A Bill on the legal status of large families submitted to the State Duma

26.10.2023

The Government does not support the proposed legislative package.

Deputies from the Russian Federation’s Communist Party Group led by Gennady Zyuganov have submitted two Bills to the State Duma that are intended to provide legal status for large families, as well as introducing additional support measures for them. The Bill’s authors are proposing to enshrine the definitions of “large family”, “preferential large family status” and “State support measures for large families” in law.

The Bill on legal status recommends that a family with three or more children should be recognised as a large family until the youngest child reaches 16 years of age, or students in full-time study in higher education or specialised secondary education institutions who graduate by the time they are 23 years old at the latest.

The following are not entitled to preferential large family status under the Bill, i.e.:

• Children whose parents have been denied or have restricted parental rights;
• Children on full State support;
• Children under guardianship or being raised in foster families;
• Children from previous marriages or those born out of wedlock.

The authors of the Bill on additional support also propose introducing a package of social support measures, including free provision of plots of land and the right of children from large families to switch from paid to free education.

It is also suggested that in cases where, for various reasons, three or more children in a family are being brought up by a man, an early insurance benefit should be granted to the father until the youngest reaches eight years old. The Bill provides for amendments or additions to four laws on social support for parents and children from large families, as well as to the Land Code.

The Cabinet of Ministers has said that implementation of the Bill would require additional expenditure from the federal budget. However, the authors have yet to provide any details on timescales or sources of funding or the process for introducing new levels of budgetary requirements.

The Government says that the clause in the Bill that enables students from large families to switch from paid to free education duplicates rights that are already provided for all students.

Source:https://www.asi.org.ru/news/2023/10/26/v-gosdumu-vnesli-zakonoproekt-ob-osnovah-pravogo-polozheniya-mnogodetnyh/