Court Technical Advisory Service

Intervention to promote the rights and protect a child or young person at risk arises when the parents, the legal representative or the person with de facto custody endanger their safety, health, upbringing, education or development, or when such danger results from acts or omissions of third parties or of the child or young person themselves and the former do not adequately oppose its removal. In such situations, when the intervention of entities with competence in matters of children and youth does not prove appropriate and sufficient to remove the danger to the child or young person, they are flagged for intervention by the CPCJ, which opens a promotion and protection process — mandatorily requiring, for this purpose, the express consent of the parents, the legal representative or the person with de facto custody, and the non-opposition of the child or young person aged 12 or over.

Judicial intervention, in turn, takes place in the situations provided for in Article 11 of the LPCJP, namely when the parents’ consent is not given or is withdrawn, when the young person opposes the CPCJ’s intervention, when the promotion and protection agreement signed within the CPCJ is repeatedly breached, or when such breach gives rise to a situation of serious danger to the child.

The Court appoints, in each promotion and protection process, a technical case manager whose role is to identify the needs for removing the situation of danger affecting the child, and to mobilise stakeholders and available resources to ensure, in a comprehensive, coordinated and systemic manner, all the support, services and follow-up that the child or young person and their family require — providing information on the overall intervention developed and on the evolution of the situation of danger that led to the opening of the promotion and protection process.

Within promotion and protection proceedings, the Court requests intervention from the Technical Advice teams, with communication preferably carried out through a dedicated platform (ATT-SSD). The Court may request the preparation of information or social and follow-up reports on the situation of the child or young person, of their household or of the persons to whom they have been entrusted; participation in investigative steps or in court hearings; and the support and follow-up of children and young people involved in such judicial proceedings. The deadlines for responding to court requests are set by law and may also be set by the Judge handling the case.

Within civil proceedings concerning minors, the Technical Advice teams are responsible for:

• Supporting the investigation of the proceedings and any related sub-proceedings;
• Supporting children involved in the proceedings, namely in court hearings;
• Carrying out Specialised Technical Hearings;
• Following up on the enforcement of decisions, under the terms of the Regime Geral do Processo Tutelar Cível, in particular monitoring the implementation of the regime established where there is a risk of non-compliance and supervising contact between children/young people and their parents.

Through the regulation of the exercise of parental responsibilities, a regime is established covering:

• The residence of the child/young person, defining with whom they will live. Residence may be set with one of the parents or with both (shared residence);
• The exercise of parental responsibilities, establishing whether decisions regarding the child/young person’s life will be taken by both parents (the rule) or by only one of them (exceptional situations);
• Contact arrangements between the child/young person and the parent with whom they do not habitually reside;
• Child maintenance to be paid to the child/young person.

It is mandatory to regulate the exercise of parental responsibilities whenever the parents do not live as a couple, even if they share the same home.

The Specialised Technical Hearing may be requested by the Judge at any stage of the proceedings and regardless of the parties’ wishes. It consists of a diagnostic assessment of parenting skills and an evaluation of willingness and support for reaching agreements, namely on the regulation of the exercise of parental responsibilities that best safeguards the interest of the child/young person. It also includes the provision of information focused on conflict management and parental communication.