Proposals to radically reform family law in order to give more rights to family relationships than marriage has been described as “flawed and misguided” by The Iona Institute.

In a new report out today the Law Reform Commission recommends, among other things, that unmarried fathers be given automatic guardianship of their children along with the mother, and that civil partners and step-parents can be granted guardianship of a child by court order.

This raises the prospect of a child having more than two guardians – or legal parents – even when one of the existing guardians strongly objects.

The report also recommends that former cohabiting partners of a child’s mother can apply for access to that child.

This could mean that in addition to having more than two legal parents, a child could also have several other adults with access rights to him or her.

Responding to the report, called ‘Report of Family Relationships’, The Iona Institute described the LRC approach as “flawed” and said the best way to help children is to strengthen and promote marriage rather than further weaken it.

The statement reads in full:

“THE Law Reform Commission’s Report on Family Relationships released today makes some worthwhile suggestions but overall its approach to family law and the changing Irish family is flawed and misguided.

 The Commission is correct to draw attention to “changing patterns of family relationships”. However, these changes have seen a dramatic weakening of marriage in Irish society and this is very much to the detriment of children. (See note 2).

 It is a fact that over one in four children are now raised outside marriage and it is a fact this can create problems for the children themselves, for unmarried fathers, for grandparents who no longer see their grandchildren etc.

 However, the best way to address these problems is to strengthen and encourage marriage, not to further undermine it by parceling out many of its legal benefits to other forms of relationships.

 It is often said that it is ‘unrealistic’ to promote marriage, but in response we quote Isabel Sawhill and Ron Haskins of the left-of-centre Brookings Institute in the United States who said: “To those who argue that [promoting marriage] is old-fashioned and inconsistent with modern culture, we argue that modern culture is inconsistent with the needs of children.” (See note 3).

 We believe that the rights of unmarried fathers should be strengthened. We believe that when an unmarried father applies to court for guardianship of his child, there should be a strong presumption in his favour. However, we do not believe that guardianship should be automatic as the Commission recommends.

 Evidence shows that married men generally have a much stronger commitment to their children and to the mother of their children than unmarried fathers. (See note 4). For this reason alone, marriage should be encouraged and one way to do this is to give marriage legal rights that belong only to it. One of these is a right to be automatically made guardian of your child.

 Giving automatic guardianship right to unmarried father will further undermine the special status of marriage. The special status of marriage stems precisely from the fact that certain legal rights, benefits and responsibilities are unique and special to it.

 However, some of the recommendations of the LRC report are worth implementing. One is the recommendation that there should be automatic joint registration of both parents on a birth certificate.

 Commenting on the report, the Director of The Iona Institute, David Quinn, said: “The Law Reform Commission is correct to focus on the needs of children in its new report. However if it really wants to help children, then it should strongly recommend promoting marriage. No other form of the family helps children more. Despite some useful recommendations in this report, its overall effect would to further undermine the special status of marriage and this could only have further harmful consequences for children, for men and women and for society”

Notes

1. The Iona Institute is a pro-marriage organisation.

2. “Research clearly demonstrates that family structure matters for children, and the family structure that helps the most is a family headed by two biological parents in a low-conflict marriage … There is thus value in promoting strong, stable marriages between biological parents.” “Marriage from a Child’s Perspective: How Does Family Structure Affect Children, and What Can We Do about It?” A Child Trends Research Brief (ref ED467554), by Kristin Anderson Moore, Susan Jekielek and Carol Emig, June 2002

3. From ‘Creating an Opportunity Society’ published by The Brookings Institute, 2009.

4. Roughly a third of unmarried fathers see their child once a week or more, a third have less regular contact, and a third have no contact at all. ‘US National Survey of Families and Households’ (There are no equivalent Irish figures)

5. The Iona Institute made a submission to the LRC in response to its consultation paper last week on this issue. It can be downloaded from here: http://www.ionainstitute.com/assets/files/LRC_response_Iona_Institute.pdf