Book I: Individuals

No renunciation or assignment relating to parental authority shall have any effect except by virtue of a judgment in the cases determined below.

When a family court is called upon to rule on the terms and conditions of the exercise of parental authority or on the upbringing of a minor child, or when it decides to entrust the child to a third party, it may have regard to any agreements that the father and mother may have freely entered into between themselves on this subject, unless one of them can show serious grounds…

The father and mother, together or separately, may, where circumstances so require, apply to the judge to have all or part of the exercise of their parental authority delegated to a third party, a family member, a trustworthy relative, an establishment approved to take in children or a departmental child welfare service. In the event of manifest disinterest or if the parents are unable to exercise all or part of…

The delegation, in whole or in part, of parental authority will result from the judgment handed down by the family affairs judge. However, the delegation judgment may provide, for the child’s educational needs, that the father and mother, or one of them, will share all or part of the exercise of parental authority with the delegated third party. Sharing requires the agreement of the parent(s) insofar as they exercise parental…

The delegation may, in all cases, be terminated or transferred by a new judgment, if new circumstances can be justified. In the event that the restitution of the child is granted to the father and mother, the family affairs judge shall make them responsible, if they are not indigent, for the reimbursement of all or part of the maintenance costs.

The right to consent to the adoption of a minor is never delegated.