[DRAFT] Resolving a Child's Paternity

[Mosktopia]

Resolving a Child's Paternity
Category: Human Rights | Strength: Significant

The Member Nations of the World Assembly:

Noting that in the vast majority of cases the identity of a child's mother is readily apparent at the time of the child's birth;

Regretting that it is not always so easy to identify the child's father;

Recognizing that children have a right to the care, love, and support of their father, assuming the father is actually capable of providing those things;

Also recognizing that fathers often have a strong and deserved interest in raising their children and being active in their children's lives;

Concerned that without proper recognition of a child's paternity, a child may grow-up without a strong and valuable source of support;

Equally concerned that without proper recognition of a child's paternity, a child's father may be legally precluded from taking an active and supportive role in the child's life;

Convinced that the drastic and life-altering consequences of failing to properly establish a child's paternity justifies the establishment of an internationally recognized framework for determining the paternity of a child.

Now, therefore, the General Assembly hereby enacts the following provisions:

1. For the purposes of this act "paternity" refers to the legal fatherhood of a child, including any attendant rights and responsibilities.

2. Where a child is born to a mother who is legally married:

1. It shall be presumed that the mother's spouse is the child's father, and paternity shall be established in the mother's spouse.
2. If the mother's spouse denies paternity, the spouse shall be entitled to a blood test to determine the child's paternity. If the blood test reveals that the spouse is the child's biological parent, paternity shall be established in that person; otherwise, paternity shall not be established in that person unless they voluntarily consent.

3. Where a child is born to a mother who is not married:

1. Any person (other than a direct blood relative of the mother) may, with the consent of the mother, voluntarily acknowledge paternity, and paternity shall be established in that person.
2. If a person voluntarily acknowledges paternity, but the mother does not consent, that person shall be entitled to a blood test to determine the child's paternity. If the blood reveals that the person acknowledging paternity is the child's biological parent, paternity shall be established in that person otherwise, paternity shall not be established in that person unless they voluntarily consent.
3. If no one voluntarily acknowledges paternity, and the mother can name who she reasonably suspects the father is, the mother shall be entitled to a blood test to determine the paternity of the child. If the blood reveals that the named person is the child's biological parent, paternity shall be established in that person; otherwise, paternity shall not be established in that person unless they voluntarily consent.

4. Clarifies that nothing in this act shall be read to prevent or hinder: the lawful adoption of a child, the termination of parental rights for good cause (such as abuse), and/or the authority of a member nation to pass laws and orders designed to protect a child's best interests.

[Christian Democrats]

tl;dr

Before doing anything else, you need to get this proposal below the 3500-character limit.

[Louisistan]

Deputy Ambassador Schulz:
First of all, I wish to thank the ambassador from Mosktopia for bringing this matter to the attention of this esteemed assembly and for the hard work and thought his delegation has put into this proposal.

That being said, I believe there to be some problems with Article 1:
Consider the following scenarios:
a) A child is born to a mother who is legally married. The mother's spouse disclaims paternity and the test shows he is not the father. Under your proposal the biological father would not be able to claim paternity even if he wishes to. Under your proposal there would be no father.
b) The (legally married) mother herself disclaims the spouse's paternity. No tests, nothing! There is no case to cover this.
c) Same-sex-marriage. It is very very unlikely that the mother is married to the biological father if the spouse is also a woman. Although in that case this might have been intended?

Then again, my nation does not have the concept of civil marriage as it is a purely religious construct in our society, so Article 1 wouldn't really concern us. But I suspect we may be a minority there

[The Dark Star Republic]

"While I hate to be the one to play this card so early on an otherwise interesting proposal, I just happened to serve a Bigamy Bucket to a charming little family, and it got me thinking. This seems to assume monogamous arrangements. In fact, it seems to assume heterosexual monogamous arrangements:

Where a child is born to a mother who is legally married:

1. It shall be legally presumed that the mother's spouse is the child's father,

"If the mother's spouse is a woman, this assumption is obviously false."

~ former Ambassador to the WA Inky Fungschlammer

[Mosktopia]

tl;dr

Before doing anything else, you need to get this proposal below the 3500-character limit.

The first draft is now well below the character limit. Thank you for bringing that to my attention.

Deputy Ambassador Schulz:
Consider the following scenarios:
a) A child is born to a mother who is legally married. The mother's spouse disclaims paternity and the test shows he is not the father. Under your proposal the biological father would not be able to claim paternity even if he wishes to. Under your proposal there would be no father.
b) The (legally married) mother herself disclaims the spouse's paternity. No tests, nothing! There is no case to cover this.

