Pressure on children and parents: school, university, child services

• Children are not taken away over their own or their parents' views alone, but a complaint from school can turn into a child services check or the family being put on a police watch list.
• Ask child services staff for ID and call their office to check. By law, without police and a registered crime report you do not have to let them in. It is worth filming the visit; calmly tell them you are recording.
• The inspection report must be given in writing within 10 days and can be challenged in court. If nothing was found, by law there should be no repeat checks, but in practice they happen.
• A school cannot require you to install MAX: the digital and education ministries call it voluntary. Write your refusal to the head teacher and ask for another way to stay in touch.
• OVD-Info has guides on teenagers on police watch lists and on expulsion over protests. OVD-Info is designated 'extremist' in Russia. It says that asking for advice is not taking part in its activities, but contact it from a device you will not have to hand over if detained. Parents need support too: First Line offers anonymous sessions.
• If a parent is remanded in custody, by law the investigator must hand over children left without care to relatives or other people, or, if there is nobody, to a children's institution (art. 160 CPC). Tell the investigator and the lawyer straight away who can take the children. Parents can file a joint application with child services in advance, naming a temporary guardian for the period when they cannot look after the child (art. 13 of Law 48-FZ).
• You do not have to tell the school the details of a parent's case. If the child is bullied or pressured, write down what happened and complain to the head teacher in writing. Families of political prisoners get help from Freedom Zone and Memorial Political Prisoners Support (designated 'extremist' in Russia; contact it from a phone that is unlikely to be seized). Psychologists at First Line and Nora help both children and adults.

Designations of organisations in this guide: OVD-Info (foreign agent, extremist, on Rosfinmonitoring list); Memorial Human Rights Defence Centre (extremist, on Rosfinmonitoring list); Memorial Political Prisoners Support (extremist, on Rosfinmonitoring list). Contacting them carries a risk: do not write from a phone that may be seized, and do not repost their materials.

current as of 26 September 2026. More: OVD-Info: child services have come to my home (extremist); OVD-Info: getting off a police watch list (extremist); OVD-Info: MAX at school (extremist); ConsultantPlus: art. 160 CPC, care of a detainee's children (in Russian); ConsultantPlus: art. 13 of Law 48-FZ on guardianship (in Russian); Freedom Zone: help for families of political prisoners

• Administrative and criminal liability start at 16, and at 14 for some crimes. Minors are held separately from adults, and the police must inform parents immediately.
• A teenager can only be released to a legal guardian. If parents may not make it in time, give a trusted person a power of attorney in advance.
• A teacher or psychologist must attend the questioning of anyone under 16; a parent may take part from the first interrogation. Art. 51 of the Constitution applies to children too.
• Detention often leads to registration with the juvenile police unit, which can be lifted. Call to Conscience and First Department explain how to opt out of basic military training and propaganda classes. A written opt-out sometimes leads the school to complain to child services, so read the note on pressure on families first.
• Where to turn: OVD-Info (bot), First Department. OVD-Info is designated 'extremist' in Russia, so contact it from a device that is not checked. Psychological support for the family: First Line.

Designations of organisations in this guide: OVD-Info (foreign agent, extremist, on Rosfinmonitoring list). Contacting them carries a risk: do not write from a phone that may be seized, and do not repost their materials.

current as of 25 September 2026. More: First Department: my child was detained (foreign agent); OVD-Info: detention of minors (extremist); Call to Conscience: opting out of military training and propaganda classes