Every child has an interest in having his or her parentage regulated as soon after birth as possible. The current variety of family forms in Dutch society means that legislation and policy in the field of parentage and custody needs to be amended. This is the opinion of the Government Committee on the Reassessment of Parenthood in the report ‘Child and Parents in the 21st Century’, which was presented last week by Mr Aleid Wolfsen (Chair of the Committee) to the Minister of Security and Justice, Mr Van der Steur.
Legal parentage
Legal parentage deals with questions such as: whom does a child inherit from, whose surname should a child have and whose nationality can a child obtain? A legal parent-child relationship provides for more certainty that the parents and the child will remain connected with each other as the child grows up.
Right to information regarding origin story
Regulations regarding multi-legal parentage and surrogacy create a situation in which it is not always clear to whom a child is genetically related. The information regarding his or her origin story, therefore, becomes even more important. This could relate to the details of a sperm donor, egg donor or embryo donor, the details of a surrogate mother, or the details of institutions or organisations that have provided counselling or medical assistance. A child has the right to this information.
Core elements of good parenting
The right of a child to have access to his or her origin story has been expressed by the Government Committee in seven core elements of good parenting. Together with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, these constitute the yardstick for the proposed amendments to law and policy. These core elements are:
(1) an unconditional personal commitment
(2) continuity in the child-rearing relationship
(3) care for bodily welfare
(4) raising to independence, and social and societal participation
(5) organising and monitoring the upbringing of the child in the family, in the school and in the public setting (the three caring environments)
(6) the creation of a parent-child identity and
(7) ensuring for contact moments with persons who are important to the child, including the other parent.
Source: government.nl
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