyer and four focus groups with workers who suffered ATELs, trade unionists, lawyers and doctors representing the Occupational Risk Administrator (ARL for its acronym in Spanish), and academicians. Results: the most vulnerable workers were the most affected in their right. The agents that make up the General System of Occupational Risks (SGRL by its acronym in Spanish) make a fragmented approach to health and work that facilitates the violation of the right. Workers suffering from ATEL must face economic, administrative and access to health barriers to restore their right. Conclusions: Decent and respectable work is a horizon towards which efforts should be aimed so that the most historically vulnerable workers conquer and sustain full, dignified and healthy life. Resources such as guardianship action contribute to the fulfillment of the right to health at work. Resumo Objetivo: descrever a problemática de homens e mulheres trabalhadores que ao perceber vulnerado seu direito à saúde no trabalho por sofrer presuntos ou declarados ATEL, procuraram apoio e interpuseram um ou mais recursos constitucionais para lograr seu restabelecimento efetivo. Materiais e métodos: estudo misto. Aplicou se enquete a 189 trabalhadores que sofreram um presunto ou reconhecido evento de ATEL e que buscaram apoio nos serviços de extensão solidaria da Universidade de Antioquia ou em organizações de diretos humanos em Medellín. A enquete captou dados sócios demográficos, de segurança social, laborais, do SGSST, dos antecedentes, ocorrência e consequências dos ATEL e os recursos interpostos. Para a abordagem qualitativa se realizou: i) uma entrevista em profundidade com um médico laboral e advogado independente e ii) quatro grupos focais com trabalhadores que sofreram ATEL, sindicalistas, advogados e médicos representantes de ARL, acadêmicos. Resultados: os trabalhadores mais vulneráveis foram os mais afetados em seu direito. Os agentes que integram o SGRL fazem uma abordagem fragmentada da saúde e o trabalho que facilita a vulneração do direito. Os trabalhadores que sofrem ATEL devem enfrentar barreiras econômicas, administrativas e de aceso a saúde para restituir seu direito. Conclusões: o trabalho decente e digno é um horizonte para o qual se devem apontar os esforços para que os trabalhadores mais vulnerados historicamente conquistem e sustenham uma vida plena, digna e saudável. Os recursos como a ação de mandato de segurança que contribui a obter o cumprimento do direito à saúde no trabalho.

The right to vote, which is one of the universal human rights, is still not available to all citizens in Bosnia and Herzegovina. More specifically, adults under guardianship are being deprived of their legal capacity. This is a consequence of the inherited legal past and occurs despite the fact that it violates the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as numerous international legal instruments ratified by BH. This practice allows persons with deprived legal capacity to be automatically deprived of their right to vote without any individual assessment and/or court decision. It is contrary to the European Court of Human Rights practice as well as to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which prescribes that persons with disabilities enjoy legal capacity on an equal basis with others in all aspects of life, including the right and opportunity to vote and be elected.

The objective of this article is to present the intercountry adoption institutions in Polish family law. The objective is achieved by analysing the term ‘adoption’ by tracing it back to its origins in Imperium Romanum. Particular attention was paid to the recent amendment to the Penal Code, based on which the legal definition of the term ‘adoption’ was introduced (which is not the case of the Family and Guardianship Code) and to the differences between the terms ‘intercountry adoption’ and ‘foreign adoption’. The article includes the analysis of Article 1142 of the Family and Guardianship Code and the essence of the intercountry adop¬tion principle of subsidiarity. The purpose of the study was to show technical and organisa- tional issues related to the concept of intercountry adoption, such as pre-adoption period or ‘eligibility’ of potential adopters. One of the conclusions was that the citizenship of the adopter does not determine the international type of adoption, but his/her place of residence outside Poland. Certain international legal documents were reviewed to see how the adop- tee’s welfare is protected under international law and to outline the genesis of the regulations in Article 1142 of the Family and Guardianship Code. The author’s aim is to show the cir- cumstances favourable to the adoption of a child by a foreign couple. At this point, it should be stated that the child’s best interest should always remain the most important condition. Furthermore, when ruling in an adoption case, the court should protect the child’s interests, but also pay attention to the regulations concerning the continuity of the child’s upbringing as well as its ethnic, religious, cultural and linguistic identity. The above is related to the contemporary issue of adoption by homosexual couples. Countries, such as Poland, which do not allow adoption by homosexual couples may challenge the eligibility of candidates on the grounds of infringement of fundamental rules of the Polish legal order. Furthermore, the article includes statistical data concerning intercountry adoption. Currently, the number of intercountry adoptions decreases not only in Poland, but worldwide. In Poland, it may be caused by the tightening of the eligibility criteria for adopters and adoptees with respect to intercountry adoptions and reduction in the number of centres authorised to effect such adoptions. In the last part of the study, the author developed the argument that the issues of intercountry adoption are part of the global problems related to poverty and inequality.

