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Children have got rights too.
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The Rights of the Child.

Anonymous Author (February 2007)

I was the with father of my baby for 9mths, and i am now 21weeks preg, During the relationship he was mentally, sexually,emotionally abusive, he has now become obsessed with me and Has began "stalking me" as in he is always there whereever i go, i cannot go to my mothers house (he lives there) becoz he is always starting an issue, everytime he is alone in the house he is ringing me, and he wont back off.
I am having a dvo placed on him tomorow.
But becoz of his habbits ive said that he isnt allowed to be with the child unsupervised, and he is now saying that he will take me for the child.

*******************

I've quoted once sentence of a written work directly from another source from which I have not received permission to reproduce, but as I have directly quoted less than 10% of the article, and provided the link to the original source, and used it as reference to research I have done, given the purpose in which I have used it and the fact that I have not attempted to claim it as my own, and I have stated exactly who owns the copyright directly underneath the quote, I don't think that constitutes a breach of copyright. ? If it does, well, sue me

*******************

I've seen a lot of questions lately about parental rights, and grandparents trying to ursurp control over their grandchildren, and who has the right to discipline the child, who has the right to do this and that... and this is just the latest one.   I keep coming back with the same sort of answers.  Just for a little while, let's forget about the rights of the father, the mother, the grandparents, the aunts and uncles and everybody else.  I'm going to talk about the rights of the child.

The first sentence of the United Nations' Declaration of the Rights of the Child, Principle 9, states:

"The child shall be protected against all forms of neglect, cruelty and exploitation."

(© Copyright 1997 - 2002
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Geneva, Switzerland)

The second paragraph of this Principal goes on to talk about protection of children regarding employment, but the first paragraph just talks about the child in general, not specifying any conditions.  As such, it covers all circumstances.

So, this means that under the international policy of human rights, to which many countries must abide, all children are to be protected from neglect, cruelty, and exploitation - or in other words, they must be protected from all forms of abuse.

Now, lets say that you have sufficient evidence to show that the other parent of your child is an abusive person.  Some might argue that just because s/he abused you it doesn't mean s/he will abuse the child.  This is never the case.  Many children have grown up in situations where one parent was abusive towards the other, but not directly at the children.  What many people have trouble seeing is that the abuse of the other parent is traumatic for the children, and as such, it constitutes emotional and psychological abuse of the child - although it causes no bruises, it is still abuse and it is still illegal.

Even when the parents are seperated, the children still see the signs of abuse as they are always present every time the parents get within line of sight of each other.  The abuser may feel the urge to lash out, and the victim becomes intimidated and scared.  The children sense this.  There is also the problem of the parents, especially when there is such bitterness between them as is caused by abuse, 'brainwashing' the children against each other and using them as pawns in a tug-of-war game of revenge - this is exploitative, and as such, it is abusive and thus, it is illegal.

If neither parent has sufficient evidence to at least warrant an investigation about whether the other parent is abusive in any way towards the children, then forget about who has the right to see the child.  The child has the right to know, see, and spend time with both parents.

There is no decree to state how often they can see their parents or how much time they are to spend with them, unless of course the court has made a ruling stating otherwise in an individual case.  There is certainly no decree about having time alone with their parents - again, individual case court orders excepted.  Courts are quite happy to hand out orders regarding fully supervised visits, especially in cases where any form or suspicion of abuse, neglect, illegal drug use or alcohol addiction, criminal activity, or even just a very lengthy separation time between the parent and child are, or have been, an issue.  Any parent that will fight against a court's order of supervised visits is more concerned about themselves than the child, and their motives for wanting to see the child are questionable.

Every child has the right to have a name.  This would seem kind of obvious, but there is no decree as to what name they are entitled to.  Whether a child is to have the father's surname or the mother's surname is of no consequence.  There is no law - to my knowledge - that even states that a child has to have either surname, and as such could theoretically be given a neutral surname or a surname that combines both parents' surnames.  Admittedly I have never come across anyone with such a name, but that's not to say it can't happen, it just generally doesn't.

