In Belarus, Vasyl and his family have recently been put on an official list of families in a "socially dangerous situation," a status that could result in him and his wife losing their parental rights and their children being sent to state orphanages.
Vasyl -- an activist whose name has been changed over security concerns -- says their names were added to the list after he was found guilty of "spreading extremist material" last year.
The charge of "spreading extremist material," a civil violation under the law, is often used in Belarus against those who share or like social media posts critical of the regime of the country's strongman leader, Alyaksandr Lukashenka.
The list of what police view as "extremist material," which is regularly updated by the Interior Ministry, includes numerous websites of independent media that are banned in Belarus. Simply subscribing to such media and commenting on or sharing their articles can result in being accused of extremism.
"A social worker told me that a special commission in the local government spends just 15 minutes per family to discuss and decide whether to add them to the list of those in 'socially dangerous situations,'" Vasyl told RFE/RL.
Vasyl said he has had "excellent" reports from his children's school and the numerous local government agencies that have evaluated his family's situation.
The good reports, however, had no bearing on the commission's decision, which Vasyl believes was politically motivated to punish him for his anti-government views.
Previously, Belarus has been criticized by human rights groups for taking away the children of political prisoners -- or just threatening to -- by putting them on the list of supposedly at-risk families.
The government insists there no are no political prisoners in Belarus. But human rights groups say there are up to 1,300 political prisoners, many of them being held with no access to medical care and no contact with their relatives.
A 'Sham' Election
Once-dubbed "Europe's last dictator," Lukashenka has been in power since 1994. A close ally of Russia, the Belarusian leader has been accused of electoral manipulation, the systematic repression of dissent, and tight restrictions on media and civil society.
The authorities are now broadening the practice used against political prisoners to parents accused of spreading extremist material, according to Vasyl and several other Belarusian parents, who spoke to RFE/RL on the condition of anonymity.
The parents believe the measures are designed to silence all government critics ahead of the January 26 presidential election with Lukashenka, 70, expected to win a seventh term in office.
The election has been widely decried as a sham and simply an exercise in bolstering Lukashenka's rule. On January 17, then U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that a legitimate democratic presidential election is hampered by Belarus's "repressive environment."
Once they are put on the list, the parents who spoke to RFE/RL say they face the constant threat of losing the custody of their children.
The blacklisted families are closely monitored, and families have reported local officials and doctors paying unannounced visits to their homes up to six times a week for alleged welfare checks.
The situation is taking its toll, Vasyl said, but he is more concerned about the consequences for the children, who are already subject to relentless government propaganda at school.
"The status of being a 'disadvantaged family' negatively affects children and can turn them against their parents," Vasyl said. "The kids think that 'I have problems because of my father or mother, so it's better for me to distance myself from them and not to follow their example in anything.'"
Crackdown On Dissent
Vasyl has been given three months to "take the path of correction," as he puts it, or see his children being "taken away from the family." Instead, he has decided to leave Belarus.
It is not known how many parents have been affected by the authorities' campaign to use child custody against their critics.
According to Svyatlana Ilyushina, a judge in the region of Brest in southwestern Belarus, Belarusian courts in 2023 removed the parental rights of 1,225 men, 595 women, and 467 couples.
It is not clear how many of these cases were politically motivated.
Thousands of people were detained in the government clampdown during and after the mass anti-government protests that erupted following the disputed 2020 presidential election that gave Lukashenka a sixth term in office.
