4.4 Parental Responsibility
SCOPE OF THIS CHAPTER
This chapter was reviewed and revised for the May 2024 edition of the manual.
Contents
1. Definition
The Children Act 1989 defines Parental Responsibility as all the rights, duties, powers, responsibilities and authority which by law, a parent of a child has, in relation to the child and her/his property. The Act provides consistent rules about the acquisition and exercise of Parental Responsibility, and the effect of it on Care Orders.
2. Who has Parental Responsibility?
Where a child's father and mother were married to each other at the time of her/his birth, they shall each have Parental Responsibility for the child.
When a child's father and mother were not married to each other at the time of her/his birth:
- The mother has Parental Responsibility for the child;
- The father has Parental Responsibility if his name is on the birth certificate, if he and the child's mother enter into a Parental Responsibility Agreement; or if the Court, on his application, orders that he shall have Parental Responsibility for the child.
The fact that one person acquires Parental Responsibility does not in itself remove another's Parental Responsibility. For instance after separation or divorce, both parents retain their Parental Responsibility.
The usual recourse where one parent is unhappy about the actions or proposed actions of another is that they can apply for a Section 8 Order under the Children Act 1989 such as a Prohibited Steps Order or a Specific Issue Order.
Child Arrangements Order (lives with)
Where the court makes a child arrangements order for the child to live with their father, and the father does not have parental responsibility, the court will make an order giving the father parental responsibility.
Where the court makes a child arrangements order for the child to live with a woman who is a parent of the child but the woman does not have parental responsibility, the court will make an order giving the woman parental responsibility. A woman is a parent of the child if she agrees to being treated as a parent of any child resulting from treatment provided to another woman. For example, a same-sex couple who are not married or civil partners.
Where the court makes a child arrangements order for the child to live with a person who is not a parent or guardian, that person will have parental responsibility for the child while the order is in force.
Special Guardianship Order
Where the court makes a special guardianship order, the special guardian appointed will have parental responsibility for the child.
Surrogacy
Where a child is born through surrogacy, the surrogate is the legal parent and has parental responsibility for the child. If the surrogate is married or has a civil partner, they will also have parental responsibility for the child. In order to obtain parental responsibility and transfer legal parenthood from the surrogate to the intended parent/s, the intended parent/s need to apply to court for a Parental Order.
Same-sex partners
Where same-sex partners are married or civil partners, both partners will have parental responsibility for any child resulting from treatment, for example donor insemination or fertility treatment.
If the same-sex partners are not married or are not civil partners, the partner receiving the treatment will have parental responsibility, but the other partner will not. The partner not receiving the treatment can obtain parental responsibility by entering into a parental responsibility agreement, by applying to court for a parental responsibility order or by jointly registering the birth. As mentioned above, the partner not receiving treatment will also obtain parental responsibility if a child arrangements order is made for the child to live with them.
Step-parents
A step-parent can obtain parental responsibility if the parent/s with parental responsibility enter into a parental responsibility agreement with the step-parent. Alternatively, the step-parent can apply to the court for parental responsibility.