PARENTAL RESPSONSIBILITY

Giving Parental Responsibility to All Fathers under the English Law

Parental Rights to All Fathers under English Law

Q. Discuss Critically The Extent To Which English Law Should Automatically Give Parental Responsibility To All Fathers, Irrespective Of Marital Status.

Introduction

The biggest argument in family law is whether or not all fathers should have a right to gain full Parental Responsibility, irrespective of them being legally married or not. This paper aims to highlight the pertinent issue with the ensuing discussion in the upcoming sections, about the meaning and concept of parental responsibility and the basis of control of individual parent, with special emphasis on the responsibilities and influence of married fathers compared to unmarried fathers. Usually, the law mostly favours in providing the right to custody and responsibilities to a mother over a father; however, this paper aims to highlight the argument why singles or unmarried fathers should be entrusted with full Parental Responsibilities, using relevant arguments supported with various legal case studies and law references.

Discussion

Changing Roles of Family

Cunningham-Burley & Jamieson (2003) comments that many European and western nations have over the years, undergone a radical change in their family structures. From times, where a husband used to be the breadwinner of the family and the wife being the primary caregiver and a homemaker have now changed and evolved into both male and female competing for better work opportunities and social attainment have resulted in the change of the family structure. While, Lewis & Welsh (2005) comments that fatherhood is a natural experience of life, and while the notion of the breadwinning father is most certainly have diminished fast, nonetheless, observation states that the roles of father who share equal day-to-day responsibility of the child has increased credibly. McKeown (2001), who further comments that this change in the function of the social institute of family, has been a result of how individuals perceive and carry commitment towards the other social institute of marriage, also agrees the last statement. As the divorce rates increase in the western societies, it has changed how rate and perception towards marriage itself.

Parental Responsibility

Parental responsibility as defined by the law in is an order set by the court entitling the rights, responsibilities and authority, which a parent usually has according to the children act 1989 under section 3 of the Family law (Herring, 2011, p.429). In its practicality, this enlists that the parent who is entrusted with the parent responsibility is fully equipped with the right to take and make important decisions on behalf of their child. Therefore, if any changes take place in a child's life, the parent has the right and consent to approve or dismiss such changes (Kruk, 2008).

Conversely, Kruk (2008) also states that in England, the Children's Act (1989) that came into effect in 1991 replaced the terms access and custody with parental responsibility, which replaced child custody into four main types of categories such as residence order, specific issues, prohibited steps and contact ...