The Italian Juvenile Law guarantees protection to unaccompanied foreign minors, which is a child coming from non-EU countries without parents. This phenomenon, in recent years, concerns the migratory flows of refugees, who arrive from Turkey or Libya to the coasts of Italy; the journey is often dramatic and sometimes it requires to pass through other European countries. The EU Regulation - Dublin III, which entered into force on 1 January 2014, points at the competence of the EU State in which the minors arrived at first; further transfers, except the need to be reunited with family members in other EU States, are not significant for the European law. The current system of granting refugee or other forms of international protection is based on this fundamental principle. The protection of unaccompanied foreign minors in Italy is achieved through a form of "multidisciplinary" support; the legal data is only one component. In addition, there are social and educational projects as well as protection for health; the need of an effective integration is perceived. Together with the social intervention, a legal public representative, the Guardian, is appointed for unaccompanied minor. The competence belongs to the Municipality in which the minor is found or where, following a first reception, will be transferred on the basis of a regional territorial assignment, within the national system of Italian reception for refugee minors, called "SIPROIMI". The legal Guardian’s role is to guarantee children’s rights and an adequate assistance. It’s a very thorny topic in the Metropolitan Area of Bologna, which has more than a million inhabitants; all the local offices created a "Public Metropolitan Protection Office" with the aims to manage these aspects. Promoting the function of these public offices confers the role of a “third party” in the protection of the children with the assistance of social and health services.

Between 1896 and 1917, the Perm΄ “Guardianship of Popular Sobriety”—an organization funded by the Ministry of Finance and supervised by the provincial governor—ran a popular choir program that engendered enthusiastic artistic collaboration between peasants, workers, the regional intelligentsia, and state officials. One major achievement of participants were amateur performances of Glinka's monarchical opera A Life for the Tsar throughout Perm΄ province. This article focuses on the musical activities of one peasant women, E.N. Shniukova, and argues that provincial and otherwise unknown musicians, many of whom were women, played a key role in spreading cultural values and shaping musical life in the early twentieth century. These regional musicians rejected the peripheral position that their location and social position otherwise suggested and proudly viewed their villages as centers of artistic creativity.

