Children and Family Relationships Bill 2015
Public bill · Government · Presented
The Children and Family Relationships Bill 2015 would update family law to recognise children being raised by unmarried couples, civil partners, same-sex couples, step-parents, relatives and other caregivers. It would set rules for donor-assisted reproduction, recognise a consenting spouse or partner as the child’s second legal parent, create a register allowing donor-conceived people to access information about their donor from age 18, and allow civil partners and long-term cohabiting couples to adopt jointly. It would also widen access to guardianship, custody and maintenance, put children’s best interests first in court, and give children a greater voice in family-law decisions.
Formal long title
Bill entitled an Act to provide for certain matters relating to donor-assisted human reproduction and the parentage of children born as a result of donor-assisted human reproduction procedures; to provide for the establishment and maintenance of a register to be known as the National Donor-Conceived Person Register; to amend and extend the law relating to the guardianship and custody of, and access to, children and for those purposes to amend the Guardianship of Infants Act 1964; to extend the category of persons who may be liable for the maintenance of children and for that purpose to amend the Family Law (Maintenance of Spouses and Children) Act 1976, and for that and other purposes to amend the Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010; to provide for the use in certain circumstances of DNA testing to determine parentage and for that and other purposes to amend the Status of Children Act 1987; to amend the Family Law Act 1995; to amend the category of persons who may adopt children and for that and other purposes to amend the Adoption Act 2010; to make consequential amendments to the Succession Act 1965, the Civil Registration Act 2004 and other enactments; and to provide for related matters
Last updated 12 April 2018
- Minister for Justice and Equality Primary
- First StageDáil
- Second StageDáil
- Committee StageDáil
- Report StageDáil
- Fifth StageDáil
- Second StageSeanad
- Committee StageSeanad
- Report StageSeanad
- Fifth StageSeanad Enacted
- EnactedEnacted
- Children and Family Relationships Bill 2015: Report and Final Stages Seanad
- Children and Family Relationships Bill 2015: Committee Stage (Resumed) Seanad
- Children and Family Relationships Bill 2015: Committee Stage Seanad
- Children and Family Relationships Bill 2015: Second Stage Seanad
- Children and Family Relationships Bill 2015: Order for Report Stage Dáil
- Children and Family Relationships Bill 2015: Report Stage Dáil
- Children and Family Relationships Bill 2015: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage Dáil
- Children and Family Relationships Bill 2015: Committee Stage Select Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality
- Children and Family Relationships Bill 2015: Second Stage (Resumed) Dáil
- Children and Family Relationships Bill 2015: Second Stage (Resumed) Dáil
- Children and Family Relationships Bill 2015: Referral to Select Committee Dáil
- Children and Family Relationships Bill 2015: Second Stage (Resumed) Dáil
- Children and Family Relationships Bill 2015: Second Stage (Resumed) Dáil
- Children and Family Relationships Bill 2015: Order for Second Stage Dáil
- Children and Family Relationships Bill 2015: Second Stage Dáil