Biological parenthood, should not be taken into account in custody hearings: Debatabase - Debate Topics and Debate Motions
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Biological parenthood, should not be taken into
Intro to Debatabase account in custody hearings print this page
Debatabase Junior
Summary: Should judges be allowed to take into account whether or not a Discuss topic
Contributing Topics parent is biologically related to a child when making decisions in a custody
Commission Topics hearing?
My Topics
Submit Topic Introduction
Suggest Topic Author:Jo Box ( United Kingdom ) Jo has an undergraduate degree in Law from Cambridge and is
currently studying for the LLM. She is a European Debating Championships Semi-Finalist, John Smith
Mace Finalist and former Director of Debating at the Cambridge Union Society.
Created: Sunday, October 04, 2009
Last Modified: Sunday, October 04, 2009
Context
Custody hearings are a special type of decision-making forum which take place within the family courts.
Often, when parents separate, or when children are born to parents who are not in any form of
relationship, there are disputes as to how the child should be cared for. In a custody hearing, judges are
empowered to make decisions about residence (where the child should live). Even where both parents
agree about residence, they may not agree on contact (how much time the non-residential parent can
spend with the child). Judges can order direct contact (either overnight or daytime), supervised contact
(at special centres) or indirect contact (by telephone, letter or email). Residential parents who refuse to
allow such contact face a range of sanctions including prison in extreme cases. When making decisions,
courts take into account all available information about the child and both parents. In recent years, the
growth of non-traditional families has led to a shift in the way that parenthood is viewed, with increasing
2011 Bosnia and Herzegovina prominence for ‘social parents’ who have no biological link to the child: adoptive parents, stepparents,
Leadership Program partners within homosexual couples who have undertaken IVF, etc. Meanwhile those with a biological
Exact dates TBA. Eighteen connection with the child, such as surrogate mothers and grandparents are increasingly demanding
high school students and three access of some sort. However, biological parenthood is still taken into account by courts, and often
teachers from Bosnia and plays a decisive role in difficult decisions.
Herzegovina (BiH) attend the
highly interactive Youth
Leadership Program and Arguments
accompanying Teacher
Professional Development Pros Cons
Program, in Salem, Oregon,
and Washington, DC. The court’s priority should be the welfare of the child Biological parenthood does matter to a child’s welfare
More about this event and biological parenthood is irrelevant here. When and the court must therefore take this into account:
making decisions, courts should focus on what is best people care about their biological heritage. This is
for the child and his or her future development. evident from the large number of adopted children who
Judges should take into account each adult’s capacity register to find their natural parents. There are a
to provide care, their relationship with the child, their number of reasons for this. It can be important for the
lifestyle and their motivations. Being biologically development of a personal identity to have a sense of
related to a child has no value in and of itself. A one’s heritage, particularly if one’s ancestors
biological parent may have a particularly strong desire originated from a different part of the world with a
to care for the child, but this can be taken into account different culture or set of traditions. People like to see
Slovak Debate Association: separately from the fact of biological parenthood. A themselves as part of something more important than
Bratislava Schools' lesbian co-parent whose partner conceived through merely their own existence and having a sense of the
Competition IVF and who is not biologically related to the child, history of their ancestors assists this understanding.
The Slovak Debate may have equally strong motivations to the biological Given this, it is particularly important for the
Association would like to invite mother to care for the child and an equal capacity to development of the child’s identity that they have
you to the international do so. some form of contact with their biological parents.
Bratislava Schools Debating
Other reasons may also move the courts to favour
Competition. The tournament
will take place from 7th to 11th biological parents, however there are some cases,
April 2011 in Slovakia’s capital such as a father who is imprisoned for attacking the
city (yep, you guessed it) mother, where all the other factors weigh against any
Bratislava. form of contact. It is the fact of biological parenthood
More about this event alone which may rightly justify ordering indirect or
supervised contact. Denying such information to the
courts removes this reason for contact in a small
number of cases, and so harms the welfare of these
children.