Hintergrund: In der Bundesrepublik Deutschland sind rund 1,5 % der Bevölkerung gesetzlich betreut, am häufigsten aufgrund von psychischen Erkrankungen. Jedoch ist bislang wenig darüber bekannt, was diese Personengruppe im Kontext der stationären Psychiatrie von nicht betreuten Personen unterscheidet. Ziel der vorliegenden Arbeit ist es, den Stellenwert der Behandlung gesetzlich betreuter Patient*innen in der psychiatrischen Klinik eines Krankenhauses der Schwerpunktversorgung zu untersuchen, um daraus Optimierungspotenziale in den Aufnahme-, Behandlungs- und Entlassprozessen abzuleiten. Methoden: Auf der Basis von angereicherten Routinedaten erfolgte eine retrospektive Analyse von 18.138 konsekutiven Behandlungsfällen in der psychiatrischen Klinik des Vivantes Humboldt-Klinikums Berlin über einen Zeitraum von sieben Jahren (2006 – 2012). Ergebnisse: Der Anteil gesetzlich betreuter Personen an der untersuchten Stichprobe betrug 16,6 %. Ihr respektiver Anteil an den stationären Aufnahmen (28,5 %) und an den in Anspruch genommenen Bettenkapazitäten (36,2 %) war deutlich höher. Gesetzlich betreute Personen zeigten häufiger Hauptdiagnosen aus dem Spektrum der Severe Mental Illness (SMI) (39,3 %), vor allem nicht-affektive psychotische Störungen (31,4 %), außerdem organische psychische Erkrankungen (25,8 %). Sie wiesen eine höhere Krankheitsschwere auf. Die stationäre Aufnahme erfolgte häufiger notfallmäßig und unfreiwillig, außerdem häufiger aufgrund von Fremdaggressivität. Der stationäre Verlauf war durch längere Aufenthalte, hohe Wiederaufnahmeraten und eine Häufung von Fixierungen und fremdaggressiven Ereignissen geprägt. Die Entlassung erfolgte häufiger regulär als in der nicht betreuten Personengruppe. Die Eigenschaften männlich, unfreiwillige Behandlung, komorbide Suchterkrankung, Hauptdiagnose aus dem SMI-Spektrum, Aufnahme als Notfall, Aufnahme wegen Fremdaggression und fremdaggressives Verhalten während des Aufenthaltes erhöhten die Wahrscheinlichkeit gesetzlich betreut zu sein. Schlussfolgerungen: Gesetzlich betreute Personen waren überwiegend von schweren und chronischen psychischen Erkrankungen betroffen und vereinten Eigenschaften in sich, die mit Risiken und Komplikationen bei der stationären Aufnahme und im Behandlungsverlauf sowie einer hohen Inanspruchnahme infrastruktureller Ressourcen einhergingen. Das Vorliegen einer gesetzlichen Betreuung erschien in der Mehrzahl der Fälle gerechtfertigt. Zur Prävention der genannten Risiken bieten sich Lösungsansätze an der Schnittstelle zwischen ambulantem und stationärem Setting an. Dazu gehören eine Anpassung stationärer Behandlungsabläufe an die spezifischen Bedürfnisse dieser relevanten klinischen Subgruppe, ein Ausbau ambulanter Versorgungsstrukturen und nicht zuletzt eine bessere Vernetzung aller an der Versorgung und Behandlung beteiligten Akteur*innen unter intensivem Einbezug der gesetzlichen Betreuer*innen., Background: In Germany, around 1.5 % of the population have a court-appointed legal guardian, most commonly because of psychiatric disorders. However, little is known about the differences between patients with and without legal guardians in the context of inpatient psychiatric health care. The objective of the present study is to examine the significance of the treatment of patients with legal guardians in the psychiatric department of a general hospital in order to derive potentials in optimizing admission, treatment and discharge processes. Methods: A retrospective analysis of 18.138 consecutive treatment cases in the psychiatric department of the Vivantes Humboldt-Klinikum Berlin over a period of 7,5 years (2006 – 2012) was carried out on the basis of a set of routine data. Results: 16.6 % of the investigated population had a legal guardian. Their respective proportions of admissions (28.5 %) and inpatient beds (36.2 %) were markedly higher. Patients with legal guardians more often showed main diagnoses from the severe mental illness (SMI) spectrum (39.3 %), mainly comprising non-affective psychotic disorders (31.4 %) and organic mental disorders (25.8 %). They had a higher disease severity. They were more often admitted as an emergency, they showed more compulsory admissions and admissions due to aggressive behavior. Their length of inpatient stay was longer, the readmission rate was higher and there was a cumulation of restraint and aggressive incidents. The discharge from inpatient care was more often planned than in the group of patients without legal guardians. The factors male gender, compulsory treatment, comorbid substance abuse disorder, main diagnosis from the SMI spectrum, admission as an emergency, admission due to aggressive behavior, and aggressive behavior during inpatient stay increased the probability of having a legal guardian. Conclusion: Persons with legal guardians were mostly affected by severe and chronic mental illness and showed a set of characteristics that accompanied risks and complications during admission and inpatient stay, as well as a high utilization of infrastructural resources. The existence of a legal guardian seemed justified in most of the cases investigated. Methods to prevent the above mentioned risks should preferably focus on the interface between inpatient and outpatient settings. This includes the adaptation of inpatient treatment processes to the specific needs of this relevant clinical subgroup, further development of outpatient care structures and last but not least improved networking between all persons and institutions providing psychiatric care, encompassing close cooperation with legal guardians.

The author has conducted scientific research of the place of the contract in the system of sources of Family Law of Ukraine and other countries, as well as the limits of regulation of family legal relations by the contract and the types of contracts that can regulate family legal relations. As a result of the study, the author concluded that the contract as a regulator of family relationships plays an important role both in Ukraine and other countries of Roman-German, Anglo-American and Muslim legal systems. The contract is a derivative source of family law and regulates family relationships only to the extent permitted by other sources of law, above all laws and other acts of family law. Treaties as sources of family law are inherent in: the orientation of parties, which may include spouses, family members, and public authorities, which have authority in matters of placement of orphans and children deprived of parental care (guardianship and custody) of implementation of family rights and responsibilities; establishment of the procedure for the implementation of family rights and obligations defined in the legislation, or the assertion of such subjective rights and obligations, which are not enshrined in the minimum legal requirements for the parties; the inadmissibility of the deterioration of the financial position of the parties to the contract in the part of the rights and guarantees provided by family law. The main family contract is a marriage contract (contract), however, participants of family relationships can enter into a large number of both named and unnamed contracts to regulate property relations of the actual spouse, the single spouse, and the former spouses, property and personal non-property relations between parents and children as well as contracts concluded with the participation of other family members or towards the placement of orphans and children deprived of parental care. As a rule, the legislator has a negative attitude to the contractual settlement of personal non-property rights and obligations of spouses, although the law of the USA and Canada allows such terms of the contract, but does not give them judicial protection.

