The concept of parents' rights in today's society

Abstract

Parents' and children's rights involve an inter-relationship both in private law and in public law. This inter-relationship has evolved during the years and has grown complicated in that parental rights no longer prevail unconditionally over children's rights as they once did. In this scenario one has to analyse whether parents' rights under Maltese law still exists, or whether they have slowly evolved into parental responsibilities towards the child. In this regard, it is to be noted that under Maltese law there have been no major amendments to family law specifically catering for children's rights, however, both the law and court judgments indicate that the best interest of the child is being sought. Although children should be protected by law in order to impede from possible abuses, it is essential to find the best trade-off point between parents' rights and the limitations of their authority over their child. However, because of the change in mentalities both of society and of the courts, in today's day and age what rights do parents possess over their child? Do parents still have the power to decide on behalf of their minor children or has this authority been taken away from them bit by bit? The introductory chapter will provide an overview of the concept of parenthood by explaining who is a parent, who can take the role of a parent in certain situations and what are parents' rights. Chapter two will present details on parents' responsibilities and children's rights in line with current Maltese legislation. Further elaboration on this subject will be undertaken by providing details on what terminates parental authority. Maltese legislation will then be compared to other civil law systems. Chapter three will try to answer the question whether parents' rights have been weakened and whether in a way or another these rights have been turned into responsibilities. This will be achieved through the conduct of detailed analyses of court judgments, state interventions and by looking at the work that is being done by associations or institutions in favour of children, and other relevant issues. In the next chapter a further review will be undertaken whereby the Maltese current position is analysed through questionnaires, which will be conducted with professionals directly related with the field of family law. Chapter five will conclude this thesis by providing recommendations on the subject matter basing my opinion on the results emerging from my thesis. Recommendations will then be made for possible amendments.