Izvorni znanstveni članak
https://doi.org/10.51650/ezrvs.19.3-4.9
Family group conference: an opportunity for civil justice?
Slađana Aras Kramar
orcid.org/0000-0002-8908-775X
; Pravni fakultet Sveučilišta u Zagrebu, Zagreb, Hrvatska
*
Anita Kutlić
; Zagreb, Republika Hrvatska
* Dopisni autor.
Sažetak
Family court proceedings have been significantly redefined both in functional and organisational terms. In the context of updating the principle of amicable resolution of family law relations and disputes, the Family Act of 2015 introduced the institutes of mandatory counseling and family mediation. The changes also included public law procedures for legal protection of a child, measures for the protection of personal rights and the well-being of the child. The intention was to empower families, provide professional assistance in achieving a plan on joint parental care, as well as professional assistance and support in the case of families at risk. In the organisational context, a specialised institution for representing children in family court proceedings, a register of family mediators, and family court departments in certain municipal courts were established. Despite this, domestic strategic documents point to the lack of measures and services to support families at risk, the general lack of coordination between key stakeholders in the social welfare and justice systems, and the fact that children are only formally included in decision-making processes. Taking into account the results achieved in the field of family law protection of children, the guidelines of European and domestic strategic documents, and the positive obligations of the state within the framework of the Convention right on the protection of family life, the paper discusses the family group conference, its characteristics and structure, and the results of its application in certain comparative law systems and practices. The comparative analysis shows that family group conference as a participatory model expands the family network, strengthens the primary role of the family and emphasises its autonomy, as well as encourages cross-sectoral cooperation and contributes to deinstitutionalisation. The final part of the paper contains projections for the future with the aim of modeling the Croatian system of family law protection of children, measures for the protection of personal rights and the well being of the child, especially court measures that result in the separation of the child from the family, but also enforcement procedure for exercising access rights with the child.
Ključne riječi
family group conference; civil justice; family court proceedings; child protection; participation.
Hrčak ID:
340981
URI
Datum izdavanja:
23.12.2025.
Posjeta: 615 *