@unmarkedbythat
If I am understanding
*@GreenlandTheMovie* right, the suggestion isn't a law that forbids one parent from leaving another, but some form of legislation that recognises that the responsibilities we have as parents continue whether you are in a relationship with the other parent or not. NRPs can of course pursue their careers and other relationships but not at the expense of their existing child(ren) and not by placing all responsibility for the child(ren) on the RP. So yes, Dylan's father had the right to live apart from Dylan's mother, to continue his paid work, to travel for work, etc- but he should also have had and there should have been some process to hold him to, a responsibility to Dylan equal to that of Olga. He knew Dylan's needs and presentation, he would know that social care support was withdrawn or vastly diminished during lockdown, it would not take more than 30 seconds of thinking to realise that the situation his son and ex partner would be in as a result would be appalling, exhausting, terrifying and dangerous. It is neglectful of him, on a moral level if not in law, not to take steps to ensure that his highly vulnerable son and his son's sole carer were safe and well during an unprecedented situation.
I don't know if legislation is the answer but something has to shift. It is not acceptable for one parent to dump everything on another like this and then refuse to accept responsibility for the outcome of that.
Thars a pretty good summing up.
I think it would be possible to frame legislation, possibly using existing legislation, so that in extreme cases resulting in the death or serious injury of a child, culpability would be applied to both parties.
Its incredibly remiss of the father. He is a foreign national who moved to the UK where he had a child with a Russian national, and then left his family in the UK to move to another country. Let's hope he isn't going to make a habit of this.
In this case, it's not as if the father didnt know that his child wasn't severely disabled and that his care wouldn't be heavily impacted by the pandemic. He did nothing to check, nothing additional. His life was unchanged.
Nothing wrong with moving abroad, but everything wrong with not ensuring that a severely disabled child isnt taken care of.
Laws follow morals closely, so I do find it sexist and old fashioned that the laws on child neglect don't recognise neglect in the absent parent too. Obviously the evidential bar would have to be set quite high to avoid unfairness.