Disownment occurs when a parent, sibling or a relative renounces or no longer accepts a

child A child () is a human being between the stages of childbirth, birth and puberty, or between the Development of the human body, developmental period of infancy and puberty. The term may also refer to an unborn human being. In English-speaking ...

or a relative 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 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, fro ...

, 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 fro ...

and

interpersonal In social psychology, an interpersonal relation (or interpersonal relationship) describes a social association, connection, or affiliation between two or more people. It overlaps significantly with the concept of social relations, which are ...

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 Divorce (also known as dissolution of marriage) is the process of terminating a marriage or marital union. Divorce usually entails the canceling or reorganising of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving the M ...

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 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 ...

, 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 Emancipation generally means to free a person from a previous restraint or legal disability. More broadly, it is also used for efforts to procure Economic, social and cultural rights, economic and social rights, civil and political rights, po ...

. In some countries, disownment of a child is a form of

child abandonment A child () is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The term may also refer to an unborn human being. In English-speaking countries, the legal definition of ''chi ...

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 Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

), or abuse on the part of the person sought to be disowned (required in

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

). In Roman law, the rights called ''

patria potestas The ''pater familias'', also written as ''paterfamilias'' (: ''patres familias''), was the head of a Family in ancient Rome, Roman family. The ''pater familias'' was the oldest living male in a household, and could legally exercise autocratic aut ...

'' included power of disownment. As to Italian law, see article 224 of the Civil Code. There was a process for disownment amongst the Tanala of Ikongo, and disownment was inflicted as a punishment by the antandroy. There was provision for disownment in the

Code of Hammurabi The Code of Hammurabi is a Babylonian legal text composed during 1755–1750 BC. It is the longest, best-organized, and best-preserved legal text from the ancient Near East. It is written in the Old Babylonian dialect of Akkadian language, Akkadi ...

. In Louisiana, the right to disown a child was called '' action en desaveu''.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
/ref> In some cases, society and its institutions will accept an act of disownment.

References

Family Family law Fatherhood Inheritance Kinship and descent Motherhood Shunning {{family-stub

See also

References