Parental authority has evolved over time from granting parents the right to kill or disinherit their children to ensuring their basic needs are met and legal behavior is followed. Governments aim to create healthy and legal adult citizens by making parents responsible for their children’s care and behavior. Failure to meet these responsibilities can result in government custody. Parental authority is often divided in cases of divorce or delegation of parental powers.
Parental authority is a legal concept that dates back to the earliest systems of written law. In ancient Rome, fathers had the right of vitae et necis, or literally “life and death,” over their children. Throughout history, parental authority has granted parents the right to kill, beat, forcibly marry, or disinherit their children, and commit their children to asylums or religious orders. Today, parental authority includes far more responsibilities and far fewer direct rights, although this is typically the result of both social and economic changes in the parent-child relationship.
Human children are essentially helpless; for several years they have needed careful care and nourishment to have much hope of survival. Parental authority often functions as the weapon of law extending to the domain of the family; by making parents legally responsible for both basic care and sometimes for children’s behavior, the state aims to create healthy and legal adult citizens. Thus, most laws regarding parental authority in the modern world seek to ensure both the safety of children and the instillation of legal understanding in the family unit.
In general, parents have a responsibility to ensure that children are fed, clothed, protected from abuse, and protected. Parents who ignore these responsibilities can sometimes end up losing their children in government custody, which then assumes the right of parental authority. This is an area of law that has grown tremendously since the early 20th century and the implementation of child labor laws during the Industrial Revolution; up until these relatively recent years, the general policy of the world government was to stay out of family matters, including domestic abuse.
In addition to meeting basic needs, parents are sometimes also responsible for the legal behavior of children. If a child is kept out of school by a legally responsible parent, for example, it is usually the parents who are responsible for the absenteeism. In some regions, parents are held liable if a minor child manufactures or sells illegal drugs or is allowed to drink alcohol. Opponents of broad government argue that these laws are attempts by an overly powerful government to increase power over the family unit; advocates suggest that child protection and parental authority laws help prevent and detect abuse and neglect.
Parental authority is often an issue in cases of divorce or delegation of parental powers. Parents may be required to divide authority and responsibilities in foster care arrangements, one parent agreeing to provide shelter for the children while the other provides financial support. In cases where parents have to leave their children temporarily, such as for military service, some regions also allow temporary delegation of authority to another party, such as a spouse other than a biological parent, grandparent, or parent. other close relative.
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