A child may be separated from their family only in the specific situations exhaustively provided by law. Most often the separation from their family will involve the taking of the child into public care, which is a severe restriction on the mutual enjoyment of the parent-child relationship. 

For the decision to separate a child from their family to be compatible with the human right to family life, it has to be taken lawfully and contain sufficient reasons for it. 

About this section

In this section, you can learn about the situations when a child can be separated from their family and what the requirements are for such a decision to be lawful and compatible with human rights. 

Human Rights Guide

A European platform for human rights education