When it comes to registering a child's name, sorry guys, but you could easily end up having to go to court about this one.  To put "mother unknown" on a birth certificate is a situation that is theoretically possible, but it is so unlikely it is almost absurd.  The only circumstance I can imagine that being a case is where an unidentified mother passed away during or soon after the birth but the baby survived, and she was a 'Jane Doe' at the time of the birth registration.  So girls, if you had any hope of getting away with not paying child support if you don't have custody of your child, you're out of luck.  It is possible for fathers to be unknown.  If the father does not sign the birth registration form, his name can not be put on the record.  Some mothers might be inclined to get nasty if they have an issue with the father and deliberately leave him off the form.  Guys, there is a way around this.  A court can order a DNA test to prove that you are (or are not) the biological father and then your name can be put on the child's birth certificate.  The same goes with if a mother is insisting that a child is yours and you don't believe it is true, you can make the same challenge in court to have an order for a DNA test to prove that you are (or are not) the biological father.  If you receive a court order for DNA test you must comply unless you want to end up being charged with contempt of court - which can leave you rotting in a jail cell indefinately until you comply.  You are far better off agreeing to it and get it over with.

In many places nowdays, courts are recognising the child's right to know, see, and spend time with grandparents and siblings.  However, this depends upon the court and it's decision upon each individual case, and the same thing applies with regards to how often, how long, and whether or not the visitations are supervised as per above.  It is possible for grandparents, or an adult on behalf of any siblings (if they are too young to attend court themselves), to apply to a court to gain a court order to see their grandchild or sibling.

It is the responsibility of any adult who is responsible for a child at the time (be it a parent, a school teacher, child care worker, or friend or relative that is baby sitting) to discipline the child, when necessary, in an appropriate and approved (by the parent and by the child protection laws) manner.  There are no rights regarding discipline, only responsibilites.

Children's rights regarding war are outlined in the Geneva Convention documents, but as that is an exceptional circumstance I won't go into it here.

Children have the right to have opportunities to develop in a normal healthy way in all ways.  They have to right to suitable nutrition, shelter, health services, and education.  They also have the right to have recreation time and play.  And lastly, the Declaration of the Rights of the Child, Principal 10, tells us that we are to protect our children from discrimination and raise our children with understanding and tolerance, in peace and unity with everyone, and that we should encourage our children to use what they know and what they can do to benefit other people.

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emmysmum
5.00 (Excellent) | March 2007 | emmysmum
children
hmmmm this is really good information, it clears a lot of things up. All children deserve to be treated with respect and they most certainly deserve to know the members of their family.... however there are extenuating circumstances that do not allow for this to happen.
Great article wendy!


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TheParentCoach
5.00 (Excellent) | March 2007 | TheParentCoach
Rights of the child

I have just agreed to give a talk to a group of divorce lawyers focusing upon articles 9&10.

A child shall not be separated from his or her parents against their wishes. discuss

should make for an interesting evening don't you think?



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mcm
5.00 (Excellent) | February 2007 | mcm
Children do have results
Surprise surprise! It actually surprises me that ppl don't think of my children as um people? ie. they don't talk to them or address them. I heard a sad story today. About a couple who made an ignorant comment about large families - "I would want to kill myself if I had that many kids" What a thoughtless thing to say. A five year old over hears this and tears roll down his face "Mum, do you want to die?"
  Children do listen, do feel, and they will be ruling this world soon enough.

On a more scary note there are children slaving to produce chocolate not to mention other luxuries for the Western World.


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      mcm
5.00 (Excellent) | February 2007 | mcm
Children do have rights
I mean children do have rights! Not results.


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Bambie30
5.00 (Excellent) | February 2007 | Bambie30
Excellent
U done well really well!


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OzBinky
5.00 (Excellent) | February 2007 | OzBinky
Top Article Wendy....

Well done Wendy.....

As you know, I had to do human rights last year as one of my major assignments....(still stress over that one) andI came across this many times in my researching....and I have to say...you articulated (see using big words tonight) really well.

Well dome again matey....great read!!

Worked For Me!!

Lavinia

 



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raych
5.00 (Excellent) | February 2007 | raych
A good read.
Very well researched Wendigo. I work for Births Deaths & Marriages, and the paragraph of information you wrote under " every child has a right to have the name" is very accurate. You can name your child any name under the sun, as long as it is not considered offensive, and also that it doesn't breach any trademarks etc. (ie. a person wanting to name their twins, Coke and Fanta - believe you me, there's some weird ideas out there!) And yes, it's almost unheard of to have the mother not listed on the cert, although common place for fathers to be not listed. As for the rest of your article, well done! You are helping alot of parents out there with this one. You go girl!


