the National Assembly votes unanimously for the withdrawal of parental authority in the event of conviction

The deputies unanimously adopted Thursday, February 9 in first instance a socialist text which provides for the withdrawal of parental authority or its exercise in the event of conviction for incestuous aggression, crime on the child or on the other parent, except decision contrary to the judge.

“An aggressive or violent parent cannot be a good parent. You have to know who you are protecting.”, insisted at the opening of the session the deputy of the Socialist Party (PS) Isabelle Santiago. Its text was adopted unanimously (232 votes for, zero against). It will now have to be studied in the Senate.

A review that could take place as soon as ” March 21st “according to the Keeper of the Seals, Eric Dupond-Moretti, in favor of the text, and who announced from his first speech that “the government had seized the Senate for a quick review”.

“A child dies every five days from domestic violence, according to a report issued by several inspections in 2018. (…) When the child is a witness or victim of violence, he is in danger and justice must act quickly and effectively to protect him.underlined the minister.

“In case of withdrawal of the exercise of parental authority, the parent can no longer take part in decisions concerning the life of his child”, he further detailed. In the event of withdrawal of parental authority in the proper sense, “he will not even be informed of the major stages of his child’s life”.

No automatic withdrawal

The discretion left to judges was added in committee to avoid the risk of unconstitutionality. In its initial version, the bill of M^me Santiago provided for the automatic and total withdrawal of parental authority and its exercise in the event of conviction for incestuous aggression, a crime against the child or the other parent. It was directly inspired by the recommendations of the Independent Commission on Incest and Sexual Violence Against Children (Ciivise). The automatic nature has been removed to leave room for the possibility of a principle withdrawal of parental authority or its exercise over “express decision” of the judge.

Isabelle Santiago’s bill, however, plans to expand another mechanism, this time concerning people prosecuted but not yet convicted. The exercise of parental authority, visitation and accommodation rights will be suspended until the decision of the judge or a possible decision of dismissal of the case of the investigating judge, in the event of proceedings for “incestuous sexual assault or committed crime” on the child.

This suspension would also be automatic in the event of “willful violence against the other parent resulting in total incapacity for work for more than eight days, when the child witnessed the facts”. This mechanism currently concerns only people prosecuted for crimes involving the other parent.

MEPs also introduced into the text a “forced delegation of the exercise of parental authority in the event of a prosecution” against a parent if he “is the sole holder of the exercise of parental authority”.

At the very end of the session, the deputies unanimously adopted (145 votes for, zero against) another bill, by the deputy Cécile Untermaier, to promote the issuance of protection orders and extend the maximum duration of six to twelve months.

The text was supported by the Keeper of the Seals, who however called for the wording to be refined “during the parliamentary shuttle”to avoid any risk of unconstitutionality.

The system allows the family court judge to provide urgent protection to victims of domestic or intra-family violence.