The introductory chapter of this paper gives an overview of the topic of guardianship, including its importance and purpose and basic concepts. Furthermore, the work provides insight into the definition of custody and contains rights and duties of guardians. The process of appointing a guardian has been specially elaborated as well as criteria for the selection of a guardian. The paper also analyses the legal framework governing guardianship, which includes international and national documents. The principles of guardianship and the different types of guardianship are described below and the custody for children is specifically analyzed in such a way that is presented the procedure for placing the child under guardianship, the process for appointing a guardian and the termination of guardianship. Special guardianship as a special type of guardianship, especially seperate guardianship for children, was also analyzed. Before the concluding section, the paper presents a judgment by the European Court of Human Rights against the Republic of Croatia related to the institution of child guardianship.