Legal Agreements and Child Adoption
Legal agreements such as adoptions, custody, and parentage are all made to care for children when their parents are unable to do so. The process by which an adult takes the role of a child's legal permanent parent is known as child adoption. Where the prior parent-child relationship is broken and a new parent-child relationship is established, child adoption is applicable. (Adamec, 2007, p.52). The parents' renunciation of their parental rights causes this to occur, termination of parental rights through a means such as a court order or consent by the birth parent for child adoption.an open adoption is a situation in which the birth parents are in still in contact with the adopted child.
Custody and Parental Rights
Custody refers to a situation where a person or an entity hold the responsibility of taking care of the well-being of a child, however, the birth parents still retain legal parental rights. A child custodian holds the rights to consent or make decisions on behalf the child. Birth parents can regain custody of their child if a court certifies the parents as capable of caring for the child.
Parentage and Guardianship
Parentage or guardianship refers to a situation similar to child custody in which an individual is responsible for caring for the well-being of a child and retains legal authority to decide on behalf of the child. Guardianship can be overturned by the courts upon asserting that the guardian is unfit to care for the child and guarantee its safety.
Case Law
(California Laws) In a 2011 case in re M.C in which the court invited the legislature to recognize the rule of two, led to the California bill being passed that allows children to have more than two legal parents. California child custody laws take into account several factors such as child's health, safety, education and general welfare and the legal implications are meant to have the child's best interest in mind. California law favors joint custody both legal and physical upon agreement of both parents. In a scenario where there is disagreement in regard to custody issues the court has wide discretionary mandate to design a plan that bears the child's best interest (Brown, Doskow, 2011, p.70). California laws allow for parents disagreeing on custody matters to attend mediation prior to participating in a contest court procedure.
Conclusion
Understanding child laws and legal principles governing child adoption, custody as well as parentage applicable in one's state will be helpful to individuals involved in the process. The understanding of these laws will also reduce the challenges faced by children caught in between disagreeing parties. Factors such as visitation hours, custody and child abuse, parenting, mandatory meditation, among others should be taken into consideration when undertaking issues on child adoption, custody, and parentage.
References
United Nations. (2009). Child adoption: Trends and policies. New York: United Nations
Adamec, C. A., & Miller, L. C. (2007). The encyclopedia of adoption. New York: Facts On File.
Brown, D. W., & Doskow, E. (2011). The guardianship book for California: How to become a child's legal guardian. Berkeley, CA: Nolo.
