All fathers should have ‘automatic’ parental responsibility

By Claire O’Sullivan

Monday, March 15, 2010

ALL FATHERS, not just married parents, should have automatic parental responsibility for their children, the Equality Authority has recommended.

The authority is calling for greater recognition for the variety of families in which Irish children are being parented nowadays as part of a submission to the Law Reform Commission’s Consultation Paper on Legal Aspects of Family Relationships.

It wants unmarried fathers to have statutory guardianship rights but it is also seeking rights for adults who play a de facto parenting role in children’s lives – such as biological parents’ new spouses and civil spouses.

The Equality Authority is also seeking the introduction of paternity leave for fathers and the introduction of a right whereby a mother can voluntarily apportion part of her maternity leave to her spouse or partner so the family can enjoy greater work/family flexibility.

Furthermore, the Equality Authority wants an easier process whereby non-immediate family members, such as non-biological grandparents, can ensure access to children. At present such extended access, by people who in the opinion of the court have a bona fide interest in the child, is not protected by law.

This would place on a clear statutory footing the right of a non-marital cohabiting partner (opposite-sex or same-sex) of the child’s parent to seek contact with a child in respect of whom he or she has acted as a de facto parent. Similarly, the right of a civil partner to seek access, in respect of a child for whom he or she has provided care, should also be expressly confirmed, they argue, in advance of the enactment of the Civil Partnership Bill 2009.

The authority believe the issue of easier application for access by the wider family should be addressed.

The organisation’s chairperson Angela Kerins has said that full regard must be paid by the law to the individual circumstances of a child’s life.

"The best interests of children require that greater diversity of parenting arrangements be acknowledged in the framing of family law, so that the responsibilities of all those in a parenting role are appropriately recognised. The authority emphasises that policies and laws must place the child at the centre of all matters relating to his or her welfare," she said.

The authority is also asking for the introduction of an express definition of the term "in loco parentis" as used in the Guardianship of Infants Act 1964.

This appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Monday, March 15, 2010