Ignoring biological parenthood is crucial for equality of It is unclear that ignoring biological parenthood in this
parenthood. As the growth of non-traditional family context will achieve equality of parenthood given the
structures continues, more and more children do not weight that it receives in other areas. Biological
file:///C|/Users/User/Desktop/Debatebase/Biological%20parenthood,%20should%20not%20be%20taken%20into%20account%20in%20custody%20hearings.htm[3/31/2011 9:27:49 PM]
Biological parenthood, should not be taken into account in custody hearings: Debatabase - Debate Topics and Debate Motions
live with both their biological parents but instead with parents are still usually registered on a child’s birth
HWS / IDEA Round Robin
step-parents, co-parents within homosexual couples, certificate and compelled to pay child benefit in
In the HWS / IDEA round etc. It is important for the emotional development of countries such as the UK, even when they have never
robin the International Debate
these children and the integrity of their families that all met the child. However, even in the unlikely case
Education Association and
parents are perceived equally. However, in giving where it could be shown that equality of parenthood
Hobart and William Smith
Colleges are bringing together weight to the fact of biological parenthood, the courts would be assisted, it is unfair on those children who
an elite and internationally implicitly send a message that other types of lose out on the opportunity to develop contact with
diverse group of debaters and parenthood are inferior. The desire to know one’s their biological parents as a result of the policy. There
adjudicators for a weekend of biological parents is merely a reflection of this is no evidence to suggest that children will stop
debate at the highest level. perception. Children search for their biological parents wanting to feel part of a longer chain of people or to
More about this event because society conditions them to think that these know something about the history of their ancestors. It
individuals matter to their identity. Ignoring biological has been established that it may be in a child’s
parenthood in custody hearings is an important step interests to maintain contact with a biological parent,
towards rejecting biological parenthood as superior even where all other factors militate against this. It is
and achieving the equality of parenthood necessary unfair on these children to use them as social
for the happiness and emotional security of the battering rams.
increasing number of children in non-traditional
families.
IDEA Exchange 2011 – Vilnius It would be fairer for all parents: under the status quo Consideration of biological parenthood is the only way
15-17th April! parents are often unable to choose whether they are for unmarried fathers who have no relationship with
biological parents or not. If lesbian couples choose to the mother and have been denied contact with the
If you are interested in making
a positive change in your start a family, clinics will usually determine who should child to form a relationship with that child. Custody
community, if you are working be the biological mother on the basis of which woman hearings are not just about parents who already have
or volunteering for the is statistically more likely to conceive. Similarly, if one relationships with their children, but also those who
promotion of the values of an considers couples with fertility difficulties who use wish to form relationships in the first place but who are
open society, if you are another man’s sperm during IVF or rely on a currently being denied that opportunity. These parents
interested in debate – surrogate, it is evident that individuals may be unable can play an important role in the child’s upbringing
competitive and non-
to achieve biological parenthood through no fault of and it is unfair for both the father and child not to
competitive, if you would like
to meet other their own. It is unfair on these parents to disadvantage consider this biological link. Furthermore, the
them on this basis, rather than their commitment to unfairness would be compounded in those states
More about this event
the child. where biological fathers are forced to pay towards the
child’s maintenance if the biological link was used in
this context but not in establishing contact.
Even if it is true that biological parenthood should be a Even if the fact of biological parenthood is not meant
small factor to consider, it is clear that judges tend to to influence the court’s decision, judges will
give it too much weight. This is clear in the English presumably still have access to the information; those
courts where the House of Lords has recently held who are biased may allow this to colour their views as
Estonian Debating Society
that there are three types of parenthood – biological, to other factors, undermining claims of greater
and IDEA join forces to
organize Estonia Open 2011! gestational and social – and that a lesbian mother fairness. Even if courts are denied this information, the
with all three aspects of parenthood must have priority problem here is not the information being available but
Estonian Open 2011 will be
over the lesbian co-parent with only one type, rather judicial attitudes. It would be better to target
held in British Parliamentary
Style: 5 preliminary rounds irrespective of who is better capable of caring for the such attitudes than to ignore a relevant factor and so
with 5-minute speeches, child. Such judicial prejudice can be explained by the harm a child’s welfare.
followed by semi-finals and composition of the judiciary in most states. Judges
Grand Final with 7-minute tend to be older members of society with traditional
speeches. Team cap for the views which do not easily accommodate different
tournament is 36 and N-1 views of the family structure. Experience therefore
judging rule applies for the
shows that allowing courts to take biological
teams. Chi
parenthood into account can lead to unfair decisions.
More about this event These decisions are unfair on social parents and
harmful to the welfare of the child where his or her
interests are not best served. It would consequently be
better for it to not be considered at all.
