Introduction
In becoming relevant persons in the children’s hearing system unmarried fathers have often been on the back foot. However, they are not just disadvantaged in children’s hearings system but in other areas of society. Various campaign groups such as Families need Fathers and Fathers 4 Justice in the UK have been advocating greater rights of contact for unmarried fathers. This essay will go on to consider the gradual development of the position of unmarried fathers as relevant persons, from the Kilbrandon report to the current legislation. The unfair hurdles that unmarried fathers have had to face, in comparison to mothers will also be considered. Before concluding that the reason for this lengthy process is society's opinion which has a serious effect on the law.
Relevant Person Status
Relevant person status is vital to those who wish to attend a children’s hearing in respect of their child. Relevant persons have both a duty and a right to attend a hearing. However, in some cases
…show more content…
However, this is not strictly the case. Many such as Kirsty McGuinness, argue that the act in 2011 was in fact regressive in nature. The father may have a longstanding relationship with their child but has no automatic right to participate in the children’s hearing system. This is particularly concerning and unsatisfactory where allegations similar to that in Principal Reporter v K are presented against the father. However, the 2011 solution was to allow for a newly established pre hearing panel under section 79 - 81 of the Act allowed unmarried fathers to to become a deemed relevant person. However,unmarried fathers still have to go through the cumbersome process to be given the same basic rights as mothers, which can be argued not to be removed by the 2011
Families are becoming more diverse and they come in all shapes and sizes. Some people consider families to be strictly biological, while others consider people they love to be their family. Although two-parent families, also known as a nuclear family are the majority, one-parent families are becoming more common in today’s society. A sole-parent is considered to be a parent without a partner or spouse who is the primary care giver of one or more children in a household (Ministry of Social Development, 2010). From the age of 14 onward I was raised by m...
In Wade F. Horn’s article “Promoting Marriage as a Means of Promoting Fatherhood,” Horn discusses how having a child and being married is better for children because the father is more involved in the child’s life. Kathryn Edin and Maria Kefalas’s “Unmarried with Children,” on the other hand, takes the reader through Jen’s story about getting pregnant at a young age and deciding not to marry the father of her son. While both sources make appeals to emotion, reason, and character, Edin and Kefalas’s article makes more successful appeals and thus is the stronger argument.
In the United States today more than one-half of all marriages end in divorce. The purpose of this paper is to examine the reason why women have typically received custody of the children far more often than the fathers. In order to better understand child custody one must first examine how fathers have often times been left out of the picture, and conversely why mothers have had such hard times raising children on their own. This paper will first examine the perspective of a father who has lost custody of his children.
Herring J., ‘The Human Rights Act and the welfare principle in family law – conflicting or complementary?’ [1999] C.F.L.Q.11 (3), 223-235
Since 1972, the issues surrounding the rights of unwed birthfathers have provided America with a highly controversial and morally challenging topic for debate. Prior to 1972, these unwed fathers were given little or no involvement in their child’s adoption proceedings, but because of highly publicized adoption cases in which birthfathers have retained custody of their child many years after their adoption took place, state legislatures have been forced to review their adoption laws regarding birthfathers and create more concrete ones. The laws in Florida regarding birthfathers have changed dramatically over the past several years, with complicating, senseless laws being replaced with more rational and reliable ones. The newest laws, passed in 2003 regarding a Putative father registry provide the most stable and fair support for legal adoption proceedings.
In this day and age there are many variations of what constitutes a couple or family in comparison to many years ago. Long ago the idea of a ‘nuclear family’ was considered the norm; it consisted of the conventional husband, wife and children . But as our society progressed through the years this definition became less conventional and criticisms were made, this definition of ‘family’ did not account for gay unions, soul parents nor did it acknowledge the prevalence of extended family. The definition of family has changed over time, as have the socially defined roles of mothers and fathers. Within these varied family units, situations occur in which divorces and separations take place and a lot of the times these tricky situations may involve children, which can make an already tricky situation even more problematic. There are pieces of legislation which are in place which aim to protect the best interests of a child during the time their parents are going through divorce but sometimes these avenues can be more problematic and ultimately destroy unions whereas other avenues of dispute resolution such as mediation, albeit with its own criticisms, helps to keep relationships afoot in that it provides an opportunity for peaceful and mutual agreements to be made in a more laid back environment.
C. Cobley & N. Lowe, ‘The stautory “threshold” under section 31 of the Children Act 1989 – time to take stock’ (2011) Law Quarterly Review 396
...ion of Australia. This campaign aims at promoting rights for shared equal parenting, with amendments to the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) in 2006; of which dealing with family matters and relationship strains in non-court-based services to ensure that children are able to maintain an earnest relationship with both of their parents subsequent to a divorce. Thus, the role of such pressure groups are aimed at community empowerment and taking action in the area of law reform as the values of society continue to change.
In present time dads share with mothers the same level of emotional response to new-born babies and are just as sensitive and affectionate when looking after their babies (Secunda, 1992). Today more than half of all children are raised by single mothers and twenty eight percent of children are raised in single parent homes. Fathers are now the main care givers for children when mothers are working. In thirty percent of dual earner families, it is now the father more than any other individual, who cares for children when the mother is at work. If it proves true that daughters search for romantic partners like t...
Family Law (Law Express) 2th edition, by Jonathon Herring, published by Pearson Education Limited 2009
"Can I spend the night with you tonight" the young boy asks the other boy? The response, "No, my dad has me this weekend, maybe next week." We live in a world where over half of the marriages end in divorce. This is truly a confounding issue that faces us today. The moral and ethical ramifications brought about by such a change in family organization will only begin to show in the years to come. Some of these issues are addressed in both Laurie Abraham's "Divorced Father," and Barbara Whitehead's "Women and the Future of Fatherhood."
While Article 14 of the Constitution of India envisages equality before law and equal protection of laws to all its citizens, there still exist laws which clearly discriminate against women on the basis of gender alone, which is a prohibited marker under Article 15. In a society like India which eulogises motherhood, a mother was considered to be natural guardian only after the father and did not have legal authority of the law to take decisions on behalf of her minor children. The law of g...
Women’s and men’s would have to have a license at the age when they have a job and can support themselves before they become parents or after having a child if they want to stay with the children. This is because not everyone has the budgets to take care of a baby. Also a lot of people just have a baby to get benefits from the government. Although parents nowadays claim that having a child is a natural part of every human’s life is clear there are those who disagree with these. According to family who are against this state that everyone should be parents even if they don’t have knowledge. In other words, these people believe that everyone should be parents without a license. I disagree with this parent’s view that everyone should become a parent whenever they want because there have been cases showing that some people mistreat their kids or abuse of them emotional, sexually and physically. Parents who disagree with this idea are right to argue that having a child is a natural part of human’s life, but they exaggerate when they claim that everyone should have a kid even if they don’t have the budgets. This is a problem because there are many kids suffering because some parents abuse the children or the parents are not mentally and economically stable to afford the best care for the kid. Also, having a child is too expensive and not everyone has the amount to give a better life to the child. Ultimately, what must be kept in mind is that not
It has been argued though that the child’s parents were not entirely mentally stable and that social services or a third party should have been involved. But some may not have seen this as a reasonable defence because he had been entrusted with the responsibility of that child. Another illustration of a duty to act would be the voluntary acceptance of responsibility for another. Such as the case of R v Stone & Dobinson. The case is satisfactory due to the fact that they both accepted responsibility for stones sister.