MANY UNMARRIED fathers still don’t know that they have no rights to their child unless they have guardianship, the annual general meeting of Treoir has heard.
The group, which represents unmarried parents, said many fathers mistakenly believe they have rights to their child because their name is on the child’s birth cert.
Where a child’s parents have not married each other, only the mother is automatically a guardian of her child, even if the father is named on the birth cert.
A father can get guardianship with the agreement of the mother, or by going to court.
Guardianship gives the parent the right to make decisions concerning the child on issues such as consenting to medical treatment, the choice of religion and schooling, or the decision to leave the country.
Treoir chairwoman Leonie Lunny said there were many recent court cases involving fathers whose children had been removed from them, sometimes to another country.
“As these fathers were not guardians, nor had initiated guardianship proceedings, the mothers were not breaking any law by removing the children,” she said.
Treoir’s information centre received many queries on this matter and this highlighted the need for accurate, easily accessible information, she said.
“Treoir endeavours to provide this but the message must be conveyed that fathers need to be proactive in securing guardianship, preferably by agreement with the mother, out of court,” Ms Lunny said.
Of the 9,000 calls received by the information centre last year, 24 per cent were from fathers and 38 per cent were from mothers and pregnant women. The remainder were from family members and service providers.
One in five calls concerned guardianship, while 28 per cent involved access or custody questions.
More than one-third of callers were in the 30-39 age group, with just 23 per cent under 25.
Yesterday, Treoir encouraged all unmarried fathers to make themselves aware of their legal position in the interests of their children.
