Short answer. Not whoever takes the child in. For foundlings and abandoned, neglected or abused children, parental authority is entrusted in summary judicial proceedings to the heads of children's homes, orphanages and similar institutions duly accredited by the proper government agency. A court entrusts it; the finder does not acquire it.
What the law says
In case of foundlings, abandoned neglected or abused children and other children similarly situated, parental authority shall be entrusted in summary judicial proceedings to heads of children's homes, orphanages and similar institutions duly accredited by the proper government agency.
Family Code, Article 217 — Authority Over Foundlings and Abandoned Children. Read the full provision →
What the law says
Upon judicial declaration of abandonment of the child in a case filed for the purpose
Family Code, Article 229 — Revivable Termination of Parental Authority. Read the full provision →
Authority is entrusted, not assumed
The article covers foundlings, abandoned neglected or abused children and other children similarly situated, and it directs that parental authority over them shall be entrusted in summary judicial proceedings to heads of children's homes, orphanages and similar institutions duly accredited by the proper government agency. Two words carry the weight. Entrusted means somebody hands it over — it is not something a rescuer picks up by doing the right thing. And the recipients are accredited institutions through their heads, which is the Code's answer to the obvious risk of an unregulated placement.
Why the court has to be involved
The proceedings are summary, but they are still judicial. That is a deliberate safeguard rather than red tape: a child with no traceable parents is the person most exposed to being taken, kept or moved by an adult acting on their own view of what is best. Requiring an order means the placement is recorded, the institution is identifiable and accountable, and the arrangement can be revisited later if a parent is found or circumstances change. A private handover leaves none of those traces, which is exactly why the Code does not recognise one.
A missing parent is not automatically a former parent
Parental authority does not evaporate because a parent has vanished. Article 229 provides for its termination upon judicial declaration of abandonment of the child in a case filed for the purpose — a case brought and decided, not an inference drawn from silence. Until that happens, the absent parents remain the parents in law. This matters enormously to families who have cared for a relative's child for years on the assumption that the parent forfeited everything by leaving. What ended the parent's authority, and when, is a question with a documentary answer or none at all.
What to preserve if a child is in your care
Keep a dated record from the beginning: when and where the child came into your care, in what condition, what was known about the parents, and every attempt made to trace or contact them. Keep whatever came with the child and anything the parents sent or said afterwards. Report the situation to the accredited institution or authority handling such cases rather than waiting to be asked. Those records are what a court will work from, and they are almost impossible to reconstruct once years have passed.
Related provisions
- Family Code, Article 229 — Revivable Termination of Parental Authority
- Family Code, Article 216 — Order of Substitute Parental Authority