Amendments to parental visitation rights have created several disputes and raised many questions. Reem Leila tries to clear things up One of the toughest issues to resolve after a divorce is what to do when a non-custodian parent wants to visit the child of a custodian parent who does not agree. The Islamic Research Centre (IRC) has tried to solve the dispute by approving modified amendments concerning parental visitation rights, considered a prerequisite before presenting it to the People's Assembly in its session starting mid- November for ratification. The amendments were issued by the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood (NCCM). A change in the way grandparents allow visits to their grandchildren regardless of the presence or absence of the non-custodian parent makes up part of the alterations. At the same time, the IRC rejected a suggestion that would have allowed non-custodian parents who are mostly the fathers, to accompany the children to their homes for one or two days, and stipulated that the custodian parent (usually the mother) must allow the father to take the child to his place of residence. This was previously prohibited. It is an unfortunate reality that many divorced parents are unable to resolve amicably the tensions that invariably arise when children are involved, said Cairo University psychology professor Said Abdel-Azim. "The best solution is to avoid these kinds of situations. Parents should take into consideration the child's welfare. The chance of psychological harm lessens when children are allowed to see both parents equally," Abdel-Azim added. No accurate nationwide statistics are available showing the number of children in Egypt with divorced parents, however, Abdel-Azim said it was estimated that nearly 30 per cent of children in Egypt live with divorced parents. Children of more than half of this percentage either do not visit or see their father or rarely visit him, thus exposing the child to several psychological traumas. Under the amendments, grandparents will have the complete right to see and visit their grandchildren. Previously, the law deprived grandparents of such get-togethers unless the father was not present in the country. The law also did not allow the extended families of a non-custodian parent to see the children, thus affecting the relationship between children and their grandparents as well as their father's families. The modifications stipulate that the non-custodian parent will not be allowed to visit the children any longer, even for a certain period of time to be determined by the judge, if he fails to see his children for three consecutive times. The amendments have met the approval of IRC member Abdel-Moeti Bayoumi, who told Al-Ahram Weekly that the law was unanimously approved by the IRC because it does not contradict with Islamic Sharia (jurisprudence). "If anything, the new law takes the welfare of children into consideration," Bayoumi said. After a marriage of 12 years, Nadia's husband left her and her three children, each at a different stage in education, refusing to provide them with any financial assistance. After four years, Nadia finally received a court order recognising her children's right to alimony. Her husband later fled abroad in order not to pay and filed a visitation rights lawsuit against her. Nadia, who said she believed it was right that the father be denied the right to see his children if he missed the court appointment three straight times, asked why her ex- husband would visit or even see the children. "He does not really want to visit or even see them; he just wants to annoy me. Where was he or any one of his family members during the four long years he abandoned his children?" asked Nadia. Among other amendments altered but not accepted by the IRC was the father's right to have custody of his children. Currently, a mother generally has the right to physical, not legal, custody of her child until the child reaches the age of 15. In case the mother remarries, the children's custody, according to Sharia, shifts to the maternal grandmother. If she is indisposed, the paternal grandmother takes over, followed in descending order by the maternal sister, then the father. According to the changes, the child comes into the father's care immediately after that of the paternal grandmother. Lawyer Maged El-Sherbini said it was mothers and children, rather than fathers, who were suffering the most. "A lot of fathers file custody cases merely as a way of getting back at the mothers. The new amendments will increase problems like these," El-Sherbini said. He added he believed the amendment regarding the father's custody will not be approved by the People's Assembly since it clashes with Sharia. "Also, legally, no one can force the child to stay with the father or anyone else after he turns 15 because according to the Egyptian constitution children can obtain an independent legal identity as soon as they reach that age," El-Sherbini said. Hatem Riyad, divorced and with a 13-year- old daughter, called the amendments "a major defeat for men". Riyad said everything now was being done for the sake of women. "What will a man like me do if his former wife refuses to let him see his child regularly, which most do? There is no legal penalty for mothers but men are deprived of their visiting rights if they do not see them three successive times. "I myself have this problem. I work in the Western Desert and sometimes do not come to Cairo for a whole month."
