A guide on Specific Issue Orders.
A Specific Issue Order is a order made under Section 8 of The Children Act 1989. A Specific Issue Order is an order to give direction to answer a specific question about an aspect of parental responsibility, Such as
- What surname the child should have
- What school the child should attend
- If the child should receive medical treatment
- How religion should be included in the child’s upbringing
- Whether the person in care can take the child abroad
Applications for a Specific Issues Order are made using form C100 and you will need to pay a fee of £232.
Orders made under section 8 only apply to issues of parental responsibility and cannot be applied to issues that only concern the adults in the case.
The original section 8 orders are –
- Prohibited Steps Orders
- Specific Issue Orders
- Contact Orders
- Residence Orders
Once a child is 16 years old, any order made under section 8 is no longer in effect. The court will usually not make new orders, apart from one to discharge an order. Under rare circumstances the court can make orders until the child is 18 years old, and the order will lose effect once the child turns 18.
Section 10 of The Children Act decides who can apply for a section 8 order. Parents, guardians and parental responsibility can apply for an order. Mothers and married fathers have parental responsibility as of right. Unmarried fathers, step fathers ect can receive responsibility under the right conditions.
