The modernization of the current legislative framework governing family law was brought before the House of Representatives’ Legal Affairs Committee during its first session.
The Committee Chair, Fotini Tsiridou, stated after the session that the Committee had discussed a very serious issue—family law— “the reform of which we want and hope to be child-centered.”
ΣΧΕΤΙΚΑ ΑΡΘΡΑ
“We see the number of divorces and family disputes in our country. We have an obligation to modernize our legal framework, so that the best interests of the child are always at the center, and of course, at the heart of the reform, we must ensure the child’s protection, equality between parents, and the equal sharing of responsibilities between them,” he added.
He noted that the ultimate goal in the event of a divorce or a family dispute must be to strengthen the family through a modernized, new legislative framework.
“We must make the process more friendly, more humane, so that we can improve the quality of life for the child and the entire family—and, of course, the democracy that citizens enjoy,” he added.
He then noted “that the family law reform consisted of eight bills, four of which have already been passed by the House of Representatives, introducing divorce by mutual consent, a faster process in family law, and today we began the debate on this extremely important bill concerning parent-child relationships,” she added.
These procedures, Ms. Tsiridou continued, are designed to strengthen the protection of children from domestic violence, enable the provision of counseling or psychological evaluation and support for the child, counseling programs for parents, enhanced procedures for determining child support, enhanced procedures in cases where a child is alienated from one parent, the establishment of a multidisciplinary team coordinated by Social Welfare Services to protect the child, including, of course, from psychological and physical abuse, as well as a plan to address the alienation of the child from his or her parents and, of course, to emphasize the importance of taking the child’s opinion into account in accordance with his or her maturity.
“A framework that is, of course, consistent with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child,” she noted.
As he mentioned, they began the article-by-article debate today, and he expressed the hope that it would be completed in the coming weeks and that “very soon, this reform— the child-centered reform of family law, will be brought before the Plenary for a vote,” he concluded.
Source: KYPE
