Home care: the fine for parents is planned to be increased fourfold
Parents will have to pay more for failure to fulfill their child—rearing duties - such changes are supposed to be made to the Administrative Code. The maximum fine is planned to be increased fourfold — up to 2 thousand rubles, and the minimum — five times, up to 500 rubles. The initiative was approved by the government, Izvestia found out. Fines under this article have not increased since 2007 and have already lost their economic relevance, the lawyers noted. However, the measure will be effective only in combination with other tools to support families and protect children's rights, experts say.
What penalties will increase
The fine for failure by parents or legal representatives of minors to fulfill their maintenance and upbringing duties will be increased four times. Such amendments to the Code of Administrative Offenses (Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation), developed by the Ministry of Justice, were approved on May 12 by the government commission on legislative activity (the document is available to Izvestia). This was reported by sources in the Cabinet of Ministers.
Amendments are proposed to the bill, which has already been considered in the first reading, which toughens administrative responsibility for propaganda or public display of Nazi and other prohibited paraphernalia or symbols, said Vladimir Gruzdev, Chairman of the Board of the Association of Lawyers of Russia.
— At the moment, the fine for non—fulfillment or improper fulfillment by parents or other legal representatives of minors of duties related to the maintenance, upbringing, education, protection of the rights and interests of minors ranges from 100 to 500 rubles, - Vladimir Gruzdev reminded.
According to him, the amount of the fine according to the specified composition has not been changed since 2007 and can no longer fulfill the tasks of administrative punishment.
— The amendments propose to set a fine from 500 to 2 thousand rubles, — said the chairman of the Board of AYUR.
The same article of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation provides for a fine for violating a child's right to communicate with close relatives, failure to comply with a court decision on determining the place of residence of children, said Regina Gilmanova, a lawyer at the family and inheritance disputes practice at Sokolov, Trusov and Partners Law Firm. The fine ranges from 2,000 to 3,000 rubles.
Who is fining parents and for what
Fines for improper performance of parental duties are applied quite often, but the exact statistics vary depending on the region and the specific situation, lawyer Oksana Grikevich told Izvestia, citing data from the guardianship and guardianship authorities, as well as the Interior Ministry.
— On average, several thousand administrative cases involving such violations are recorded annually in Russia. Most of the fines are imposed on parents who systematically evade their educational and material responsibilities or pose a threat to the life and health of children," she explained.
However, in some cases, the guardianship authorities prefer to use educational measures, the lawyer added. For example, to conduct preventive conversations, send parents for consultations, and impose fines as a last resort.
The punishment under the article for non-fulfillment of parental duties is imposed by the Commission for the Protection of the Rights of minors, explained Margarita Abdrakhimova, lawyer, vice-president of the Leningrad Advocate CASP.
— The commission may classify any actions that do not fall under the sanctions of criminal or other administrative responsibility as improper performance of parental duties. For example, non—payment of alimony also applies to this article," she noted.
According to her, the commission can also include the complete or partial removal of a parent from the upbringing of a child, his education, and safety.
In recent years, the number of cases has increased when irresponsible behavior of parents leads to injuries, illnesses or even death of children, Oksana Grikevich added. At the same time, the amount of the fine has practically no economic effect.
However, the fine has an impact only on responsible parents or those who are in a civil dispute over children, Margarita Abdrakhimova believes.
"Otherwise, in my opinion, a parent who has independently withdrawn from raising a child will not care much about a fine of 2 thousand rubles," she said.
Will fines affect liability
Fines should not become a tool for law enforcement agencies to punish unwanted parents, says Nina Ostanina, head of the State Duma Committee for Family Protection.
— I am against a broad interpretation of this article. Sometimes, if a child is on the street at the wrong time, and someone does not like the parent, they can be held accountable," she said. — But parents should be responsible for the behavior of minors if children have violated the monument or the Eternal Flame, engaged in bullying.
The law does not disclose in detail what the responsibilities of parents for maintenance and upbringing are, said Olga Letkova, chairman of the Association of Parents' Committees and Communities of Russia.
— That is, one parent drinks, his child is hungry, not dressed, not shod. And the other parent has some objective difficulties: there are not enough funds, repairs have not been made, there is no food in the refrigerator. And both are being held accountable in the same way under this article," she explained.
According to her, parents are often outraged and dissatisfied with this article precisely because of the vague wording, which allows them to be held equally responsible in completely different cases.
In those families where the basic rights of the child are systematically violated — there is no food, stable housing, basic care — this is most often associated with extreme poverty, social isolation and lack of basic resources, says psychologist Olga Kushnareva.
— Increasing fines in such cases does not solve the problem, because these people already do not have the means. They live below the poverty line, and charging them even more is, in fact, taking the last crumbs from the child," she said.
The lack of love, attention, and emotional support in the family cannot be estimated in one amount or another, the psychologist added.
— It seems to me that financial measures do not increase either social responsibility or awareness of parents. At best it's bullying, at worst it's additional stress and disruption within the family. A fine is money that is not used to help a child. It's not about caring, it's not about support, it's not about restoring family relationships," Olga Kushnareva emphasized.
In her opinion, the focus should be on prevention, on the work of social services, on educating parents, and not on punishment.
Stricter measures would be more relevant for violating the child's right to communicate with close relatives, non-compliance with a court decision on determining the children's place of residence, says Regina Gilmanova.
"One parent often deliberately ignores judicial acts, while the other parent cannot do anything about it," she noted.
If such an abuse of the right starts to "hit the wallet," it will become more difficult to ignore judicial acts, the lawyer believes.
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