NSW Signing away parental rights

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Mel1

Member
1 May 2022
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Can a father sign away his parental rights?
My partner has a 13 yr old who he has not seen since she was 3.
The mother of this child told him when she left that he was to never have contact with her or see her ever again .
To which he has not.

Can he sign away his parental rights?
 

sammy01

Well-Known Member
27 September 2015
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2,894
No they're a presumption under family law. So the only way to have them removed it for a court to be satisfied that would be in the best interest of the child. Oddly, enough, even then child support would be collected.

For what my advice is worth. Contact a mediation service. Some of them are very heavily government funded, so very cheap. Maybe the kid wants to meet dad and if dad doesn't try, then he'll never know.
 

Docupedia

Well-Known Member
7 October 2020
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To add to what Sammy said, and this is more of a bit of theory for understanding rather than an actual interpretation of the law:
Parental rights is not the correct way to think of it. Parents don’t have the rights here, the child does. And the child has the right to know both parents unless there is a compelling reason not to (such as a parent being a grave risk to the child’s health and safety). They also have the right to be financially supported - but that often gets buggered up in practicality, and you can’t just give the money directly to the child.

The better approach is to look at what it really is: Not parental rights, but parental obligations.