about....... The Children Referendum
As it stands, if you are unmarried parents and you are deemed unfit to care for your children by the state, the state can take your children and put them up for adoption. If, however you are married parents and deemed unfit by the state to care for your children, the state cannot take your children and put them up for adoption. Th
is is because of the old idea that the family which is married parents and their children is deemed to be the best place for children. If parents are married, Children can be taken into care whether it be residential or foster care (not adopted care) but can often still have contact with the unfit parents thus creating a space that is unstable for the children. (In some cases this can be a good thing and relations between children and parents can be restored but in cases where horrendous abuse has taken place, it can be detrimental for a child).
a yes vote in the Referendum would bring the differentiation between unmarried and married parents into line. As it stands, I as an unmarried mother could have my daughter taken and placed in adoption if I was unfit to care for her, but Mrs. Jones who subjects her child to daily abuse cannot because she is married and the child lives within what the constitution sees as "family". Basically this Referendum does not affect me because my daughter can already be taken by the state and placed up for adoption but it does affect married parents as they would no longer have the mere fact that they are married as protection against their kids being taken from them and adopted. In the abuse case in Roscommon and the incest case in Kilkenny, the family (with married parents) was still deemed to be the best place for the children so social work/care was done with this in mind. In these cases however the children should have been taken from the parents at an earlier stage and could have been placed with stable adoptive parents and saved years of abuse.
The State can take our child and place her up for adoption if we are deemed unfit because we are not married. This will never happen because we will never give them a reason to. Why should marriage be protection for those inflicting abuse on their children?
This Referendum will not affect most of us as we are loving parents regardless of our marital status but it WILL affect those who inflict abuse and neglect on their children and think they have the right to hold onto them based merely on the fact they are married.
That is all. Thankyou
a yes vote in the Referendum would bring the differentiation between unmarried and married parents into line. As it stands, I as an unmarried mother could have my daughter taken and placed in adoption if I was unfit to care for her, but Mrs. Jones who subjects her child to daily abuse cannot because she is married and the child lives within what the constitution sees as "family". Basically this Referendum does not affect me because my daughter can already be taken by the state and placed up for adoption but it does affect married parents as they would no longer have the mere fact that they are married as protection against their kids being taken from them and adopted. In the abuse case in Roscommon and the incest case in Kilkenny, the family (with married parents) was still deemed to be the best place for the children so social work/care was done with this in mind. In these cases however the children should have been taken from the parents at an earlier stage and could have been placed with stable adoptive parents and saved years of abuse.
The State can take our child and place her up for adoption if we are deemed unfit because we are not married. This will never happen because we will never give them a reason to. Why should marriage be protection for those inflicting abuse on their children?
This Referendum will not affect most of us as we are loving parents regardless of our marital status but it WILL affect those who inflict abuse and neglect on their children and think they have the right to hold onto them based merely on the fact they are married.
That is all. Thankyou
