Scope and Limits of Parental Authority Over The Child’s Personal Status

Abstractthe mother and father; rather, it is structured as a duty-based regime serving the protection and development of the child’s personal status and is closely connected to public order. In modern family law, parental authority does not constitute a sphere of unrestricted dominion enabling parents to freely determine the child’s personal status; instead, it is regarded as a legal institution aimed at safeguarding the child’s physical, psychological, intellectual, and moral development and, in this respect, is limited by the principle of the best interests of the child.This study examines the scope and limits of parental authority over the child’s personal status and analyses the rights and obligations of parents concerning the care of the child, cohabitation, education, and the protection and development of the child’s personality, in light of the provisions of the Turkish Civil Code, the Constitution, and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. It further addresses the time-bound and gradually narrowing nature of parental authority, the child’s right to participation, the relationship between parental authority and public order, and the State’s positive obligations regarding the protection of the child. In this context, the study also elucidates the judge’s power of intervention in situations where the child’s interests are endangered, as well as the legal regime governing the restriction or removal of parental authority. Accordingly, the study aims to demonstrate that parental authority is essentially a legal institution oriented towards the protection of the child’s personality rights, imposing responsibilities on parents rather than conferring unrestricted powers.