Legal Issues of Parental Responsibility - Essay Example

? Module Child Law Module MOD000044 Level: 6 Academic Year: 3 Semester: 2 Module Leader: Andrew Gilbert Introduction Parental responsibilityof Bobby was under Anita because there was no agreement of parental responsibility with Steven. Steven decided to apply for residency and contact orders because of the stalemate that he had with Anita concerning Bobby. Anita claimed that the Bobby was not Steven`s son as he had thought all through. Since the two had not reached an agreement on Bobby, the court was to decide on the matter putting into considerationthat the case may not in any way negatively impact on Bobby. For married couples, parental responsibility is shared whereas for unmarried parents,the law gives the mother an upper hand over custody of their child1. The father can acquire parental responsibility by applying for it. Jenny and Philip came into an agreement with Carol on Emily. Carol was the surrogate mother. After the agreement among the parties, Emily was to be taken by Jenny and Philip. The parties came into an agreement and a reasonable contract on expenses was reached among the three of them. It was legal since the three had an agreement as stated by law and it was upon Carol to agree together with her cousin and husband. Carol planned on giving Emily to Jenny and Philip, which was the right as had been agreed over. According to the agreement, Carol needed money and she opted to be a surrogate mother to cater for her financial needs. After the agreed time, the parents(in this case Jenny and Emily) needed to apply for a parental order that was to give them permanent parental rights over Bobby. Emily was genetically and extendedly related to both parents. The parental responsibility of Bobbywas under Carol. Any child needs the support of parents for physical, social, emotional and educational growth. Steven and Anita had divorced but Bobby needed them for his growth. Bobby at the age of six was aware of what had happened between his parents. Due to the stalemate, parental responsibility was under Carol at that time.Whenever two groups or parties are not in agreement but are determined to coexist peacefully, finding a solution to their squabbles is inevitable. Jenny and Steven came together to look for a resolution but an agreement was not reached. Steven was worried that Bobby may not have lived according to his religious teachings where a boy was to be circumcised at his tenth birthday. Steven did the right thing by seeking a specific court order because of the previous impasse. The court tried to solve the issue because of the application by Steven on his residency and contact orders. No immediate family member ofBobby was responsible for his parental rights. This was because Bobby lived with his mother and no harm or suffering or inability to support Bobby was reported.The parent had to take care of the right of the child because they were responsible for the child. Immediate family did not have any responsibility of any kind to the Bobby unless after application.Immediate family members could onlyintervene by following the right process. They could not have parental rights of the child without notifying the right people or the court. They had to follow the right channel to get Bobby under their care. Immediate family member had to have reasons that were valid that Bobby was mistreated to be given the parental responsibility. They had to file an application to the court like the Steven did. If Bobby was mistreated or was close to them then they had a high chance of success. They could not assume parental responsibility without consent either from the court or both parents. Another reason why their claims did not favour them is the fact that the child’s mother was alive and living with the child at their time of claims. Anita was alive and living with Bobby at that time and Bobby had a good relationship with her. The court was to decide on the best interest of Bobby. A residence order can be applied when a parent want to stay with the child in question2. A contact order can also applied when a parent want to be able to have contact with the child in question. Steven had applied for the two of them and was waiting on the decision of the court.Steven`s success on his application was to depend on some factors which are discussed below. A residence was to give Steven a chance to stay with Bobby and contact order was to give him a chance to visit and see Bobby. Once the application was done the court was to start its work to be able to determine the best decision for this case. The court was tolisten to both Anita and Steven and determine if both had a point. Wishes and feelings of Bobby was to be considered for determining Steven`s application for residency and contacts. This was one factor that plays a key role in determining such kind of cases. Bobby’s wishes were to be put under consideration on whether he wanted to stay or see Steven. Bobby was in a good relationship with both women though he was a bit unsettled following his parents` divorce and her mother`s new relationship. This was to give Steve a hard time on the success of the case because Bobby was not in trouble with any of the women. Bobby`s physical, emotional and educational was to be considered. Bobby was at the age of sixand by that time he was a