Britain to change 1989 Children’s Act to improve parental rights
November 20, 2012
Child’s right to see an absent father: Law to help millions from broken homes
- Government to draw up radical changes to the 1989 Children’s Act
- £10m will be pledged to help couples settle out of court
- Figures show one in five children lose contact with a parent after separation
By James Chapman UPDATED:19:14 EST, 2 February 2012
Millions of children from broken homes are to be granted new rights to a ‘full and continuing relationship’ with both their parents.
The move is designed to ensure that the parent who leaves the family home – most commonly the father – cannot be cut out of their children’s lives following an acrimonious separation.
Ministers have decided that a change in the law is vital in the face of heartbreaking evidence that huge numbers of youngsters whose families split up lose contact with one parent for ever.
Ministers decided a change in the law is vital to prevent youngsters whose families split up from losing contact with a parent
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke have been at odds over the proposals
Courts will be put under a duty to ensure that unless their welfare is threatened by staying in touch with either their mother or father, children have an ‘equal right to a proper relationship with both’.
Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg have dismissed objections from Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke and overturned the findings of a major review of family law which was published last year.
On Monday, the Government will announce a ministerial working group that will draw up radical changes to the 1989 Children Act.
Unmarried fathers say they are often at a particular disadvantage, having to apply for a ‘parental responsibility order’ through a court or have one granted through an agreement with the mother.
‘The Act is going to be rewritten,’ said a Government source. ‘The welfare of children must of course remain paramount – but alongside that there will be an equal right for a child to have a proper relationship with both parents.
Children’s Minister Tim Loughton (right) said courts are ‘rarely the best place’ for resolving conflicts between parents about the care of children
‘There should be no inbuilt legal bias towards the father or mother, and where there are no welfare issues, we want to see this principle reinforced through law.
‘This is about children. We want to be clear that both parents should have a full and continuing role in their children’s life after a separation.’
Ministers will pledge £10million for mediation services to encourage more couples to settle their disputes out of court.
Children’s Minister Tim Loughton told the Mail: ‘The courts are rarely the best place for resolving private disputes about the care of children. That’s why we want to see greater use of mediation to solve parental disputes out of court.
‘It is also right that we continue to encourage fathers to take responsibility as equal parents and to be fully involved with their children from the outset.’
The decision overturns the main finding of a family justice review, conducted for the Ministry of Justice by businessman David Norgrove, which was published in November.
It concluded that giving fathers shared or equal time, or even the right to maintain a meaningful relationship with their children, ‘would do more harm than good’.
The proposals immediately sparked a Cabinet revolt, led by Mr Duncan Smith and Mr Clegg, who insisted that the law must be amended to strengthen fathers’ rights.
Official figures show that one in five children from broken homes lose touch with their absent parent, usually their father, within three years and never see them again.
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“Abnormalities” traced back to Fukushima radioactive fallout
August 16, 2012
News reports like this are extremely worrisome to U.S. left-behind parents as well as parents in other countries with abducted dual citizen children being held in Japan. A number of these children are believed to be living in or very near the Fukushima radiation zone. The best interests of the child need to be considered by both the Japanese and foreign governments in cases such as this where the child’s future health is at risk. Particularly troubling is the finding that “abnormal” traits doubled among the second generation born, with radiation damage intensifying in future generations.
Japan Nuclear Accident: ‘Abnormalities’ in Butterflies Traced to Fukushima Plant
By Akiko Fujita | ABC News – Mon, Aug 13, 2012
Japanese scientists say “abnormalities” detected in the country’s butterflies may be a result of radioactive fallout from the Fukushima nuclear disaster last year. In a study published in Scientific Reports, an online journal, researchers say “artificial radionuclides” from the Fukushima Daiichi power plant caused “physiological and genetic damage” to pale grass blue butterflies.
Scientists first began tracking common butterflies around the nuclear plant two months after the disaster. They collected 121 insects, and found 12 percent of them had unusually small wings. That number jumped more than 5 percent when butterflies collected from the plant site had offspring of their own.
In another group of butterflies collected six months after the disaster, scientists found 28 percent had “abnormal” traits. That number nearly doubled among the second generation born.
“At the time of the accident, the populations of this species were overwintering as larvae and were externally exposed to artificial radiation,” the researchers wrote in their study. “It is possible that they ate contaminated leaves during the spring and were thus also exposed to internal radiation.”
It has been 17 months after the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl, and its effects on human health have largely been considered minimal, with no radiation-related deaths or illnesses reported so far. But traces of radioactive cesium exceeding government safety levels have been detected in seafood off the Fukushima coast, limiting the catch for fisherman there.
Tiny amounts of cesium of 137 and cesium 134 were detected in more than a dozen bluefin tuna caught near San Diego in August last year. The levels were 10 times higher than tuna found in previous years, but well below those the Japanese and US governments considered harmful to human health.
“blind”: A disturbing view of what children in Japan may face
January 11, 2012
American father bicycling through Japan to raise awareness
September 10, 2011
Kevin Brown is riding his bike through Japan and visiting local government officials to educate them about children’s rights to both parents:
This study runs counter to the conventional wisdom and conventional practice in Japan, where it is routinely assumed children of divorce and separation are better off with the noncustodial parent completely removed from their lives.
http://www.vancouversun.com/mobile/iphone/story.html?id=5328849
Children's Rights Council of Japan (Japan child abduction) 