Tuesday, December 21, 2010
GREATER rights for children, single fathers, civil partners and step-parents are among a range of sweeping changes to family law being recommended by the Law Reform Commission.
Reflecting the changing nature of family relationships in modern Ireland, the reforms include the rights and responsibilities of civil partners, co-habitants, step-parents, grandparents and other members of the extended family. For the first time, it recognises the specific rights of a child to maintain a relationship with both parents.
The recommendations include:
* Repealing the 1964 Guardianship of Infants Act to extend the rights of children and single fathers.
* Giving children the right to maintain personal relations and contact with either parent.
* Allowing single fathers to have automatic joint parental guardianship of their children.
* Extending parental responsibility to civil partners and step-parents.
The Law Reform Commission’s Report on Family Relationships is being launched this evening by the Minister of State for Equality Mary White. It includes a draft Children and Parental Responsibility Bill.
In its report, the commission revisits a recommendation made almost 30 years ago which would have given fathers automatic guardianship rights and responsibilities. Although about 70% of the commission’s recommendations are enacted into law, this never made it onto the statute books.
In a statement, the LRC said: "The report being published today reiterates the view taken in the 1982 report, and the commission emphasises that this reflects an appropriate recognition of the rights of children to know their parents and the corresponding rights and responsibilities of fathers."
The LRC’s director of research, Raymond Byrne, said the purpose of the report was to codify and clarify the law as it stood, extending it where needed while retaining its more positive aspects, particularly in relation to child welfare.
"At the moment the concept of custody, as defined by the courts, is all over the place. What we are saying is that it should not be about parents owning children or detaining them, but about protecting and supervising children. We looked at this in terms of treating children as rights holders."
The commission also addressed the archaic language often associated with family law and suggests modifications to reflect more clearly the rights of children.
It recommends that the terms "parental responsibility", "day-to-day care" and "contact" should replace the terms "guardianship", "custody" and "access" currently used in the Guardianship of Infants Act.
"The new terms would give a clearer indication of what is actually involved in this part of family law; and remove any misunderstanding that parental rights involving children exist without corresponding responsibilities," says the commission. "It would also ensure that the terms used in Ireland would be in line with those used in many other states and in international instruments to which Ireland is a party."
The draft Children and Parental Responsibility Bill uses the proposed new terms, incorporates reforms and would replace the 1964 Guardianship of Infants Act.
The commission recommends the ability to apply for day-to-day care (custody) should be extended to relatives of a child, persons in loco parentis and those with a bona fide interest in the child where the parents are unable or unwilling to exercise responsibility.
MAIN RECOMMENDATIONS
* Parental responsibility (guardianship) should be defined in legislation as including the duty to maintain and properly care for a child.
* Day-to-day care (custody) should be defined in legislation as including the ability of the parent, or person in loco parentis, to exercise care and control over a child on a day-to-day basis.
* Contact (access) should be defined as including the right of the child to maintain personal relations and contact with the parent.
© Examiner Publications (Cork) Limited, City Quarter, Lapps Quay, Cork. Registered in Ireland: 73385.