bit unsettled by the recent events that had occurred in his life. Thiswas to play a part in the decision of the interest of the child and a best choice that will not affect Bobby`s life was to be taken into account. Only emotion of Bobby`s has been talked about in this case.Divorce affected children mostly at the age between 9 and 113. The age between 9 and 11 is where children become intensely angry with parent divorce. This needed to be considered and care was to be taken for his best interest. School performance may be affected. Battle for custody was likely to reduce the level of concentration in school. At that age children blame either parent and reject one of them4. Likely effect on Bobby`s change in circumstance was also to be determined. This had an impact on the outcome of the application. This was to be taken into consideration and where his best interest lied was to determine the outcome. If the change from the mother to father could not affect Bobby then that was to be considered. Since Bobby was in a good relationship with Anita and Carol this could determine outcome.If Bobby felt that staying with his dad did not have any problem and no changes were to affect him that could also be considered. This was be looked into after comparing with the relationship of Bobby`s mother and the best for Bobby`s was to be given a priority. The story of Bobby`s relationship with his dad was not mentioned anywhere. This was much unlike the relationship between Bobby and his mother which was mentioned to give Steven’s application a hard time to succeed. Bobby`s age, sex and background and any characteristics which the court considered relevant could have determined the success or failure of the application. Bobby at the age of sixwas still a child and required care and responsible parenting. He was a male and as earlier mentioned, at his tenth birthday, he needed to be circumcised according to his father religion. His back ground was to be analysed together with any relevant characteristic. Age, sex and background were to be considered on who was the best for the Bobby. This was to give Steve an upper hand because he had some reasons on why he felt he had the best interest for Bobby and as long as he explained them well. If there was any harm Bobby had suffered or was at risk of suffering emotionally or socially then that could have determined the outcome. They were look at the relationship between Bobby with the father and analyseit. Bobby had spent some years with the father when the parents were still living together. Harm or suffering of any case by Steven was to make him lose the application.The relationship of Bobby and his mother, Anita was depicted as good. There was no way it had been depicted that Anita has caused suffering to Bobby. Bobby was also in a good relationship with Carol and also both of them had not been reported or depicted to have caused any suffering. Bobby was only disturbed by the divorce and the mother’s new relationship. Since the relationship between Bobby and the two women was good,this could have playeda part in determining the output of the application by Steven. The Steven and Carol abilities such as finances to meet the Bobby`s need was also a factor. Bobby required physical, educational and emotional needs among others5. The court hadto look into this carefully because they had to come with the best interest for Bobby. They needed to avoid situations where the parent given parental responsibilities was unable to meet them hence making life hard for Bobby. Parental ability will always be very important for the normal growth of the child and the court will have to look at the financial ability, time for the child which falls under parent`s ability6. Steven lived in a three bedroom house and a job that offered flexible hours. This depicted that he was financially stable and also had time for Bobby because of the flexibility of his Job. Anita was in a good relationship with Bobby meaning that Bobby was getting most of the basic needs he required. If the relationship was bad, parent ability could also have played a part in it. Steven also had got what it takes to win thecase though Anita`s side also had to be considered and the best decision had to be made.The Bobby`s welfare was the most important aspect for consideration in determining the case. If this was not taken into consideration, Bobby`s welfare would be in trouble. The court had to act in a judiciousfashion to give the best decision. Bobby had to be considered because that was to affect Bobby`s growth socially, educationally and emotionally. The courts range of power was to decide the outcome7. This was to determine whether the court was able to handle the case to give the best decision or refer it to other third parties who could give the best decision. The range of power for the court may be limited to handle such kind of case or it could have been a small issue that can be resolved by the involved parties outside the court. Circumcision has always been regarded as a rite of passage for many communities or religion. It was done at different time depending on the parties involved. Steven`sreligion allowed boys to be circumcised at their tenth birthday. Anita did not share his religious views hence this brought a disagreement. Anita had different opinion on the same. Circumcision was to be done