A chara, – We need to be very clear that the Children and Family Relationships Bill is a massive step for children’s rights and protection, contrary to Breda O’Brien’s assertions (“Revised children and family proposals fail to tackle tangled web of family life”, Opinion & Analysis, September 27th).
This is a long-needed attempt to modernise family law and reflect the rich diversity of family relationships that exist in Ireland today. Far from ensnaring children, this legislation, if appropriately enacted and resourced, will provide legal certainty to many children living in foster families, step-parent families, same-sex families and all those who live with members of their extended families. The legislation pays careful attention to the lived reality of children’s lives and attempts to provide for legal relationships hitherto ignored which placed children in precarious and uncertain situations.
One Family welcomes this Bill and we encourage all those who wish to provide for the equal protection of all children and the families they live in to support it. – Is mise,
KAREN KIERNAN,
One Family,
Lower Pembroke Street,
Dublin 2.