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In effect since October 2025, the law on emotional abandonment recognizes omission in the bond, allows legal action, and expands the search for moral compensation for children in Brazilian justice
Emotional abandonment gained explicit legal provision in Brazil in October 2025 and now allows children to sue absent guardians for moral damages, as the law began to recognize that presence, care, and participation are also duties.
What changes with emotional abandonment
The new legislation recognizes that it is not enough to pay alimony or ensure financial support. Coexistence, care, and participation in the child’s life are also among the legal obligations of a father or mother.
Even before the new law, court decisions already admitted compensation. In 2012, the Superior Court of Justice judged a case considered historic and reinforced that, more than love, there is a legal obligation of care.
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In the vote cited in the material, Minister Nancy Andrighi stated that loving is a choice, while caring is a duty.
She also highlighted that the upbringing of a child requires immaterial elements, such as education, leisure, and rules of conduct.
Experts point out that emotional abandonment is not characterized by occasional conflicts or difficult relationships.
The situation arises when there is continuous absence and concrete harm to the child’s emotional development, with prolonged omission in the bond.
Cases that reached the courts
Real estate agent Vitória Schroder, 24, sought judicial compensation after growing up without any contact with her father.
She said she was registered by him but never had any relationship or memories of his presence.
Vitória lost her mother in childhood and was raised by her grandparents. She recounted that she felt the absence of her father more strongly during symbolic moments, such as holidays, when the absence became more evident in her routine.
As an adult, she filed a lawsuit and received compensation of R$ 150,000. The father appealed. Even with the favorable decision, she stated that the money helps, but does not fill what she really wished to have experienced.
Another cited case involves a mother who decided to seek justice after years of seeing her son suffer from the absence of his father.
The man promised visits and gifts but did not fulfill them, repeating frustrations over time.
In this process, the compensation awarded was R$ 300,000. The collected accounts show children waiting for visits that never happen, seeing peers accompanied by their parents, and trying to understand why they were left behind.
Effects that can follow into adulthood
The clinical and forensic psychologist Andréia Calçada explained that the moment a child realizes this absence is often significant.
This occurs when they start comparing their family with others and ask why everything is different.
This type of perception appears at school, at parties, and on special dates. When seeing peers accompanied by their parents, the child tries to understand their own experience and make sense of a recurring absence without explanation.
The psychologist Glícia Brasil pointed out lasting consequences, such as fear of rejection, anxiety, difficulty in establishing relationships, and impacts on self-esteem.
Many grow up feeling they need to be perfect to avoid being abandoned again.
The material also highlights that judicial recognition can help in emotional reconstruction. For Glícia, there is a restorative effect of dignity, because the person comes to understand that they were not to blame for the abandonment suffered.
Who can request reparation
The law establishes that the action can be proposed by the child themselves from the age of 18 or by legal guardians. Currently, the prevailing understanding is that the request can be made until the age of 21.
Even so, legal experts argue that this type of damage should be treated as imprescriptible. The material also informs that in about 90% of cases, the recorded absence is paternal.
For specialists, this data relates to cultural factors and the way many men still relate to fatherhood after separations.
The discussion, however, does not aim to impose love, but to demand presence and care.
A man who preferred not to identify himself reported having suffered maternal abandonment in childhood. After facing illnesses and long periods of hospitalization, he said he found strength to move forward and is now the father of three daughters.
If he could see his mother again, he stated that he would not hold a grudge. He said he would hug her and say, “I won.” For specialists, the law reflects a change in the understanding of what it means to care.
With information from G1.
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