Hello,

I am 16 and a half, I have been in a relationship for two months with a boyfriend who will turn 21 in the middle of February. My parents are divorced and I live with my father. My father is forcing me to break up with my boyfriend otherwise I will end up in a juvenile correctional facility and he will be sued for raping me because he did not ask him for permission to have intercourse with me, regardless the fact I agreed to everything myself. I wonder if my father can so easily put me in a juvenile correctional facility for no reason and sue my boyfriend if I myself agreed to have intercourse with him. What are the laws, considering I am 16 and a half and he is going to turn 21?

Hello, 

regarding your inquiry we state the following: 

According to Article 153 of the Criminal Code, the criminal offense of rape exists if someone, using force or threat, with another person, without his / her consent, commits sexual intercourse or an equivalent sexual act, for which a prison sentence of one to ten years is provided. 

Please note that the consent of another person is considered to exist if he or she voluntarily decided to have sexual intercourse or a sexual act equated with it and was able to make such a decision. 

As you have voluntarily consented to sexual intercourse, and you are able to give the said consent, given your age, it is clear that in your case there are no elements of the criminal offense of rape and your partner cannot be punished for the same. 

Article 158 of the Criminal Code stipulates the age of fifteen as the age limit for voluntary consenting to sexual intercourse. 

Furthermore, Article 159 of the Criminal Code regulates the criminal offense of sexual abuse of a child over 15 years of age, which exists if a person entrusted with care, teaching or custody of a child commits sexual intercourse with a child who has reached 15 years of age. However, these are situations of sexual exploitation of a child over the age of 15 by persons who should take care of the child, such as family members, and since this is not the case with you, there are no conditions for criminal prosecution. 

Finally, you do not have to be afraid that your father will put you in a “juvenile correctional facility” since your behaviour is not illegal, and therefore not punishable, especially considering that your father cannot decide on it arbitrarily, such actions require certain procedures and decision by the competent institutions.

I want to know whether I have the right to change my social worker because I am not satisfied with his work. What is the procedure and where can I report his inappropriate behaviour? Thank you!

Pursuant to Article 20 of the Social Welfare Act (Official Gazette, No. 157/13, 152/14, 99/15, 52/16, 16/17, 130/17) a beneficiary of rights in the social welfare system who is not satisfied by the provided service or procedure by individuals performing social welfare activities may file a complaint to the director or other responsible person in the social welfare institution, responsible person in the religious community, other legal entity providing social services, entrepreneur, i.e. other natural person performing social welfare activities. The director and other responsible persons of the service provider referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article shall without delay act upon the complaint and notify the user in writing of the measures taken no later than fifteen days from the date of filing the complaint. If the user is not satisfied with the measures taken, he/she can submit a complaint to the Ministry regarding the work of the service provider. If the complaint is legitimate, the Ministry will instruct the service provider on how to proceed and set a deadline within which the service provider is obliged to submit a notification of the actions taken.

Hello, my husband and I are divorcing, we have a court hearing on January 9th 2019, we have a one-year-old child together and we will have joint custody, he is working and living abroad, I am unemployed.  I wish to know how I can get custody. I plan on finding employment after the court hearing.

Parents have joint parental care only if they have jointly completed a joint parental care plan approved by the court. If they failed to complete the said plan, the court makes a decision with whom the child will live, meetings and socializing and alimony, then that parent is awarded parental care. If the father is abroad and is unable to meet the content of his parental care, the mother may seek independent parental care from the court.

Can I live with my sister in England who is of legal age? I will turn 16 in August, I talked to my sister and she would agree to be my guardian. I want to leave because most of the time my parents get angry and make quarrels out of nothing, I have no right to my own opinion and they constantly compare me to others. They never see anything good that I do or when I do my best. My brother often tells them they should “slap me good”. In addition, my father constantly threatens to hit me and lurches towards me as soon as I say something in my defence. I would continue my education in England or get a job.

If parental abuse is present, it is necessary to report it to the competent Police Station or Social Welfare Centre according to the place of residence. Disagreements between parents and children can also be resolved by talking to the Centre or Family Centre. It is clear from your question that both parents exercise parental care, and thus the preconditions for the appointment of a guardian are not met, and thus neither is the legal crossing of the border and relocation to England. 

Furthermore, as regards the legal provisions, they are as follows: 

The child’s right to express an opinion 

Article 86 

(1) Parents and other persons caring for a child are obliged to respect the opinion of the child in accordance with his or her age and maturity. 

(2) In all proceedings in which a child’s right or interest is decided, the child has the right to find out in an appropriate manner the important circumstances of the case, to receive advice and express its opinion and to be informed of the possible consequences of respecting its opinion. The opinion of the child is taken into account in accordance with its age and maturity. 

The child’s right to initiate proceedings 

A child who has reached the age of fourteen has the right to independently initiate proceedings before the competent authorities in connection with the exercise of his or her rights and interests in accordance with Article 359 of this Act. 

Article 89 

The child has a duty to respect his or her parents and to assist them in carrying out tasks in the family in accordance with its age and maturity, and to be considerate of family members. 

Article 224 

A child shall be placed under guardianship if its parents: 

1. died, disappeared, are unknown or have been of unknown residence for at least one month 
2. are deprived of the right to parental care 
3. are deprived of legal capacity in the part that prevents them from exercising parental care 
4. are minors, and have not acquired legal capacity by marriage 
5. are absent or prevented and unable to take care of their child, and have not entrusted the exercise of parental care to a person who meets the conditions for a guardian or 
6. gave consent for the adoption of the child.