아동학대와 부모의 친권에 관한 문제

Parental rights in consequence of child abuse - Implication of English and US system -

Parental rights are known to composite of parental rights and parental duties and responsibilities simultaneously. It is regulated so in words in Korea Civil Law and child's welfare is also regulated as priority to consider when deciding matters related to the child and the parental rights. Although the law is regulated to consider child's welfare and respect child's rights, thoughts are still lingered in Korean society that parental rights are parental rights only and parents have the rights to treat their child s as they wish. And these thoughts conclude to neglect and abuse of children within the household. Korean Civil Law regulate loss of parental rights in consequences of severe abuse of parental rights, and some special laws regulate several protective dispositions and limit the use of parental rights in case of child abuse. But these law are not enough to protect child from abuse of parents, thus these laws are rarely used. By looking over the laws and system of England and US about the child abuse and the parental rights, this paper is seeking the best practice in the child abuse matters within the household. As these systems work, in the consequence of child abuse by parents the parental rights issues should be approached in stages. First the parents should be given opportunity to change their attitude about the child abuse by taking education programs or consult with experts of the matter. If the first stage fails then protective dispositions and limit of parental rights should be made for a reasonable period to improve the attitude of parents and improve the situation of the household. At last when all the previous stages fail the court should oder loss of parental rights and alternative home for the abused child should be sought. And all of these process should be designated and ordered by the court so that the process can be executed and applied properly.