Motions
That custody hearings should not take into account biological parenthood
This House believes that biological parenthood has no place in a court room
This House believes that biological parenthood is irrelevant
This House would make all parents equal
Useful Sites
Family Law Week: Re G – Changing Face of Parenthood
Parenthood and Procreation (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
Tensions between legal, biological and social conceptions of parenthood
The Rights of Children and the Redefinition of Parenthood
Families Need Fathers
Useful Books
Is Parenthood a Right or a Privilege? (At Issue)
By:
file:///C|/Users/User/Desktop/Debatebase/Biological%20parenthood,%20should%20not%20be%20taken%20into%20account%20in%20custody%20hearings.htm[3/31/2011 9:27:49 PM]
Biological parenthood, should not be taken into account in custody hearings: Debatabase - Debate Topics and Debate Motions
Editor: Stefan Kiesbye (Editor)
Family (Opposing Viewpoints)
By:
Editor: Karen Miller (Editor)
Gay and Lesbian Families (At Issue)
By:
Editor: Roman Espejo (Editor)
The Relationship Rights of Children
By: James G Dwyer
The Fragmenting Family
By: Brenda Almond
Themes
Law and Crime
Discuss
View the full discussion
Author Post
mejiski1965 Posted: Thu Oct 21, 2010 01:23 pm
Member
The court gave me physical and legal custody of my daughter in 2005, the father get
visitation twice a month, the father never got in contact with concerning our child, no
phone calls nothing,i later found out by a family member that he got marrried and his
wife is a social worker, the wife contacted me by a letter in january 2009, saying that
he wanted to see his daughter, so I set the arrangemnets up with the wife and after I
had to deal with my daughter kicking screaming an trying to calm her down, she then
start to realize that ok i have to go,I hated putting my child through this, but i did not
want to be held in contemp of the oder, so for a year the father picked up the child
about four times then he realized my daughter liked his wife an she would not go with
him unless the wife came with him,after the forth visit, the wife picked her the
remaining of the year,he missed april 2009 no pick ups,then he picked her up May
14th and the 28th, after court Octobr 13 he then sends a text to my phone to want to
pick her up,I told him he must do waht the told him and go thru the GAL and she will
lest us know how things gowith setting up visits with his daughter. The wife always
called me to pick up our daughter so after I told her she couldnt pick her up any more
she asked me thru a text is there a problem I said no, this has nothing to do with her
this is between me the mother, the father an our child, the judge told him he is
suppose to pick his daughter up but he kept asking me to let her pick his daughter up
and I told him and the wife to read the order an look at the names. During May I was
ask by the wife and the father can my daughter go to summer camp where his wife
works and I told him that I think he should get her for 2 weeks an if she wants to stay
an extra week it will be up to how his daughter feels, when I told him no, because she
didnt want to go that long, I feel threaten for him to come to me and say well I am just
going to take you back to court for custody. This is the second time I've been in court
for custody, I went about 6 time in the past year since he came back around for the
child support cases, now I am back to court again, On October 13th I went home with
tears in my eyes feeling like this time he going take my daughter, he had his wife who
is the social worker and a lawyer to represent him an I cant afford one. I and my
daughter will be in counceling starting October 21.Should I get a lawyer to represent
me, I am afraid for my children to b pulled apart. I dont know what to do, since I cant
afford a lawyer
Debatabase Posted: Sun Oct 4, 2009 05:27 am
Member
Author: Jo Box (United Kingdom) Jo has an undergraduate degree in Law from
Cambridge and is currently studying for the LLM. She is a European Debating
Championships Semi-Finalist, John Smith Mace Finalist and former Director of
Debating at the Cambridge Union Society. Created: Sunday, October 04, 2009 View
Topic Custody hearings are a special type of decision-making forum which take place
within the family courts. Often, when parents separate, or when children are born to
parents who are not in any form of relationship, there are disputes as to how the child
should be cared for. In a custody hearing, judges are empowered to make decisions
about residence (where the child should live). Even where both parents agree about
residence, they may not agree on contact (how much time the non-residential parent
can spend with the child). Judges can order direct contact (either overnight or
daytime), supervised contact (at special centres) or indirect contact (by telephone,
letter or email). Residential parents who refuse to allow such contact face a range of
sanctions including prison in extreme cases. When making decisions, courts take into
account all available information about the child and both parents. In recent years, the
growth of non-traditional families has led to a shift in the way that parenthood is
viewed, with increasing prominence for "social parents" who have no biological link to
file:///C|/Users/User/Desktop/Debatebase/Biological%20parenthood,%20should%20not%20be%20taken%20into%20account%20in%20custody%20hearings.htm[3/31/2011 9:27:49 PM]
Biological parenthood, should not be taken into account in custody hearings: Debatabase - Debate Topics and Debate Motions
the child: adoptive parents, stepparents, partners within homosexual couples who
have undertaken IVF, etc. Meanwhile those with a biological connection with the
child, such as surrogate mothers and grandparents are increasingly demanding
access of some sort. However, biological parenthood is still taken into account by
courts, and often plays a decisive role in difficult decisions.
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