The circumstances in which father or mother are deprived of their parental rights are standard. Usually, it at the request of the trusteeship and guardianship authority or other parent because mother or father is evading their parental responsibilities – doesn’t participate in the child’s upbringing, fails to maintain the child and leads an immoral life.
However, family legislation aims to protect the interests of a child. And it is obvious that it’s better for the child to live with his/her father or mother than in an orphanage.
Therefore, article 169 of the Family Code of Ukraine enables the parents to make things right, after which the parental rights or challenging paternity in Ukraine can be restored.
A restoration of parental rights is impossible if the child was adopted, and the adoption wasn’t cancelled or quashed by the Court, or if child has reached maturity at the moment of examination of the cases.
Deprivation of parental rights remains in force indefinitely. However, if the parent’s personal circumstances changed, he/she can apply to court to restore his/her parental rights. Procedure for restoring the parental rights is regulated by article 169 of the Family Law.
Grounds for the restoration of parental rights:
- change in the parent’s behavior – if a mother or father changed his/her lifestyle in a positive way;
- elimination of the circumstances that gave rise to the deprivation of parental rights– in case of recovery from alcohol or drug dependence, improvement of living conditions and employment;
- supporting the interests of the child.
Full restoration of parental care will be impossible if:
- your child was adopted by other people.
- In the event that such adoption was not cancelled by the organs of the Court.
- If the child has reached the age of majority.
Judicial authorities always review the behavior or circumstances due to which the decision on the deprivation of parental rights of a specific individual was made. A court always takes into account the opinion of the second parent or the persons who the child now lives with. If after another review, the court still dismisses the claim of that parent for the restoration of his/her rights, that parent can submit a repeated application, but not earlier than one year after the verdict.
