Milestone for Family Probation Officers: Ministry of Justice Moves to Strengthen Their Position

The Ministry of Justice is preparing a comprehensive reform to elevate the legal standing of family probation officers, granting them sweeping new investigative and enforcement powers.

A True Revolution for Family Probation

The Ministry of Justice is preparing a true revolution that will encompass family probation officers. Following the reform, they will gain new powers allowing them to demand information from schools and medical facilities, quickly check the criminal records of individuals living with a child, and demand access to the premises where the child is staying, reports Friday’s “Rzeczpospolita”.

In the planned Act on Enforcement Proceedings in Family and Guardianship Matters, the Ministry of Justice wants to organize currently scattered regulations and create tools for probation officers to execute court orders more effectively, especially when a child’s safety is threatened, the newspaper writes.

Equalizing Status and Gaining Access to Data

A primary change is to grant professional family probation officers the status of an enforcement proceeding organ. Currently, adult probation officers hold this role under the Executive Penal Code, while the position of family probation officers has not been regulated analogously. The ministry aims to equalize the status of both probation branches.

Probation officers will be able to request necessary data from schools, kindergartens, nurseries, the police, the prosecutor’s office, and medical entities. Mateusz Korzeniowski, deputy director of the Ministry of Justice’s Department of Family and Juvenile Affairs, quoted by “Rz”, announced that officers will gain the right to demand information from all entities needed for their official duties related to executing court orders, and will have the right to request a court fine against any institution or entity that fails to provide such information.

Mandatory Access to Homes and Documentation

The draft will also define the scope of a probation officer’s actions at a family’s place of residence. The provisions will oblige individuals under a court probation officer’s supervision to let the officer into the apartment, show them all rooms and the children under their care, and allow them to review documentation concerning the individuals involved in the proceedings.