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Disownment occurs when a parent renounces or no longer accepts a
Disownment occurs when a parent renounces or no longer accepts a child
A child ( : children) is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The legal definition of ''child'' generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person younger ...
as a family member, usually due to reprehensible actions leading to serious emotional consequences. Different from giving a child up for adoption
Adoption is a process whereby a person assumes the parenting of another, usually a child, from that person's biological or legal parent or parents. Legal adoptions permanently transfer all rights and responsibilities, along with filiation, from ...
, it is a social
Social organisms, including human(s), live collectively in interacting populations. This interaction is considered social whether they are aware of it or not, and whether the exchange is voluntary or not.
Etymology
The word "social" derives from ...
and interpersonal act and usually takes place later in the child's life, which means that the disowned child would have to make their own arrangements for future care. Among other things, it implies no responsibility for future care, making it similar to divorce
Divorce (also known as dissolution of marriage) is the process of terminating a marriage or marital union. Divorce usually entails the canceling or reorganizing of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving the ...
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 disinherit
Inheritance is the practice of receiving private property, titles, debts, entitlements, privileges, rights, and obligations upon the death of an individual. The rules of inheritance differ among societies and have changed over time. Officially ...
ance, familial exile
Exile is primarily penal expulsion from one's native country, and secondarily expatriation or prolonged absence from one's homeland under either the compulsion of circumstance or the rigors of some high purpose. Usually persons and peoples suf ...
, or shunning
Shunning can be the act of social rejection, or emotional distance. In a religious context, shunning is a formal decision by a denomination or a congregation to cease interaction with an individual or a group, and follows a particular set of rule ...
, and often all three. A disowned child might no longer be welcome in their former family's home or be allowed to attend major family events, or be allowed to know about such events taking place on social media.
Disownment is often taboo
A taboo or tabu is a social group's ban, prohibition, or avoidance of something (usually an utterance or behavior) based on the group's sense that it is excessively repulsive, sacred, or allowed only for certain persons.''Encyclopædia Britannica ...
. In many countries, it is a form of child abandonment
Child abandonment is the practice of relinquishing interests and claims over one's offspring in an illegal way, with the intent of never resuming or reasserting guardianship. The phrase is typically used to describe the physical abandonment of a ...
and is illegal when the child is a minor.
In rare cases, a society and its institutions will accept an act of disownment. For example, the British politician Leo Amery
Leopold Charles Maurice Stennett Amery, (22 November 1873 – 16 September 1955), also known as L. S. Amery, was a British Conservative Party politician and journalist. During his career, he was known for his interest in military preparedness, ...
had two adult sons, both young adults at the time of World War II; one fought in the British forces, while the other, John Amery
John Amery (14 March 1912 – 19 December 1945) was a British fascist and Nazi collaborator during World War II. He was the originator of the British Free Corps, a volunteer Waffen-SS unit composed of former British and Dominion prisoners-o ...
, cast his lot with Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
and beamed propaganda radio broadcasts to his homeland. After the end of the war in 1945, young Amery was tried and executed for treason
Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...
, whereupon the bereaved father asked, and received, permission from the editors of ''Who's Who
''Who's Who'' (or ''Who is Who'') is the title of a number of reference publications, generally containing concise biography, biographical information on the prominent people of a country. The title has been adopted as an expression meaning a gr ...
'' to change the terms of his authorized biography from two sons to "one son".http://anatheimp.blogspot.com/2010/05/tragedy-of-john-amery.html (accessed 02 October 2019)
See also
*Family estrangement
Family estrangement is the loss of a previously existing relationship between family members, through physical and/or emotional distancing, often to the extent that there is negligible or no communication between the individuals involved for a pr ...
References
Family Family law Fatherhood Inheritance Kinship and descent Motherhood Shunning {{family-stub