The article defines that the protection of family rights and legally protected interests is one of the most important guarantees of the existence of these rights and interests. It should be mentioned the rights and interests in any field of public life are not always carried out unchecked. The protection of subjective rights is exercised in the manner prescribed by law, that is, by the application of an appropriate form. The form of protection refers to a set of internally agreed organizational measures to protect subjective rights and legally protected interests. It has been proven that in the theory of law there are different approaches of scientists to highlight forms of protection of family rights. We are inclined to the point of view of existence, jurisdictional and non-jurisdictional forms of protection. It is proposed to highlight judicial and non-judicial forms of protection within the framework of the jurisdictional form of protection of family rights and interests. The essence of judicial protection is disclosed as the possibility of a person to apply for the protection of his or her violated, challenged or unrecognized family rights in court. In turn, by non-judicial form of protection, the author understands the possibility for a person to turn to competent authorities other than the court to defend his family rights. In case of non-judicial protection of family rights and interests, subjects apply to such institutions as guardianship and guardianship bodies, notaries, prosecutors, lawyers, etc. Within the framework of the article, it has been proved that the decision of the guardianship and guardianship authority is usually of a advisory nature. Notary bodies play an important role in the contractual regulation of legal relations between participants of family legal relations, namely in the conclusion of family legal contracts. Family law gives certain powers to the public prosecutor to protect family rights. In turn, the lawyer has a partial role in the protection of family rights. It is justified that the institution of mediation deserves attention in the study of the protection of family rights and interests.

Este trabalho discute a autonomia institucional do Conselho Tutelar (CT) do município de Horizonte/CE. Fez-se um esforço reflexivo para se pensar a questão da autonomia institucional tendo em vista que esse é o pressuposto básico para que o órgão coloque em prática as diretrizes as quais lhes são pertinentes. Para isso, foi necessário elencar as tramas de relações que são construídas na eleição que escolhem os membros. Refletir sobre as práticas cotidianas dos conselheiros tutelares e os rebatimentos do fazer profissional para a garantia dos direitos e deveres infanto-juvenil. O percurso metodológico incluiu a exploração de um caso, específico, de um conselheiro tutelar no qual foi conjugado com o olhar dos demais membros do CT com o objetivo de realizar uma fotografia da vocação e identidade dos sujeitos que adentram este espaço. Na metodologia utilizou-se a observação participante com os conselheiros tutelares do Município de Horizonte e conversas com conselheiros tutelares de outros Municípios do Estado do Ceará quando oportunamente ocorriam Congressos Regionais e Estaduais. Essa pesquisa foi realizada com os conselheiros tutelares que compuseram a gestão entre os anos de 2010 a 2016. E, em um panorama maior, buscou-se tencionar essas questões para se pensar os significados de democracia, representatividade e participação social e as consequências para a política pública infanto-juvenil. Recebido: 05/06/2019 Aceito: 14/09/2019

O objetivo geral do presente artigo é promover uma reflexão sobre a volatilidade dos relacionamentos familiares e a prática da alienação parental. Como objetivos específicos, busca-se estudar a formação da multiparentalidade, a volatilidade dos relacionamentos familiares, a alienação parental e analisar a omissão legislativa de tutela preventiva-inibitória à violência psicológica familiar contra as crianças e os adolescentes, dada a importância do tema devida à forte reprovabilidade social da conduta e por ser uma questão sócio-familiar que vem preocupando e ganhando repercussão cada vez maior no âmbito jurídico. No tocante ao método empregado para a confecção do artigo, utilizou-se o indutivo, observando-se o processo histórico-vivencial das famílias brasileiras conforme aquilo que normalmente acontece na sociedade, com supedâneo em pesquisa bibliográfica, jurisprudencial e na sociolegislação brasileira em vigor. Conclui-se que a exposição das crianças e dos adolescentes à sucessivas e novas formações e rompimentos de filiação socioafetiva (volatilidade dos relacionamentos familiares) é extremamente prejudicial ao desenvolvimento psíquico que mostra-se salutar uma providência urgente pelo Poder Legislativo de instituir tutela preventiva-inibitória às práticas de violência psicológica familiar,principalmente quanto à prática de alienação parental.

