Section 5: Judicial declaration of parental abandonment

A child shall be deemed to be neglected where his or her parents have not maintained with him or her the relations necessary for his or her upbringing or development during the year preceding the lodging of the application, without the parents having been prevented from doing so by any cause whatsoever.

The court shall declare a child taken into care by a person, establishment or departmental child welfare service to be abandoned if the child is in the situation referred to in Article 381-1 during the year preceding the submission of the application for a judicial declaration of parental abandonment. The application for a declaration of parental neglect must be submitted, on expiry of the one-year period provided for in article…