Centre for Family Law and the Rights of the Child

Research areas

The Poznan Centre for Family Law and Children’s Rights is a division of the Legal Institutions Research Institute of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Poznan. It was established in 1973 and was headed by Prof. Zbigniew Radwañski, PhD, and Prof. Tadeusz Smyczyñski, PhD. Currently, this function is held by Marek Andrzejewski, a Professor at the Institute of Legal Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences.

In 1979, at the request of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Tadeusz Smyczyński, PhD, drafted the Convention on the Rights of the Child. This document became the starting point for work on the Convention, which was adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on 22 November 1989. To this day, the analysis of the provisions and the impact of the Convention on the Rights of the Child on national and international law is one of the fundamental tasks of the Centre.

The research problems of the team focus on the classic field of civil science, i.e. family law. However, they also cover broader problems of the law relating to the family. The team’s area of interest includes issues of procedure and functioning of family courts, as well as all state administrative bodies and non-governmental organisations that have an impact on the family. The Centre’s research focuses particularly on property relations within the family, and the protection of children’s rights under international and European standards.

The members of the Centre are involved in didactic, expert and popularising activities. In addition, Prof. M. Andrzejewski, Professor of INP PAN and the University of Szczecin, is the Scientific Editor of Acta Iuris Stetinensis.

Presently, the employees of the Centre are participating in a team grant under the supervision of Prof. INP PAN and the University of Szczecin, M. Andrzejewski, PhD., entitled “Minors vs parents and state authorities: Contemporary Polish legal contexts for the implementation of the principles of child welfare and participation” (Opus- National Science Centre UMO-2015/19/B/HS5/03014, carried out between 2016 and 2019).

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The project will explore the following research areas:

1. The legal situation of underage parents;
2. Legal relations between parents and children in view of contemporary adoption law regulations;
3. Separated parents’ contacts with a child;
4. The legal situation of a minor child in case of divorce of his/her parents;
5. The educational context of exercising custody over a minor;
6. Legal and medical relations between parents – child – state;
7. The child as a victim of domestic violence;
8. The child in foster care.