Resulting from Article 23 of the Polish Family and Guardianship Code (abbreviated: FGC), the obligation of mutual assistance of spouses covers allactual acts of one of the spouses supporting the other in the exercise of their rights and obligations arising from marriage. The obligation of mutual assistance of spouses is closely connected with the obligation of their cooperation aiming at the good of their family, which includes all activities that are needed for the proper functioning of the family, including the proper upbringing of children and refraining from behaviors that could harm the interests of the family as a whole as well as its individual members. The spouses’ obligations regarding mutual assistance have been specified and developed in Article 27 of FGC from which it follows that spouses are obliged, according to their own strengths and their earning and financial means, to contribute to satisfy the needs of their family. This obligation serves the satisfaction of the justified needs of the whole family group, and therefore meeting it should take into account the collective needs of the family (e.g. housing, fuel, electricity) and the individual needs of the family members (e.g. food, clothing, housing, personal hygiene, health protection). The current practice of applying these provisions indicates that the obligation of mutual assistance and the obligation to cooperate for the good of a family refer to making efforts to satisfy the living needs of the family and mutual support of the spouses in fulfilling their marital and family obligations.

Growing numbers of grandparent special guardians (GSGs) are assuming responsibility for increasing numbers of children in the care system in England. Special guardianship arrangements are increasingly used as a permanency option as they allow children to remain in their kinship networks, rather than in local authority care or be adopted; yet there is a scarcity of research on GSG carers’ experiences. This article reports a small qualitative research study where ten sets of grandparents were interviewed to explore their journey to becoming GSGs and to theorise their subsequent experiences. Two themes emerge. Firstly, experiences of the assessment process are elaborated, decisions often being made at a time of family crisis, impacting on GSGs: financial, employment, relational. Secondly, GSGs’ experiences of managing often-challenging relationships and contact arrangements between the grandchildren and the parents reveal three main relationship management approaches emerging: containing-flexible; containing-controlled and; uncontained/defeated approaches. Anthropological concepts of affinity help theorise the GSGs’ ambivalent responses to becoming carers in later life, enabling reconfigured kinship relationships in new family forms. Family policy and social work practice is critiqued as GSGs appear often left alone to ‘roll back the years’, to heal previous harms done to the grandchildren who end-up in their care.

The article is devoted to the study of the possibility for minor parents to raise their own child when a guardian for the child has been appointed. The author has explored three basic approaches concerning the legal nature of such a possibility. The author has differentiated the categories "subjective right to raise a child" and "legally protected interest (protected by law interest) to raise a child" and has determined their distinctive features. The author has concluded that a minor parent when a guardian for the child has been appointed has only a legally protected interest to raise his/her child. The legal interest of minor parents to raise the child is characterized by the following features: the child's upbringing depends on someone else's discretion; the obligation of other persons not to interfere in the process of upbringing of the child, except legal representatives of the child, is carried out by the holder of the legally protected interest to raise the child; the possibility for the main participant of the upbringing of the child to exclude from the raising process the holder of a legally protected interest to raise the child, which may be challenged in the administrative and (or) judicial proceedings; lack of the possibility for the holder of the legally protected interest to raise the child to deprive the legal representatives of the child of the right to raise the child.

Between 1952–1990 a lower academic degree could be earned in a number of ways, two of which were post graduate studies (aspirantura) and doctoral studies. The organisation of post graduate studies followed the Soviet solution available from 1951. Participants obtained a title of a science candidate. Doctoral studies, implemented in 1958, allowed participants to earn a title of a doctor. The two ways discussed in the paper differed significantly but shared a common feature: the solu tions which they implemented served firstly, to recruit candidates ready to engage in research and academic teaching; secondly, to ensure the social and economic society availability of professionals with qualifications exceeding the knowledge gained at an institution of higher education; thirdly, to provide institutional scientific guardianship to doctoral students working on their dissertations; fourthly, to realise the educational programme prepared for doctoral students who were adequately prepared for post graduate studies; and fifthly, to precisely define the status of scientific researchers working on scientific dissertations and to establish the principles upon which they received financial and social assistance. In both cases, education leading to a scientific degree differed in stability. While those regarding aspirantura were largely constant and durable, doctoral studies lacked this durability. The elements which were taken into consideration when examining the latter form of PhD studies included in particular: determination of the purpose of offering doctoral studies, forms in which doctoral studies were conducted (both for employed and non-employed candidates), recruitment and admission requirements, and the conditions in which the course was conducted. The whole process was also found to be subject to the changing scope of rights and duties of doctoral students, their tutors as well as supervisory bodies responsible for doctoral studies. 2 14 49 92 3 Studia Prawa Publicznego

