reform
Justice Minister Buschmann wants to create more freedom in adoptions and custody
The federal government is planning legal relief for unmarried fathers and homosexual couples with children
© Jens Kalaene / DPA
Does a separated mother have to ask her ex-partner if she registers her child for a painting course? Can the new partner pick up his partner’s child from daycare? The planned reform of child support and parentage law also involves practical questions.
According to the wishes of the Federal Minister of Justice, unmarried couples should also be allowed to stay in Germany Marco Buschmann (FDP) will be able to adopt a child together in the future. In addition, the adoption of a child by a single spouse should be made possible. These two innovations are part of a project to reform childbirth and parentage law, which his ministry published on Tuesday.
The federal government is also planning legal relief for fathers who are not married to their mother and for homosexual couples with children. “Many children today are growing up in separated families, in patchwork and rainbow families or with parents who are not married to each other,” said Federal Justice Minister Marco Buschmann (FDP). Family law is lagging behind this new reality.
Children should have more options in the event of a separation
According to the key points paper, the biological father should be able to obtain joint custody more easily in the future, even if he is not married to the mother – provided the couple lives together. If the mother does not object, a one-page, documented statement should be sufficient. The same should apply to lesbian couples with another mother.
Among other things, the child’s own right to contact with grandparents and siblings as well as the child’s own right of contact with other caregivers should be introduced.
According to the Federal Ministry of Justice, if a lesbian couple and a gay couple agree to have a child, it should be possible in the future to reach a legally secure so-called parenthood agreement before the conception. However, the principle that every person has two parents should not be affected by the planned reform.
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In the event of a parental separation, children aged 14 and over should be given more opportunities to influence decisions relating to custody and access rights. For example, from this age onwards, a child should be able to request a new decision on access arrangements that have already been made. So far, the young people can only give the family court a suggestion to take action here. If unmarried parents agree to joint custody in the future, a child from the age of 14 should also have the opportunity to object to this.
The transfer of “small custody rights” should be made easier
In matters that affect the daily life of their child, separated parents with joint custody should in future be able to make decisions on their own for the period in which the child stays with them. For example, if the child is always with the father on Thursdays, according to the Minister of Justice’s ideas, the father could register his child for violin lessons that only take place on Thursdays, even without the mother’s consent.
According to Buschmann’s plans, it should also be made easier to transfer “small custody rights” to grandparents, close friends, neighbors or new partners so that they can take care of simple matters on behalf of the parents, such as picking up the child from daycare or taking him to the doctor go. Anyone who receives such custody powers by agreement should be obliged to exercise them in agreement with both parents with custody. If they live separately, the only thing that matters is the consent of the parent during whose care time the matter to be decided falls.
“The key points provide for massive improvements for rainbow families with the abolition of stepchild adoptions for two-mother families and the introduction of parenthood agreements,” commented the Lesbian and Gay Association on the Federal Ministry of Justice’s proposals. On the other hand, the passage on parenthood of trans and intersex people as well as non-binary parents is too vague.