I don't know as much about Ireland, but in the UK, the emphasis is on the best interests of the child, and blood relationship does not trump that
That's a big difference between the UK and Ireland, and one of the things that keeps coming up in child abuse cases in Ireland, and in anything to do with custory. The Irish constitution "recognises the Family as the natural primary and fundamental unit group of Society" and "[t]he State pledges itself to guard with special care the institution of Marriage, on which the Family is founded". There isn't any formal provision in Irish law for the rights of a child, even though Ireland is a signatory to the UN Convention of Rights of the Child, because it would probably require a constitutional change which would require a referendum and even though nearly everyone agrees it ought to be done, nobody's got around to it yet. So all the legal arguments around marriage, divorce, custody and child protection are very different in Ireland from the UK (not that this is much help to the OP, since she's writing about the US! ;) )
That's a big difference between the UK and Ireland, and one of the things that keeps coming up in child abuse cases in Ireland, and in anything to do with custory. The Irish constitution "recognises the Family as the natural primary and fundamental unit group of Society" and "[t]he State pledges itself to guard with special care the institution of Marriage, on which the Family is founded". There isn't any formal provision in Irish law for the rights of a child, even though Ireland is a signatory to the UN Convention of Rights of the Child, because it would probably require a constitutional change which would require a referendum and even though nearly everyone agrees it ought to be done, nobody's got around to it yet. So all the legal arguments around marriage, divorce, custody and child protection are very different in Ireland from the UK (not that this is much help to the OP, since she's writing about the US! ;) )
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