The right to remove children from parental custody: social risks in legislation and ways to overcome them

Introduction: the article considers issues of removal of children from parental custody on various grounds. In particular, problems associated with application of rules on deprivation and restriction ofparental rights are discussed. Purpose: to suggest ways of improving Russian family legislation. Methods: the following methods are used in the article: general scientific methods (analysis and synthesis, abstraction and concretization) and specific scientific methods (formal and technical). Results: main suggestions for improving family law are the following: 1) to provide in Article 69 of the Family Code of the Russian Federation the right of a parent to remove the child from any person holding them illegally by any lawful ways of self-defense; 2) to set in Article 121 of the Family Code of the Russian Federation that removal of a child from a family is allowed only in cases expressly provided by the Family Code of the Russian Federation; 3) to enshrine in the Family Code of the Russian Federation the following basic principle of removing children from parental custody: presence of a real danger to their life or health; 4) to set in Article 69 of the Family Code of the Russian Federation the protection of children but not the punishment ofparents as the top-priority goal; 5) to set in Article 129 of the Family Code of the Russian Federation that the rights and obligations of a parent who gave consent to adoption of the child should be maintained until the actual establishment of adoption, except in cases when the child is placed on full state care; 6) to specify in article 73 of the Family Code of the Russian Federation that application of restriction ofparental rights as a measure of parental liability is only possible in circumstances specified as reasons for deprivation of parental rights. Conclusions: there is a need to update legislation in the sphere of removal of children from parental custody, which would allow for characterizing these legal mechanisms as reliable and trustworthy ones.