A/RES/64/142
30. The scope of alternative care as foreseen in the present Guidelines does not
extend, however, to:
(a) Persons under the age of 18 years who are deprived of their liberty by
decision of a judicial or administrative authority as a result of being alleged as,
accused of or recognized as having infringed the law, and whose situation is covered
by the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Administration of Juvenile
Justice 6 and the United Nations Rules for the Protection of Juveniles Deprived of
Their Liberty; 7
5F
6F
(b) Care by adoptive parents from the moment the child concerned is
effectively placed in their custody pursuant to a final adoption order, as of which
moment, for the purposes of the present Guidelines, the child is considered to be in
parental care. The Guidelines are, however, applicable to pre-adoption or
probationary placement of a child with the prospective adoptive parents, as far as
they are compatible with requirements governing such placements as stipulated in
other relevant international instruments;
(c) Informal arrangements whereby a child voluntarily stays with relatives or
friends for recreational purposes and reasons not connected with the parents’ general
inability or unwillingness to provide adequate care.
31. Competent authorities and others concerned are also encouraged to make use
of the present Guidelines, as applicable, at boarding schools, hospitals, centres for
children with mental and physical disabilities or other special needs, camps, the
workplace and other places which may be responsible for the care of children.
IV.
Preventing the need for alternative care
A.
Promoting parental care
32. States should pursue policies that ensure support for families in meeting their
responsibilities towards the child and promote the right of the child to have a
relationship with both parents. These policies should address the root causes of child
abandonment, relinquishment and separation of the child from his/her family by
ensuring, inter alia, the right to birth registration, and access to adequate housing
and to basic health, education and social welfare services, as well as by promoting
measures to combat poverty, discrimination, marginalization, stigmatization,
violence, child maltreatment and sexual abuse, and substance abuse.
33. States should develop and implement consistent and mutually reinforcing
family-oriented policies designed to promote and strengthen parents’ ability to care
for their children.
34. States should implement effective measures to prevent child abandonment,
relinquishment and separation of the child from his/her family. Social policies and
programmes should, inter alia, empower families with attitudes, skills, capacities
and tools to enable them to provide adequately for the protection, care and
development of their children. The complementary capacities of the State and civil
society, including non-governmental and community-based organizations, religious
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Resolution 40/33, annex.
Resolution 45/113, annex.
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