There was widespread relief when it was recently announced that, under the Children and Family Relationships Act 2015, unmarried fathers living in the Republic of Ireland would have the right to automatically become a child’s guardian for the very first time.
Under the act, unmarried fathers can take up this legal role if they fulfil certain co-habitation requirements: if they have lived for 12 months with the child’s mother, including a three-month period after the child’s birth.
But while this major reform in parental law has been welcomed, many have questioned the fact that fathers need to fulfil these conditions at all, raising the issue of inequality between mothers and fathers – regardless of their relationship status.
A hot topic of conversation right now, it was discussed on SPIN 1038’s Spin Talk show today, and the debate produced some highly emotive stories.
Among them was the story of ‘Ben’, an Irish father who was left feeling ‘frustrated’, ‘scared’ and disillusioned when – following the breakdown of his relationship – he had to head to court to apply for dual guardianship of his newborn daughter.
Ben and his partner split up a few months after his daughter’s birth, and despite living ‘as part of the family unit’ and ‘seeing his daughter every day’, he was left shocked and dismayed when he was informed that he had very little rights as an unmarried father.
Indeed, he admitted to feeling ‘hard done by’ when he had to head to court in a bid to secure visits to his little one and revealed that he ‘could see how a man could slip into depression’ with the inequality of the system.
While Ben has settled for seeing his little girl three days a week and once at the weekend, his story has provided a heart-wrenching portrait of the reality behind our parental laws.
And clearly Ben’s story hit a nerve on social media, with a number of Facebook users calling for more discussion and action in order to secure equal rights for fathers.
“In a society when everyone wants equality, I don’t know why this is not a bigger issue. The child is 50% mum and 50% dad, so why does the male always suffer? Children deserve two parents and should not be used as a bargaining chip,” wrote one male commenter.
What are your thoughts on the current state of parental rights for unmarried fathers? Do you think the new reforms adequately address some of the concerns?
