Child Protection Legislation as an Instrument of Soviet Child Care Policy and Practice

This article provides an overview of Soviet child protection legislation. In particular it focusses on a review of the various legal routes into care for children who cannot remain with their natural parents because they are in some physical, psychological or moral danger. To draw out the principles underlying the child protection legislation, the account is set into a discussion of the nature of parental rights and responsibilities with particular reference to the way in which Soviet collectivist idelogy influences the relationship between the State, the family and the child. The administrative infrastructure of services is examined as well as the usage of the various statutory orders. The final section is concerned with a discussion of the broader social policy aspects of Soviet child protection in the light of current national debares on the state of services for children at risk. The account suggests that child protection is an integral part of Soviet child care policy and practice which is underpinned by an internally coherent set of guiding principles. Judicial intervention is essential in all cases where a child may be separated from his family and the legislation proceeds from an assumption that it is possible to differentiate between cases involving parental guilt and innocence. Finally the article suggests that children on statutory orders may particularly benefit from the recent reforms in child care since these are targetted at the residential sector, which has a significant proportion of children committed to care

Child protection · Innocence · Legal guardian · Legislation · Political science · State (computer science · Statutory law · Eastern European Communism and Reforms · Regional Socio-Economic Development Trends · Soviet and Russian History · Law

• Adoption Policy and Practice in Russia

  Open Access•Judith Harwin•Adoption & Fostering•1992

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