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      Wendigo
5.00 (Excellent) | February 2007 | Wendigo
A good read.
That info I first researched (by asking at B.D.& M.) when thinking about what to call my boy and what surname to use.  One question though, someone once told me that because Australia is a Commonweath country, with Royalty as head of state, we can't call our children 'King" or "Queen" as a first name?  True or false?  Just curious.


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MadMel
4.64 (Excellent) | February 2007 | MadMel
Great article!
Answered the question perfectly. We are al so confused about rights of parents. Thanks for clearing it up. Now im so jealous ill have to sue you!


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blackwidowkate
5.00 (Excellent) | February 2007 | blackwidowkate
rights
Hi
Great well thought out and researched article.....wish i could be inspired like this.......
Its time parents and adults alike started thinking aobut how it affects the child not themselves....
I am sure the kids love being torn from pillar to post not knowing where they will be or who they will be with for that matter each day are the ones most affected.
Think of the kids and forget about yourself...after all you gave birth and its time to start protecting them from the real nasties of life not our problems with everyone

Luv Deb


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cazza
5.00 (Excellent) | February 2007 | cazza
the rights of the child.....
what a excellent article, and i absolutely agree with what it says about how to give the child the rights as well... Some parents get so involved in what they want, that they dont consider how the child is feeling and wants to do, and it is so unfair for the child to be stuck in the middle.....


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cookclan
5.00 (Excellent) | February 2007 | cookclan
Good article
Some very important things in here....Well done
Cheers
Angie


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Tink1976
5.00 (Excellent) | February 2007 | Tink1976
Fantastic Article.
This article must of taken a lot of hard work and research. Its informative and very well written. Thank you for taking the time to write this article.


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      Wendigo
4.50 (Excellent) | February 2007 | Wendigo
Fantastic Article.
Thank you.  The research isn't really that hard when you already know where to go to get the information.  When I was put in charge of running a playgroup a few years ago, I noticed that the Playgroup Association stated, in one of their promotional leaflets, that the Declaration of the Rights of the Child declared that play was a basic right of children, amoung other things.  I found it fascinating (and a good thing) that children actually have the right to do something as simple and natural as to play, so I went searching for the rest of the info about what rights children have.  This is just the first time I've ever actually done anything with it.


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nell18-3
5.00 (Excellent) | February 2007 | nell18-3
Another
well thought out, well presented, piece.
Excellent reading and very useful information to lots
thats great
xxx


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exquisite-flower
5.00 (Excellent) | February 2007 | exquisite-flower
Well answered.
Well written mate!  Well used research and as you say - it is public info, so good on you.  A real well advised article on every level!
To the point and informative.  Thank you.  It is good to now these things so we can help others too.
Peace
EF.x 


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michellei
5.00 (Excellent) | February 2007 | michellei
The Rights of the Child.
Thank you for a very well written and researched article.
I found it to be very informative and very easy to understand .
I can't see where the copyright breaches are if any.


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      Wendigo
5.00 (Excellent) | February 2007 | Wendigo
The Rights of the Child.

Copyright is a funny thing.  Sometimes you can copy pages and pages of material and not breach copyright, and other times you can copy just one sentence and be in breach.  Copyright can be so vague and tricky that even the best specialized lawyers can find themselves in court for years because of it, so how anyone with a more average education is supposed to be able to figure it all out is beyond me.



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MizzJay18
4.73 (Excellent) | February 2007 | MizzJay18
Thanks
THis cleared up some worries that i had, THank you :)


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      Wendigo
5.00 (Excellent) | February 2007 | Wendigo
Thanks
Glad I could help.  I put this up as an advice because I started it as a comment and it kind of grew, and grew, and ended up taking over control of my entire night.    Oh well, it's done now.


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           blackwidowkate
5.00 (Excellent) | February 2007 | blackwidowkate
Thanks
Hi
Ever thought of getting a life........hahahahahah only joking.....
Bad when Minti is our life hey....
Luv Deb


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                Wendigo
5.00 (Excellent) | February 2007 | Wendigo
I have got a life!

Minti just keeps gaining control of it on a regular basis!

That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it. 



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