Disownment

Disownment occurs when a parent renounces or no longer accepts a child as a family member. Disownment might be due to actions perceived as reprehensible or lead to severe emotional consequences. Different from giving a child up for adoption, it is a social and interpersonal act and may take place later in the child's life, which means that the disowned child would have to make arrangements for future care. Among other things, it implies no responsibility for future care, making it similar to divorce or repudiation (of a spouse), meaning that the disowned child would have to find another residence to call home and be cared for.

Disownment may entail disinheritance, familial exile, or shunning, or all three. A disowned child might no longer be welcome in their former family's home or be allowed to attend major family events. Conversely, a child might themselves seek to disown their parents or family through some form of emancipation.

In some countries, disownment of a child is a form of child abandonment and is illegal when the child is a minor. Some countries condition a legal right of disownment within the family on evidence of specific familial conditions, such as an absence of normal familial ties (required in Austria), or abuse on the part of the person sought to be disowned (required in Spain).^[1]

In Roman law, the rights called patria potestas included power of disownment.^[2] As to Italian law, see article 224 of the Civil Code.^[3] There was a process for disownment amongst the Tanala of Ikongo,^[4] and disownment was inflicted as a punishment by the antandroy.^[5] There was provision for disownment in the Code of Hammurabi.^[6] In Louisiana, the right to disown a child was called action en desaveu.^[7]

In some cases, society and its institutions will accept an act of disownment.

References

^ Hugues Fulchiron, Les solidarités entre générations (2013), p. 447.
^ Boswell, The Kindness of Strangers, University of Chicago Press, 1988, p 56. Adkins and Adkins, "The Family", Handbook to Life in Ancient Rome, OUP, 1998, p 339. Bernstein, Ethics, Identity, and Community in Later Roman Declamation, OUP, 2013, p 87.
^ Caldwell, Italian Family Matters, Macmillan, 1991, p 72
^ Strouthes, "Disownment", Law and Politics, 1995, p 75. Linton, "Disownment", The Tanala, 1933, p 293. Stewart, Evolving Life Styles, McGraw Hill, 1973, p 276.
^ Ralph Linton, "White Magic" (1928) 141 The Atlantic Monthly 721 at 722 (June 1928)
^ 124 The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 10: [1] [2] [3]. Edwards, The Hammurabi Code, 1921, p 33.
^ Hennen, A Digest of the Reported Decisions of the Superior Court of the Late Territory of Orleans: The Late Court of Errors and Appeals; and the Supreme Court of the State of Louisiana, 1852, vol 2, p 1125

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[1] Hugues Fulchiron, Les solidarités entre générations (2013), p. 447.

[2] Boswell, The Kindness of Strangers, University of Chicago Press, 1988, p 56. Adkins and Adkins, "The Family", Handbook to Life in Ancient Rome, OUP, 1998, p 339. Bernstein, Ethics, Identity, and Community in Later Roman Declamation, OUP, 2013, p 87.

[3] Caldwell, Italian Family Matters, Macmillan, 1991, p 72

[4] Strouthes, "Disownment", Law and Politics, 1995, p 75. Linton, "Disownment", The Tanala, 1933, p 293. Stewart, Evolving Life Styles, McGraw Hill, 1973, p 276.

[5] Ralph Linton, "White Magic" (1928) 141 The Atlantic Monthly 721 at 722 (June 1928)

[6] 124 The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 10: [1] [2] [3]. Edwards, The Hammurabi Code, 1921, p 33.

[7] Hennen, A Digest of the Reported Decisions of the Superior Court of the Late Territory of Orleans: The Late Court of Errors and Appeals; and the Supreme Court of the State of Louisiana, 1852, vol 2, p 1125

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v t e Parenting
Kinship terminology	Parent Mother Father Adoptive Alloparenting Coparenting Extended family Foster care Noncustodial Nuclear family Orphaned Shared parenting Single parent Blended family Surrogacy In loco parentis
Theories · Areas	Attachment theory Applied behavior analysis Behaviorism Child development Cognitive development Developmental psychology Human development Identity formation Introjection Love Maternal bond Nature versus nurture Parental investment Paternal bond Pediatrics Social emotional development Socialization Social psychology
Styles	Achievement ideology Atlas personality Attachment parenting Baby talk Buddha-like parenting Concerted cultivation Enmeshment Free-range parenting Gatekeeper parent Helicopter parent Nurturant parenting Slow parenting Soccer mom Strict father model Taking children seriously Theybie Tiger parenting Work at home parent
Techniques	After-school activity Allowance Bedtime Child care Co-sleeping Dishabituation Education Habituation Homeschooling Identification (psychology) Introjection Kommune 1 Latchkey kid Moral development Normative social influence Parent management training Play (date) Role model Social integration Television The talk (race) The talk (sex education) Toy (educational) Positive Parenting Program
Child discipline	Blanket training Corporal punishment in the home Curfew Grounding Positive discipline Tactical ignoring Time-out
Abuse	Adverse childhood experiences Child abandonment Child abuse Child labour Child neglect Cinderella effect Codependency Dysfunctional family Effects of domestic violence Incest Narcissistic parent Parental abuse by children Stress in early childhood
Legal and social aspects	Child custody Child support Cost of raising a child Deadbeat parent Disownment Family disruption Right to family life Management of domestic violence Marriage Parental alienation Parental responsibility Parents' rights Paternity Shared parenting
Experts	Mary Ainsworth John Bowlby T. Berry Brazelton Rudolf Dreikurs David Elkind Jo Frost Haim Ginott Thomas Gordon Alan E. Kazdin Truby King Annette Lareau Penelope Leach Matthew Sanders William Sears B. F. Skinner Benjamin Spock
Organizations	Families Need Fathers Mothers Apart from Their Children Mothers' Union National Childbirth Trust National Fatherhood Initiative National Parents Organization Parent–teacher association Parents Against Child Exploitation

See also

References