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The child and adult protection authority (KESB) is, as the name suggests, responsible for the protection of children and adults. The KESB becomes involved when people cannot take care of their own needs or those of their children. The KESB then intervenes and takes the necessary measures. The aim of the KESB is always to intervene with minimal restriction on personal freedom. The measures which are taken undoubtedly interfere with the rights and freedoms of the person concerned, which is why certain conditions must first be met.
A prerequisite for measures concerning child protection is that there is a risk to the child’s wellbeing. This means that the parents cannot or do not want to take sufficient care of the child’s basic needs and that there is a risk that the child will not develop well. For adult protection measures, the assistance and protection of the person concerned is necessary. This need must be so prevalent that the welfare of the person concerned is severely endangered. In addition, all measures must always be proportionate, comply with the legal requirements and be ordered in a formal legal procedure. Our team of family lawyers in St. Gallen, Zurich or Frauenfeld can assess whether or not the requirements taken in an individual case were met. One KESB employee is responsible for each procedure. The majority of decisions are made jointly by three members; only a few can be made by a single employee.
Measures of adult protection include the ordering of a guardianship as well as placement in care. Child protection measures include guardianship, the revocation of parental rights to determine the child’s place of residence and the withdrawal of parental custody. A family lawyer at Teichmann International (Schweiz) AG in Zurich, Frauenfeld or St. Gallen will be happy to provide you with further information on the various child and adult protection measures.
The responsibility for the organization of child and adult protection measures is assigned to individual cantons. However, an authority is provided for in the Swiss Civil Code (CC). According to Art. 440 CC, the adult protection authority is a specialist authority, appointed by the cantons. The cantons themselves determine which authority is responsible, as well as the concrete organization of the responsible authority. In the canton of Aargau, for example, the family court is responsible, whereas in Appenzell Ausserrhoden the cantonal administrative authority is responsible and different again, in St. Gallen the inter-communal administrative authority is responsible. One of our attorneys for family law in Switzerland can provide you with information on which authority is responsible for child and adult protection in your canton.
Furthermore, the cantons must appoint a supervisory authority (Art. 441 CC). This authority supervises, supports and controls the management of the KESB and indirectly also that of the mandate holders. Here too, different authorities are responsible depending on the canton. The authorities responsible range from the cantonal government (Uri), the high court (Schaffhausen), the Department of the Interior (Schwyz) or the Department of Health and Social Affairs (Nidwalden). Appeals against decisions of the KESB can be lodged with the designated court, which also varies canton to canton In Lucerne, the competent court is the cantonal court, for example, whilst in Zurich it is the higher court in Zurich. The provisions on the judicial appeal authority can be found in Art. 450 et seq. of the Swiss Civil Code. The appeal authority only becomes active once a complaint has been made and it then assesses the correctness of the decisions of the KESB. An appeal is possible in the case of a violation of the law, in an incorrect or incomplete determination of the legally relevant facts, as well as when an inappropriate decision has been made. The family law attorneys in Frauenfeld, Zurich or St. Gallen can assist you in filing an appeal.