If the separated or divorced parents cannot agree on custody arrangements, the court intervenes. The court considers the circumstances of the case in light of a parent`s ability to provide for and care for the child. In all custody decisions, the best interests of the child are of paramount importance. Over time and in the face of changing family patterns, ancestry has become a more complicated concept. Filiation is not simply the product of marital status or biological determination. On the contrary, it can occur inside or outside the marital family, for biological or non-biological parents, at birth or years later, for children conceived by sexual reproduction or assisted reproduction. Given the realities of contemporary family arrangements and the multiple pathways to parenthood, one wonders how many parents a child can have? Emancipation is a legal event by which a child acquires the freedom associated with adulthood earlier than the legal age. There are no fixed procedures for achieving emancipation. In general, conscription into the armed forces, marriage or self-sufficiency will result in emancipation. Typically, the investigation takes place after the fact, and if it is determined that the child is independent of the parents, emancipation has likely taken place and the court is more likely to recognize that emancipation.
On appeal, the Florida Fifth District Court of Appeals held that Kingsley, as a minor, could not commence proceedings to terminate his parents` rights (Kingsley v. Kingsley, 623 So. 2d 780 [1993]). Only a guardian ad litem or a friend of the court could do this. Nevertheless, the Court of Appeal upheld Rachel`s parental rights because there was clear and convincing evidence of Kingsley`s abandonment and because Kingsley`s adoptive parents had properly initiated the proceedings by filing separate dismissal applications. The court also found that there was no legitimate reason to order Kingsley`s adoption at the same time as Rachel`s rights forfeit. In fact, the concurrent adoption order was flawed because the dismissal order could be appealed. A controversial issue arises when a child is sick and parents refuse medical treatment on religious grounds. In an emergency situation that would endanger the child`s life, a court may override parental consent and authorize treatment. A much greater obstacle is when parents refuse to provide their child with important, but not life-threatening, medical care on religious grounds. The father and mother whose DNA is carried by a child are usually referred to as the child`s biological parents.
Legal parents have a legal family relationship with the child, but do not need to be related by blood, for example in the case of an adopted child. It is important to note that a common-law parent is not just a third party. Parents or life partners who help with a person`s child are de facto not parents. Instead, the parents have de facto established a parental relationship with the child. The law may assume that a person is a parent. A presumption of marriage exists in all States, either by customary law or by law (or both). If the person giving birth is married, her spouse is considered the legal parent. Biological paternity also provides a common basis for establishing filiation.
Voluntary acknowledgements of paternity (VAP), which states must maintain as a condition of federal funding, are the most common way to establish paternity for children born out of wedlock. PPVs have the force of a legal judgment on ancestry. To be valid, the PPV must be signed by the biological parent and the alleged genetic father, who certifies his status as a biological father and waives his right to genetic testing. Although a PPV can be revoked up to 60 days after it is signed, it can only be challenged thereafter on the basis of fraud, coercion or factual clerical error. The relevance of biological evidence to challenge PPVs varies from state to state, but courts in many jurisdictions have rejected challenges based on the mere fact that the recognized father is not the genetic father and knew this at the time the PPV was signed. Children`s rights activists cite the case as an example of how children are still considered the property of their biological parents. At the same time, self-help groups for biological parents welcome the decision. They believe Jessica DeBoer – who has been renamed Anna Schmidt – belongs to Cara and Dan Schmidt because Dan never gave up his parental rights and because blood ties have special social and legal significance. For biological parents who are not biological parents, presumed parents or recognized parents, a decision may be necessary to establish parentage. The biological parent, the presumed genetic parent or the child may bring an action for a declaration of filiation during the child`s minority.
In cases where the biological parent applies for State assistance, the State also has the right to establish filiation and thus to apply for assistance. Modern laws and courts have reconsidered the traditional primary role of the father and now give both parents equal powers, rights and duties. In the event of divorce or separation, all rights of decision and control over the child pass to the parent who has been granted custody, unless joint custody is transferred. In the event of the death of one of the parents, the other parent takes custody. State governments have also sought to ensure that parents who receive child support receive these payments. The Texas Attorney General, for example, oversees a child support department responsible for ensuring that child support payments are properly received and distributed. The ministry determines what is required on a case-by-case basis, but generally, non-custodial parents must pay support directly to the ministry, which then distributes that money to the custodial parent. If the non-custodial parent fails to pay child support, the ministry can locate the parent and take a number of corrective actions, including suspending state licenses.