FAMILY LAW

Family Law

Family Law

Introduction

Family Law

Family law covers a wide range of factors such as; the rules of living together, marriage, prenuptial agreement, alimony, divorce, and mediation. Along with that it also includes certain laws regarding domestic violence, adoption, care of the elderly people, marriage with the same sex, and most importantly laws regarding child care which includes child support, child adoption, child visitation and custody. A law regarding all of these areas varies from state to state. The court that addresses these areas are known as the Family law court, and many of these courts often offer helpful services along with the legal forms for the individuals, which allows them to proceed even without an attorney (Bedingfield, 2010).

Discussion

In the United Kingdom under section seventeen of the (Children Act, 1989), it is the duty of the local authority to safeguard and promote the laws regarding the welfare of the children residing in their areas. The local authorities have been quite successful and consistent in doing their job. It is important that local authority recognize that I their foremost duty to try and provide support to families in raising their children, as long as the families does not cause any harm to the children. The duty of local authority arises when a child is in need. The needs includes; parents beating up their children, a child failing to achieve the opportunity of maintaining a reasonable standard of health along with development, child suffering from a certain dis-ability, child having psychological issues. It is the duty of the local authority to address such cases and provide mental, physical, emotional, intellectual, behavioral and social development for the child. The local authority can provide their services in the form of support or practical advice, along with the provision of occasional financial help to the families. It is the duty of the local authority to provide their services to the families that have children in need, and it is their foremost duty to support these families in bringing up their children, the local authority have an overriding duty regarding the protection of children who are in need, and are at the risk of suffering from some harm (Children act, 2004).

Threshold criteria

According to the section thirty one of the Children Act of 1989 a family court can make the order in favor of the local authority regarding the supervision of a child. In such case before taking the decision the court must be fully satisfied that the concerned child is suffering from harm or is likely to suffer from harm. Before taking such order a court looks to list of points that are also known as a checklist which are as follows: The ascertainable feeling and the wishes of the anxious child (Child Care, 2008).

The physical, emotional, and educational needs of a child

The affect that is likely to take place on the emotional and educational needs of the child

Any harm from which the child has suffered, or is supposed to suffer in the future

The capacity of the ...