House of Review passes child bill with changes

THE National Council yesterday passed the Children’s Status Bill with amendments suggested by its Standing Committee on Gender, Youth and Information.

When the bill was tabled, the House of Review felt that there were a number of loopholes in the bill that needed deeper scrutiny. The NC then referred the bill to the Standing Committee, which held public hearings on it earlier this month and suggested several amendments.Last week, National Council Deputy Chairperson Margareth Mensah-Williams disagreed with a clause in the current bill which states that a man would be presumed to be the father of a child if he was married to or living with the mother 12 months before the child’s birth.The NC Standing Committee suggested that the clause should read “at the approximate time of conception” rather than 12 months before the birth of the child.Currently, the bill grants custody of a child to the surviving parent if a parent with sole custody dies.But the committee feels that this might have the undesirable effect of an absent or uninvolved parent becoming the sole guardian of a child, whether or nor not this would be in the interests of the child.The National Council also says the bill in its current form discriminates against children born in wedlock, as it defines a child as “a person born outside of marriage, who is under the age of 18 years old.”The NC then referred the bill to the Standing Committee, which held public hearings on it earlier this month and suggested several amendments.Last week, National Council Deputy Chairperson Margareth Mensah-Williams disagreed with a clause in the current bill which states that a man would be presumed to be the father of a child if he was married to or living with the mother 12 months before the child’s birth.The NC Standing Committee suggested that the clause should read “at the approximate time of conception” rather than 12 months before the birth of the child.Currently, the bill grants custody of a child to the surviving parent if a parent with sole custody dies.But the committee feels that this might have the undesirable effect of an absent or uninvolved parent becoming the sole guardian of a child, whether or nor not this would be in the interests of the child.The National Council also says the bill in its current form discriminates against children born in wedlock, as it defines a child as “a person born outside of marriage, who is under the age of 18 years old.”