The fundamental right to family life of children in foster care

Abstract

The right to family life is a fundamental right of children and adolescents, enshrined in the constitution. This right has been built up internationally since the 1924 Geneva Declaration on the Rights of the Child and the 1959 UN General Assembly Declaration on the Rights of the Child. However, at national level it gained relevance after the 1988 Federal Constitution and the Statute of the Child and Adolescent. Thus, this article aims to present and identify the fundamental rights of children and adolescents, since the 1988 Federal Constitution and the influence of international documents, to analyze and conceptualize the family as a legal institute and the right to family life, and finally, to analyze how the fundamental right to family life is implemented when it comes to children and adolescents in foster care. This work was developed through bibliographical and documentary research, establishing a theoretical framework for the construction of a concept for the right to family life, and for the analysis of its importance in the country's legal system and the analysis of its effectiveness. At the end of the research carried out, it is concluded that family life is essential to ensure the full development of children and adolescents. Despite being the subject of Law 12.090 of 2009 and Law 13.509 of 2017, reality shows that there are invisible children in foster care whose right to family life has not been made effective.