I see your point. What do you suggest?

c) Same-sex-marriage. It is very very unlikely that the mother is married to the biological father if the spouse is also a woman. Although in that case this might have been intended?

I admit that this proposal is not intended to cover gay marriage, though I doubt how often this is an issue for gay families. I would suspect that, more often than not, gay couples are starting families through adoption, which the last provision makes clear is not affected at all by this proposal.

Then again, my nation does not have the concept of civil marriage as it is a purely religious construct in our society, so Article 1 wouldn't really concern us. But I suspect we may be a minority there [/quote]

[The Dark Star Republic]

I would suspect that, more often than not, gay couples are starting families through adoption, which the last provision makes clear is not affected at all by this proposal.

"That seems to ignore the issue of IVF."

~ former Ambassador to the WA Inky Fungschlammer

[Mousebumples]

Speaking of gay married couples who give birth, does designating the sperm donor as the "father" create issues with regards to child support, visitation rights, etc. ?

Bottom line? I'm not sure that this is an issue that needs to be resolved on an international level and I think that it may cause more problems than it solves.

Yours,

[Defwa]

I preface this by pointing out that in defwa, an individual may have any number of spouses of any sex.

In the event that a woman identifies a man as the father and he consents but another man claims paternity and is proved to be the biological father, which takes superiority?

[Defwa]

Speaking of gay married couples who give birth, does designating the sperm donor as the "father" create issues with regards to child support, visitation rights, etc. ?

Bottom line? I'm not sure that this is an issue that needs to be resolved on an international level and I think that it may cause more problems than it solves.

Yours,

(Image)

I suppose that's all handled by your national government. This, so far, seems to only identify the father but not obligate them to do anything.

I agree, though, that the utility of this is minimal as far as I can tell. I would welcome counterpoint to that belief.

[Mosktopia]

We did not consider invitro fertilization, homosexual relations, and the like, when drafting this proposal. This proposal is modeled off a great many national laws on establishing paternity that we consulted in coming up with a rough draft. It's an area that we haven't touched on as an assembly and one that affects a great many lives the world over. That said, we are aware that it implicates many issues, including homosexual marriage, homosexual procreation, artificial insemination, adoption, extramarital affairs, bigamy, parental rights, and so on. We would prefer to make it clear that this act does not affect those issues and is designed to address the (statistically more common) scenarios that arise in heterosexual, (at least relatively) monogamous situations.

If the consensus is that this is too complicated an area to try to resolve via international legislation, we suppose we can live with that. But this proposal would promulgate relatively simple rules that would apply in a vast majority of situations in which the stakes are life altering for all involved. We think that's certainly worthy of international attention.

[The Dark Star Republic]

We would prefer to make it clear that this act does not affect those issues and is designed to address the (statistically more common) scenarios that arise in heterosexual, (at least relatively) monogamous situations.

"I would suggest then including either in the definition or as a preface that it (a) only applies to such situations and (b) is up to individual nations to determine how to extend the laws to different situations.

"I also don't really agree on the category as nothing about this appears to remove government regulation of citizens' lives - if anything it does the exact opposite - but that's a boring debate for an otherwise interesting proposal.

"On a technical note, I am concerned about 3.iii. seeming to authorise a compulsory blood test on a person based on another person's 'reasonabl[e] suspicion'; that seems an unacceptably vague standard."

~ former Ambassador to the WA Inky Fungschlammer

[Mosktopia]

We would prefer to make it clear that this act does not affect those issues and is designed to address the (statistically more common) scenarios that arise in heterosexual, (at least relatively) monogamous situations.

"I would suggest then including either in the definition or as a preface that it (a) only applies to such situations and (b) is up to individual nations to determine how to extend the laws to different situations.

"I also don't really agree on the category as nothing about this appears to remove government regulation of citizens' lives - if anything it does the exact opposite - but that's a boring debate for an otherwise interesting proposal.

"On a technical note, I am concerned about 3.iii. seeming to authorise a compulsory blood test on a person based on another person's 'reasonabl[e] suspicion'; that seems an unacceptably vague standard."

Thanks for the constructive feedback! I'll respond in greater detail when it's less tired over here.

As for the category, I tried to point out in the preamble why this is about protecting "rights," and some rights (especially familial rights like visitation and support) are created by the state action rather than the absence of state action. But if folks take issue with that, I suppose this could be Social Justice or Moral Decency, depending on how you look at it.

[Chester Pearson]

How in the name of Christ is this even anything close to being an international issue?

[Araraukar]

How in the name of Christ is this even anything close to being an international issue?

That, and how the *beep* is this even a national issue?