The article comparatively maps state involvement in the establishment of filiation and the placement of destitute children into new families. It first reports findings from an expert survey that investigates four key areas of state involvement—the legal framework, the role of courts and ministries, guardianship regulations, and financial support and services for destitute children—across fourteen jurisdictions, twelve Muslim-majority countries, and two Muslim-minority countries. Overall, the placement of children into new families remains a sensitive issue because it is linked to different communities “claiming” the child. In principle, the states surveyed do not allow the creation of new families across religious lines. Using Jordan as a case study, the article then focuses on the implications of one particular survey finding: non-Muslims in Muslim-majority countries sometimes cannot have children placed into their homes. This finding is based on qualitative data collected in Jordan on adoption (tabannī) in the Greek Catholic community. The article argues that in settings of legal pluralism, state involvement affects different religious communities in different ways. In Jordan, due to structural factors, the state shapes Islamic family law differently than the family laws applied by Christian communities. This leads to the unequal development of different bodies of religious law and thereby to the unequal treatment of Muslim and Christian citizens.

Uregulowania prawne dotyczące realizacji funkcji rodziny oraz władzy rodzicielskiej przez dorosłych jej członków znajdują wyraz w szeregu norm zawartych w Kodeksie rodzinnym i opiekuńczym. W artykule dokonano przeglądu form instytucjonalnej pomocy umocowanych w polskim systemie prawnym, uwzględniając znaczenie rodziny dla rozwoju wszystkich jej członków, a szczególnie małoletnich dzieci. W przypadku wystąpienia problemów w zakresie pełnienia władzy rodzicielskiej organy państwowe podejmują interwencje o charakterze dobrowolnym (stadium przedsądowe) i przymusowym (stadium sądowe). Analizie poddano także zakres przedmiotowy pomocy udzielanej rodzinie – w zależności od rodzaju problemów i stopnia dysfunkcjonalności – przez instytucje państwowe na podstawie aktów normatywnych różnych szczebli. Słowa kluczowe: rodzina, władza rodzicielska, dysfunkcja, rodzic, małżonek, dziecko

The issue of protecting the natural persons has been triggering a lot of interest due to the need for providing them with proper means for this purpose. In Romania, the court of guardianship and family plays an important role in protecting this category of persons, court established as a result of the entering into force of the new Romanian Civil code in 2011. The legal norms distinguish between the prerogatives of this court on the protection of the major persons and its attributions in this matter towards the minors. Further on, it will be analyzed certain prerogatives of the guardianship and family court meant for the minor persons.

Author(s): Gee, Kevin A; Cooc, North | Abstract: Schools can play an influential role in the victimization experiences of Asian American youth. We investigated the extent to which characteristics of schools—their disciplinary structure, guardianship role, and the opportunities for exposure to victimization they provide—related to whether Asian American adolescents were physically or socially victimized. Our sample included 1,303 adolescents (M age = 14.8 years) from six waves of the School Crime Supplement of the National Crime Victimization Survey. Results from logistic regression models show that disciplinary structure and guardianship, in the form of school security measures, were unrelated to victimization. Asian American adolescents with supportive peers had lower odds of physical victimization (odds ratio [OR] = 0.16; p l .01) while those exposed to school gangs and physical fights had higher odds of social victimization (OR = 2.90; p l .001 and OR = 4.97; p l .01, respectively). Our findings underscore the need for schools to consider strategies beyond commonplace school disciplinary structures and security measures to protect Asian American adolescents from victimization.

