“My father sat me down and told me I was getting married,” says Tasneem, who is demanding that the media reveal only his first and middle name to avoid further problems. “I felt like I couldn`t say no to my father. He was a violent person. In many states (but not Massachusetts),[2] the marriage of a minor automatically emancipates him or her or increases his or her legal rights beyond the minor`s permission to consent to certain medical treatments. [3] But Rima Nashashibi, founder of Global Hope 365, a Tustin-based nonprofit, and the California Coalition to End Child Marriage, scoffed at what she called an “apology.” She says these arguments are just exchanging a problem for perhaps an even bigger one — and they have the potential to re-victimize children. The study, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, found that the vast majority of underage brides across the country were girls married to older men (on average, four years longer). Most were 16 or 17 years old, but more than 9,000 marriages involved children under the age of 16. These included 1,233 children aged 14, 78 aged 13 and five 10-year-olds. “It was a really scary time for me,” recalls Tyree, who is now 49 and lives on the Oregon coast. “The three most trusted adults in my life guided me and told me what needed to happen. I was confident it was the right thing to do. Sophora Acheson, executive director of Ruby`s Place, a San Francisco Bay Area organization that helps survivors of domestic violence and human trafficking, said she and her staff meet dozens of child marriage victims each year. These survivors usually married between the ages of 13 and 17.
Many are adults when they ask for help. Over the past 15 years, about 200,000 minors have married. Underage marriages in the United States are not permitted except in exceptional circumstances, including the consent of a clerk or judge, the consent of the minor`s parents or guardians, if one of the parties is pregnant or has given birth to a child, or if the minor is emancipated. New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware do not allow underage marriage in exceptional circumstances. State Senator Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo, introduced Senate Bill 273 a few months ago, which proposes that California declare 18 as the minimum age of marriage. Since 18 coincides with legal adulthood, it made sense. In Massachusetts, the general age of marriage is 18, but minors can be married with judicial approval. Unlike many other states,[2] child marriage in Massachusetts does not automatically emancipate the minor or increase his or her legal rights beyond allowing the minor to consent to certain medical treatments. [3] Note: State laws can still be changed in a number of ways, including the passage of newly signed laws and decisions of higher courts.
You may want to contact a California family law attorney or do your own legal research to review the state laws you`ve been looking for. “What is a young girl supposed to do?” asked Tyree, now 49 and living in northern Oregon. “You will not push back or defend yourself. They are your parents. You will do what they say is best for you. » 2. Parental consent: The mother, parent or guardian may file the minor`s consent to marriage or domestic partnership (Form JC #FL-912) or similar argument in juvenile court (2851 Meadow Lark Drive). “Now that I have a 16-year-old daughter, it`s especially poignant for me,” Sitton said. “She had an appointment. How is it possible that someone can be married at this age? The current legal guarantees are almost worthless. If you are a minor, you will need a court order and parental consent. But if you are like most minors, in reality you are under the domination of at least one parent.
“California`s marriage laws allow minors to be married off without a minimum age. This loophole,” Tasneem says, “allows sexual predators to marry minors and thus circumvent rape law.” A spokesman for the clerk`s office said there were no underage marriages in Los Angeles County in 2019. But he did not provide figures after 2019, and he said they did not track the age of people married as minors. “This data will help confirm what we know to be true: child marriage is a persistent and pervasive problem in California,” Petrie-Norris said. “It`s a form of child exploitation,” she said. “Our assumption as a society is that this is not a problem of the United States, we do not tolerate children getting married. But in reality, it happens all the time. Some religious groups also oppose a minimum age for marriage, arguing, for example, that pregnant minors should marry better. And some child welfare organizations have argued that marriage can sometimes help problematic children get out of bad situations like bad foster care. Tyree`s case was a clear example of a statistic that Nashashibi often cites – that half of child marriages are initiated to cover up an underlying crime such as legal rape, since sexual relations are only legal between a minor and an adult if they are married. Nashashibi said forcing such marriages is like removing the rapist`s handcuffs and putting them on the girl. State laws governing age limits for marriage are generally similar, although California is one of the few states where there is no minimum age for marriage.
However, minors (under the age of 18) must obtain both parental consent and a court order before they can marry. Although couples rarely marry before reaching the age of majority, it is intended primarily to allow pregnant minors to marry. Yet shelters and domestic violence services often struggle to help married minors, especially if they have children, Acheson said.