[Alqania]

1. For the purposes of this act "paternity" refers to the legal fatherhood of a child...

"The Queendom does not recognise any 'legal fatherhood', we recognise legal parenthood regardless of sex and gender", objected Lord Raekevik. "Alqanian law does not recognise all biological or genetic relations as legal relations, nor does it limit legal relations to those that have a basis in biology or genetics. A child may be recognised by Alqanian law to have two or more fathers, or no father at all."

"Furthermore, the Queendom takes offence at the notion that a child would be any worse off with no parent of male sex or gender. We find such an opinion particularly offensive to mothers, both in cases where a child has a non-male person as their sole parent and in cases where a child has two or more such parents."

Noting that in the vast majority of cases the identity of a child's mother is readily apparent at the time of the child's birth;

"On a further note, we would like to question this proposal's apparent presumption of maternity in a person who gives birth. As it relates to DNA, this seems to overlook surrogacy, where the child and the person giving birth may not be closely related by blood. Also in cases where a genetic parent gives birth, that person may not wish to be recognised as a legal parent at all - how would it serve the infant's interests that such a person be presumed a mother?"

[The Eternal Kawaii]

In the Name of the Eternal Kawaii, may the Cute One be praised

We can support this proposal only if we are assured that it does not establish some "right" to unwed paternity. Having children out of wedlock is illegal under Kawaiian law, and so any such claim of paternity would be a de facto admission to a crime. Parenthood is a legal privilege among Kawaiians, and a legal privilege cannot be established by an illegal act.

[MRWOFFLE]

1) Does this state there has to be a father declared, what if the mother wishes to remain a single mother? No where in that proposal does it state an option for a mother to not declare a father.

Also recognizing that fathers often have a strong and deserved interest in raising their children and being active in their children's lives

2) If you are stating this on an international level, please remember that cultures vary and although this may be how it is in your country, there may be countries out there who follow different standards in living. Perhaps you need to add a clause that prevents this proposal from affecting cultures where the father does not play a strong role.

3) What happens if a child's father dies while the child is young or the mother finds she made the wrong choice, can a father be redeclared?

4) What declares marriage & what if there are certain rules/laws in place or cultural differences?, especially in countries where "marriage" is defined differently, perhaps in a country that supports polygamy?
For Example, this was just posted and helps me out some:

In the Name of the Eternal Kawaii, may the Cute One be praised

We can support this proposal only if we are assured that it does not establish some "right" to unwed paternity. Having children out of wedlock is illegal under Kawaiian law, and so any such claim of paternity would be a de facto admission to a crime. Parenthood is a legal privilege among Kawaiians, and a legal privilege cannot be established by an illegal act.

You will not have my approval until you allow no father in the family, as I believe sometimes just having a mother is best for a child, I wish my people to have the option to choose what is best for them. I also would like, not for my people but for others the ability differently interpret the law or altar the law to meet their cultural needs and their government policies. Although I would definitely vote for this to be approved if some slight changes are made.

My Opinion on the subject:

I honestly think this a good proposal, although probably should not be on an international level, it would help kids everywhere have a father. Although I do not like how a father HAS to be declared, at least according to your proposal, there is no other option.

[Grays Harbor]

Not an International Issue. At all. Not even close.

[MRWOFFLE]

Perhaps it's not much of an international issue, but it's something that can be done to improve children's lives everywhere. They are our future, so lets make it good, right?

[Normlpeople]

Perhaps it's not much of an international issue, but it's something that can be done to improve children's lives everywhere. They are our future, so lets make it good, right?

"And how does this do that exactly? Establishing paternity is one thing. Forcing the parent to actually be a parent is another.

This bill also fails to take into account societies such as ours, where marriage does not exist at all. That whole section would seem to be redundant in such a situation."

[Goddess Relief Office]

I would like to understand the author's starting point for writing something like this. What specific problem are we trying to solve here? Is it because in the author's country, birth certificates only record the mother's name? (My guess) If not, pray tell?

It'll be easier to address the clauses when I know what we are hoping to achieve.

~GRO~

[Potted Plants United]

A large potted plant in a big plantpot with wheels suddenly comes to life, revealing a large leaf curled up to form a cone, from which a somewhat hissing voice can be heard:

"What of situations where the "father" might not be a sentient being? Several of our selves are fully able to produce offspring with non-sentient plant of the same species. Such an offspring will, should it prove viable, join our shared consciousness, once it reaches the threshold growth stage.

We do not feel this proposal to be a wise attempt - fatherhood recognizion should remain at the hands of the individuals involved. If it has to be legislated on at all, it should be done on the national level. There are simply too many variations among the WA member nations to account for in a single proposal."

[The Two Jerseys]

First, not an international issue.

Second, paternity be damned, we very much like calling bastards exactly what they are!