Purpose Special guardianship order (SGO) assessments require social workers to make plans and recommendations for ongoing post-SGO contact between the child and the parents. However, there is very little policy to inform and guide practitioners on how these duties should be undertaken, and no studies that describe current practice. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how the recommending of contact in special guardianship cases is currently working, by holding focus groups with social workers and special guardians. This paper reports on the results of a study to examine what contact plans social workers are recommending, the thinking behind their decisions and the views of the special guardians who have to make those plans work. Design/methodology/approach The research involved a mixed methods approach comprising of an online questionnaire, two focus groups for social workers and two focus groups for special guardians. This paper describes the second part of the study and reports on the qualitative results from the four focus groups. The methodology was based on a pragmatist theoretical position, and used an interpretivist approach and elements of the analytical procedure of grounded theory in order to generate inductive research. The focus group method was chosen as the best way to gather rich information on the opinions and ideas of practitioners who are recommending contact and the carers who are managing it. Findings Participants provided a wide range of views on the issues, with practitioners describing the challenges of planning contact, and special guardians explaining the problems they faced with the parents. Involving special guardians in the study gave a chance to include the different perspectives of the people who have to make the contact recommendations work, and contrast their views on contact planning with those of the professionals. The study makes recommendations for practice, which recognise the difficulty of preparing an initial contact plan that will remain relevant for years ahead. Research limitations/implications The number of focus groups the author held was limited by the author’s own personal resources and the time the author had available, and one group only had three social workers on the day. The author’s involvement affected the responses, and the author’s questions dictated the issues that were commented on, but the answers were the opinions that the participants wanted to express. The nature of the approach means that no two sets of focus group results would ever be the same. And as the direction of the discussions was largely dictated by the participants, the coverage of all aspects of contact was probably inconsistent. Practical implications This research sheds light on a crucial area of social work permanency planning, that has suffered from a lack of previous research, in order to better inform future practice. The paper reports on what contact plans social workers are recommending, the thinking behind their decisions and the views of the special guardians who have to make those plans work. It concludes with recommendations for improving future special guardianship policy and practice. Social implications The research clearly raises a number of specific difficulties faced by special guardians and problems with current policy and practice. These include the special guardians’ lack of understanding about contact, the difficulty for social workers of long-term planning, the challenge posed by uncooperative parents who behave badly, the view of carers for the need for a greater emphasis on the quality and reliability of contact, and the challenge to careful contact planning posed by the adversarial court process. Originality/value Special guardianship has had a major impact on permanency planning since its introduction 12 years ago. However, apart from one DfE study in 2014, very little research has been produced to inform policy and practice. There have been no studies specifically on contact in special guardianship cases, despite contact being one of the two major factors in determining the success of SGO placements. This study has provided the first in-depth evaluation of social worker contact planning in special guardianship, and the first investigation of special guardians’ views on contact.

Purpose An integral feature of Special Guardianship Orders (SGO) is that the children should have some contact with their parents after the order is granted. Local authority social workers have a duty to plan and recommend levels and types of contact. But there is no policy guidance provided on how to undertake these duties, and little is known about the process that practitioners undertake. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the recommending of contact in special guardianship cases, and to provide data on what contact social workers are recommending the factors they take into consideration and the reasons for their decisions. Design/methodology/approach The research involved a mixed-methods approach comprising of a questionnaire and focus groups. This part of the study comprised of an online questionnaire that was completed by 102 local authority social workers. Responses were downloaded into SPSS Statistics v22 for data analysis and a content analysis was conducted. Findings Quantitative results from the questionnaire are reported in this paper. Respondents provided comprehensive details on what they include in their recommendations, including levels of contact frequency and specific directions. Practitioners rated the factors they considered in reaching their decisions, and gave their general views on special guardianship contact. Results indicated that practitioners are recommending less contact for fathers than for mothers, and may feel less positively about paternal contact. Bivariate analysis suggests that some older and more experienced social workers are recommending lower levels of contact. Research limitations/implications The statistical significance of the results was limited by the relatively small sample size. It was therefore decided to limit bivariate analyses to consideration of just three independent variables: the social worker’s age and number of years in practice, and the age of the child at the time of their SGO, against dependent variables concerning the levels of contact that had been recommended for mothers and fathers and how positive these were considered to be. Because of the limited sample size, most of the results were above this level, and so were not statistically significant. Practical implications Special guardianship has been in place for 12 years now, but apart from Jim Wade’s 2014 study there has been no major research to guide and inform practice. Such major changes in child welfare require substantiating research, and this study is an attempt to begin filling that gap. The questionnaire part of this study has for the first time provided data on the views, motivations and practice of social workers across the country making recommendations on special guardianship contact. Social implications The study provides a picture of the type of contact being recommended for birth parents. This information will be useful for practitioners, who might otherwise not know what their colleagues in other local authorities are recommending, and it is hoped that this will encourage further debate on the subject. Originality/value Special guardianship has so far been poorly served by research. To the author’s knowledge, apart from Wade’s study there is very little research on the subject, and no significant research at all on special guardianship contact. This questionnaire, alongside the four focus groups that formed the second part of the study, provides the first picture of current practice across the country.

