The Role of Children’s Court in Parental Responsibility and Child Maintenance: A Comparative Study of England and Kenya Children’s Court

Abstract

From the dawn of time, a child has been viewed as an incomplete person who needs the assistance of adults, usually his parents or those acting in loco parentis, to live and thrive in life. Parental responsibility for a child is seen as an essential instrument for fully realizing children’s rights. However, when it comes to a child’s health, this obligation is sometimes fulfilled to the child’s harm rather than for the child’s benefit. In such a scenario, the government generally intervenes through the courts to prepare the necessary actions in the child’s best interests. Given the stringent and time-consuming procedures connected with some countries’ courts, situations may necessitate immediate action. This study examines parental responsibility under Kenyan law and compares it to the system in the United Kingdom, a nation that occupied Kenya until 1963 and is still the source of many written laws in Kenya. Children may be a divine gift, but even gifts require work and care to preserve their usefulness, beauty, or productivity. Despite the importance of raising children, many parents don’t take their parental responsibility seriously enough, making it difficult for the child and thereby underpinning their rights and interests. This study investigated the child’s right to health in relation to the parental obligation to defend this right in crises. It used a doctrinal approach to the research. It proposed, among other things, that provisions be created in the child’s legislation to allow health providers to consider the child’s best interests in an emergency without resorting to the courts.