A pro-love Family Code

Four years ago, Ana* found out she was pregnant. Her boyfriend scorned her, claiming she had cheated on him, and refused to take on shared responsibility for raising the child.

Two years after Pedrito*'s birth, his father returned demanding parental rights and sought legal counsel to have the child legally recognized him and spend time with him.

After a thorough investigation of the facts and always with regard to the child's best interests, the little boy enjoys life with his maternal relatives, who have always been there for him and whose last names he happily carries.

Many families have faced similar circumstances that ended up in a court of law to try and assert their rights when the vagaries of life have changed a child’s filial circumstances, a situation that the new Family Code also tries to adapt to today’s Cuba, where more and more children live without one of their parents for different reasons (separation, infidelity, migration or simply because of a personal decision), so the laws need answers to cope with these issues.

New legal provisions will make it easier to solve cases regarding mothers who keep the child’s father from having a relationship with them for personal reasons and give grandparents the right to take care of their grandchildren and stepparents the chance of being in touch with the children they helped raise after they separate from their biological parents.

The new Code intends to protect the freedoms of each member of the family for the sake of the child, the social and affectionate relationships between the family members and their ability to contribute to the upbringing and formation of children and teenagers.

Hence the need to extend the rights and the role to be played therein by grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins, regardless of how much involved the biological parents are in the children's life and of the wishes of the family in charge of them, as long as this does not have a negative influence on their development.

Merlin González Tabares, a prosecutor in the province of Artemisa, told ACN that in order to enforce any legal provision each case that comes to court is studied in depth and includes the contribution of psychologists and other specialists and interviews with the families, children and adolescents involved and, if possible, with neighbors and community members, before a judge decides what is best for a minor.

The implementation of the new Family Code will precisely provide everyone with possibilities that favor the child or teenager, without depriving anyone of a right in favor of another, for the benefit of equal rights within the law and the resolution of every single case in favor of the family.
(*) The real names have been changed.