shortly after birth, during childhood or around puberty for different groups. The court had to consider Anita`s opinion on the problem of circumcision. Bobby was not aware of the circumcision issue in that case. The court was to look into this matter carefully to give the best decision. The court could not be able to give a final solution to this matter but it may let Anita and Steven come to a consensus and if they failed to come to an agreement, then the court had to decide. They had to look into Anita`s opinion and if she had a plan for the same then decision was to be given based on that. The success of Steven`s view was to depend on Anita`s view which had to be considered. Anita raised a concern that at the time of Bobby was conceived she had relationship with another man. The court could have not been in a position to determine whether this was true or not. This could have broughtdelays in the court trying to verify whether Bobby was Steven`s son or not. The court`s likely approach to the uncertainty over Bobby`s paternity was to go through a Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) test8. This test was to certainly determine who the father of that child was. Steven raised issue that this was a plan by Anita to delay his application. Such matter was to be handled with care to determine. The DNA test wasto give the correct and determine who the biological father of Bobby was. The legal parents of Emily as it stood were Carol and Anita who were with the child. Carol who was the surrogate mother was the legal parent of Emily if anything happened before handing over Emily. Though they had agreed on the matter until the necessary arrangements were done then Carol and Anita remained the legal parents. They had an agreement on how it was going to be done hence the legality of Emily remained with her.If surrogate decided to change her mind then the child remained with her even if the child was genetically related to the other party9. If Jenny and Philip decided to leave Emily to Carol, Emily remained her still. There was need to be an bargain for the two parties on how the child was be taken as it was depicted in that case where Emily was soon be taken away by Jenny and Philip. The parental responsibility covered all rights and duties which by law a parent had in relation with his or her child. Carol still had parental responsibility because she still had Emily with her and she was the legal parent of Emily. She was to relinquish parental responsibility once the arrangement with her cousin Jenny and her husband Philip took Emily with them.If Philip decided to sign the birth certificate of Emily as the father when she was born, then she would have automatically had equal rights over the child with the surrogate. Since there is no mention of such a case, the parental responsibility remained with Carol until that was done. Philip and Jenny had assumed the responsibility once they formalized the agreement. They had agreed on the time when Emily wasto be handed over to Jenny and her husband. Carol had agreed on what she wanted which was part of the agreement. As long as the binding agreement was followed to the latter then no problem was to ariseas depicted in that case of Carol with her Cousin Carol and husband Philip.A parent responsibility agreement could also have been used10. This could have given Philip equal rights over the child with Carol. This was another way in which the parental responsibility would be given to the father of the child. For Jenny and Philip to formalize their status as Emily`s legal parents, the formal arrangement had to be made. The agreement had to be there for Carol`s rights to be taken away from her. Carol was to hand the legality and rights to Jenny and Philip. After the agreed period of time Jenny and Philip could apply for the parental order that was to give them full parental responsibility over Emily. The chances of success in the legality of this case were very high. The two parties were on agreement and further more they were related because Carol and Jenny were cousins. On the agreement Carol was to receive a certain amount of money because she really needed the money. The formalizing of the agreement was to make it official and hence the chances were very high because they had an agreement earlier on.The ?20,000 which was in the agreement was lawful. This was because the parties involved had come to consensus. It could have been unlawful if the parties had agreed on a sum and then one of the parties failed to honour the contract. The parties decided to agree and it was at that point that the two parties agreed on amount of ?20,000 which Carol really needed it. At the age of sixteen11, this is the time in which Bobby will decide on where he wants to live. The current age being six years, Bobby will have to wait for ten years to decide on where he wants to live. For the moment the court will have to decide on the best interest of the child which will be the best for him.For Emily, her legality remained with Carol until a parent order agreement which was to be given to Jenny and Philip full for permanent parental rights over Emily. This was to make the surrogate relinquish all her rights over the child. The amount in this agreement was lawful as the parties involved had agreed on it. 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