Capacity assessments are performed when there is suspicion that a person is unable to adequately care for their physical, medical, or financial well-being. The purpose of these assessments is to inform the legal system as to whether or not guardianship may be necessary. It is well established that certain mental illnesses, such as neurocognitive disorders (dementia) or psychotic disorders (like schizophrenia), may diminish capacity and, in some cases, lead to the need for establishment of a legal guardian. However, personality disorders are another common category of mental illness which may impair decision-making. There is very little information in the literature about how or why these disorders could impair capacity, and thus, it can often be difficult to discern whether clients with personality disorders are substantially unable to care for themselves-versus unwilling to act in a way contrary to their ingrained habits. We present a series of three cases in which clients are determined to lack capacity primarily mediated by a personality disorder diagnosis. They are demonstrated to have mild deficits in cognitive functioning, but they show impaired decision-making out of proportion to these deficits. In all three cases, it is apparent that the personality disorder is substantially impairing their ability to care for themselves. Discussion includes consideration for ways to incorporate evaluations of cognitive function, activities of daily living, and personality considerations into capacity assessments, and how to approach recommendations (such as guardianship vs. less restrictive option) based on both level and scope of impairment.

Propõe-se como objeto de estudo o tema família substituta, embasado no Artigo 28, do Estatuto da Criança e do Adolescente – ECA: “A colocação em família substituta far-se-á mediante guarda, tutela ou adoção, independentemente da situação jurídica da criança ou adolescente, nos termos desta Lei” (BRASIL, 1990). Trata-se de um direito com prioridade absoluta, procura-se analisar a sua concretização. Devido a problemática, a questão central é “em quais situações criança e adolescente são colocados em família substituta?”. Para a realização foi consultado fontes impressas e fontes eletrônicas. Certificando-se que os principais princípios relacionados aos direitos da criança e adolescente são: Princípio da Prioridade Absoluta, Princípio da Prevalência dos interesses, Princípio da Convivência Familiar, e Princípio da Municipalização. E para a realização de pesquisa em uma metodologia dialética, foi verificado junto aos órgãos responsáveis pelo encaminhamento (Conselho Tutelar, CREAS e Abrigo Institucional) dados sobre a que forma recorrente provoca a colocação em família substituta. Concluindo na pesquisa que a situação de risco mais frequente é a negligência em âmbito geral, e a colocação em família substituta na forma de guarda é a mais constante, no entanto, outras formas podem ser aplicadas aos casos de negligência, como a adoção que estaria em última instância de efetivação, sendo que as medidas implementadas não são aplicadas de forma objetiva e sim verificadas caso a caso, demonstrando a importância da atuação interdisciplinar entre o Direito e o Serviço Social na garantia do melhor interesse da criança e adolescente, observado este princípio como forma de garantia prioritária.

Most child-patients do not provide their own account of their healthcare experiences and are instead represented by their parents/legal guardians. A common belief is that children lack the perceptiveness, knowledge, experience, or maturity needed to answer questions on a complex subject such as their health and the care received while hospitalized. However, the literature suggests that children can provide valuable feedback about their experiences, which can differ from the perspective of their parent/guardian. The overall goal of this project is to 1. Determine whether child-patients perceive their healthcare experiences differently than their parents. 2. Identify the key domains whereby they differ. 3. Evaluate and explain the differences in perceived healthcare quality between child-patient and parent. 4. Develop innovative and engaging tools/instruments to obtain hospitalized children’s experience and meaningful feedback. This paper will describe the methodology, insights, and challenges of developing the tools and instruments aimed at understanding how children define their quality of care. A semi-structured, 10 question interview and multiple versions of a 45-question survey instrument was prepared to test recently hospitalized children (ages 4-17) and their parent/guardian along eight key domains. While the goal of the interview is to identify the key domains that reflect a child’s measures of quality, the survey seeks to provide a comprehensive outlook at a pediatric patient’s experience from start to finish. Pilot testing showed that Cronbach alpha values were within the acceptable range (> 0.7), and younger children were consistently able to complete the interview and survey within 45-minute time. It was observed through the study that children have a unique awareness of their own experiences and can convey their thoughts if given the opportunity and were able to provide specific ideas for improvement.