Scholarly record

PARENTAL AUTHORITY FOR THE UNDERAGE MOTHER ON THE GROUNDS OF THE POLISH LAW - DE LEGE FERENDA REQUIREMENT

Marek Andrzejewski

Abstract

The aim of the article is to present the arguments in favour of awarding full legal capacity to underage mothers. Acquiring full legal capacity by an underage mother would result in her gaining the status of an adult, thus allowing her to exercise parental authority over the child. This would result in expiry of the parental authority hitherto exercised over the mother by her parents. The research method applied to achieve the aim of the research was the dogmatic analysis of the applicable law, carried out with consideration given to the knowledge of sociology, pedagogy and psychology. The analysis of the provisions of law and social reality leads to questioning the regulations of the Polish Family and Guardianship Code, which allows the underage mother to acquire parental authority over her own child solely in the event of entering into marriage (not necessarily with the father of the child). The outcome of such a solution is entering into marriage in a situation excluding, or at least highly restricting, the freedom of choice about the marriage itself - as well as about the choice of the husband. The above calls for creation of a judicial procedure where the court would be able to pass a decision that the teen mother be granted the status of an adult, so that she would be able to exercise parental authority over her child. The decision whether to marry or not should be her own decision, and it should not affect her being granted the parental authority. Due to the respect for the constitutional rank of motherhood, the court should be obliged to issue a ruling based on a psychological and pedagogical opinion, community interview, and the hearing of the teenage mother in court – all this to check the degree of maturity of the teenage mother.

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