Legal Definitions - parental functions

Parental functions refer to the legal duties, responsibilities, and rights associated with raising a child. These functions encompass all aspects of a child's care, development, and well-being, including providing for their physical needs, ensuring their safety, guiding their education, making decisions about their healthcare, and fostering their emotional and moral development.

Here are some examples illustrating parental functions:

• Example 1: Financial and Material Provision

  After a divorce, a court orders one parent to pay child support and contribute to the child's medical insurance premiums. This financial contribution is a clear exercise of parental functions, as it directly provides for the child's fundamental needs like housing, food, clothing, and healthcare, which are essential aspects of a parent's responsibility.

• Example 2: Educational and Developmental Guidance

  A parent actively participates in parent-teacher conferences, helps their child with homework, and makes decisions about which school programs or extracurricular activities the child should pursue. These actions demonstrate parental functions by guiding the child's education, fostering their intellectual development, and making choices that impact their future growth and learning.

• Example 3: Protection and Decision-Making for Well-being

  When a child falls ill, a parent takes them to the doctor, discusses treatment options with medical professionals, and decides on the best course of action for their recovery. This scenario illustrates parental functions through the parent's role in protecting the child's health, ensuring their safety, and making critical decisions that directly affect their physical well-being and care.