In order to apply for an order, s.42(1) says the applicant must be “associated with the respondent” and the relevant definition for associated person and relevant child are set out in s.62 Family Law Act 1996. A child is a person under the age of 18, with any “relevant child” being defined in s.62(2) as “any child who is living with or might reasonably be expected to live with either party…any other child whose interests the court considers relevant.” In 1995-1996 parliament had widespread debates as to the definition of associated persons, for example whether it should include the terms “boyfriend” and “girlfriend”, however the difficulty surrounding the definition prevented this from happening and the introduction of the Family Law Act 1996 …show more content…
In the case, the parties didn’t specifically say they were living together, however they spent multiple nights of the week staying at each other’s houses. It was noted that the parties relationship only fulfilled 3 out of the six requirements that were created in the case of Crake v Supplementary Benefits Commission which was enough for the case to be held that the parties were associated persons under s.42, highlighting how immediately wide the definition can be. The idea of associated persons was lengthened even more by the introduction of the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004 s.3 which enabled same sex couples to be included and those that have an “intimate personal relationship with each other of significant duration”. This however could be subjective as what may be conceived as intimate to one party may not to another, which without further narrowing the idea of the word “intimate”, this would have to be looked at by a case by case
Parton, N., Thorpe, D. and Wattam, C. (1997) Child Protection Risk and Moral Order, London: Macmillan
Children’s Social Care work with parents and other agencies to assess the stages of child protection procedures, record information and make decisions on taking further action. The police work closely with this agency to act on decisions made such as removing a child or the person responsible for the abuse while gathering evidence and carrying out investigations regarding the matter. Health professionals have a duty to report suspected non-accidental injuries to Children’s Social Care and examine children to give evidence of abuse. The Children Act 2004 requires every local area to have a Local Safeguarding Children Board to oversee the work of agencies involved in child protection, place policies and procedures for people who work with children and conduct serious case reviews when children die as a result of abuse. The NSPCC is the only charitable organisation that has the statutory power to take action when children are at risk of abuse. They provide services to support families and children and two helplines for children in danger and adults who are concerned for a child’s safety. They also raise awareness of abuse, share their expertise with other professionals and work to influence the law and social policy protect children more efficiently. There are also acts in place to protect children such as the Children Act 1989, the United Nations Convention On The Rights Of The Child 1989, the Education Act 2002 and the Children Act 2004. Legal framework from such acts are provided for Every Child Matters which requires early years practitioners to demonstrate that they provide activities that help children protect themselves. This may be through books and group talks known as “Stranger
The main points of the children’s act 1989 are parental responsibility and the welfare of the child. Children are best cared for within their own families. The act states that the mental and physical wellbeing of the child is important. Professionals and parents/carers must work together to ensure the safety of the child. Local authorities have a duty to look into situations where they suspect a child or young person to be suffering from significant harm. Duties get allocated to local authorities, and other agencies to ensure that all children are safeguarded. The children’s act 2004 reinforces that all organisations that work with children and young people must help to safeguard
In the case of Ann and Angus (K101,Unit 1,pp.14-19), this was an informal type of home care based on the previous and existing relationship between Ann and her step-father Angus. Liz Forbat (K101,Unit 1,p.27) interviewed 6 pairs of people involved in family care and believed that people became carer and cared for in the context of an existing relationship so the strengths and weakness of those relationships were played out in the care relationship. Ann had the right skills to make a successful care relationship with Angus as she loved and supported him and still allowed Angus to remain an individual and respected his beliefs and preferences. Though her own relationships with her other family members were under pressure and her own life had drastically changed. However, while Ann was caring for Angus she was crossing the normal boundaries of her previous...
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
Same-sex couples wary of changes to benefits The Sydney Morning Herald, Stephanie Peatling – June 20th, 2009.
Rindfuss RR, VandenHeuvel A. 1990. Cohabitation: a precursor to marriage or an alternative to being single? Pop. Dev. Rev. 16:703 26
This societal acceptance has made it easier for couples to live together without being married. Many of these men and women decide to live together because they consider the cohabitation a "trial marriage." They fe...
N.p., 2013. Web. 11 May 2014. Leckey, Robert. " Cohabitation and Comparative Method.
Family Law (Law Express) 2th edition, by Jonathon Herring, published by Pearson Education Limited 2009
Once upon a time, a traditional family structure was created by one man marrying one woman and procreating. Within the last few years, this has begun to change. Family structures are now being changed and created through divorce and remarriage, same-sex partners, and single-parents. When the leaders of these family structures can no longer co-exist, divorce or separation comes. If children are involved, a custody agreement needs to be arranged.
Nowadays, the pre-martial cohabitation concept has been widely used across many places. The current generation tends to cohabit outside of marriage at least once in their lifetime. Bruce Wydick argued that, “cohabitation may be narrowly defined as an intimate sexual union between two unmarried partners who share the same living quarter for a sustained period of time’’ (2). In other words, people who want to experience what being in a relationship truly is, tend to live under one roof and be more familiar with one another. Couples are on the right path to establishing a committed relationship where the discussion about marriage is considered as the next step.
The statutory provisions of s80 applies only to spouses ultimately the Act does not include unmarried cohabitees, if an extension was permissible it would consequently be ‘difficult to find a logical end and potentially cause grave difficulties in the enforcement of criminal law.’ Circumventing spousal privilege is essential in modern society, as the
“The family is a social group characterised by common residence, economic co-operation and reproduction. It includes adults of both sexes, at least two of whom maintain a socially approved sexual relationship, and one or more children, own or adopted of the sexually cohabitating adults.” MURDOCK (1949)