Parental consent
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Parental consent is a law of Bahá’u’lláh relating to marriage. Marriage is made conditional upon a number of things. Firstly, the couple must choose one another. Parental interference and parental control are therefore forbidden. Further, the couple are advised to get to know one another's character very well, before embarking on a life together.
The second condition applies to the period of engagement, which should not exceed 95 days. This law has not yet been been applied universally, but is already observed by the Bahá’ís from some backgrounds.
The third condition is that the consent of all living natural parents should be given. This can be given in person, upon the wedding day, or in writing, in advance. At the present time, the frequent dislocation of family arrangements may lead to problems with obtaining this consent, as the bride or groom may not know where one or both of their parents may be, or even who they might be. It is up to the institutions of the Faith to decide whether sufficient and reasonable effort has been made in trying to obtain such consent.
The law of parental consent should have a number of beneficial results. It should lead to more mature deliberation over the choice of partners, and reduce the number of impulse-driven marriages. The very fact that the parents have given their approval to the union will reduce the kind of resentful guerilla warfare which some young couples have to endure from parents or in-laws. The law should also reduce the number of bigamous marriages, as the partner who is already married will find it more difficult to enter into an irregular second or third "marriage".
The fact that a natural parent will have, in the future, the right and duty to approve any wedding plans for their offspring could well have a profound therapeutic effect on the current numbers of marriage break-ups and the way in which one or the other parent is frequently excluded from the lives of the children.
