Parental responsibility is the term that describes all the rights, duties and responsibilities which a parent has in relation to their child by law. If the parents are married or if the child was born after the 1st of December 2003 and the father is named on the birth certificate, both parents of the child have joint parental responsibility of their child before, during and after a divorce or separation.
If you have parental responsibility some of your most important roles include –
1. Decisions either parent can take independently of the other without consultation or notification:
• How the children are to spend their time during contact periods;
• Personal care for the children;
• Activities undertaken;
• Religious and spiritual activities;
• Continuing to take medicine prescribed by a GP.
2. Decisions either parent can take independently but of which they must inform the other:
• Medical treatment in an emergency;
• Visits to a GP and the reasons for them;
• Booking holidays or taking the child abroad during contact time.
3. Decisions which must only be taken following consultation:
• Selecting a school and applying for admissions;
• Contact rotas during school holidays;
• Planned medical and dental treatment;
• Stopping medication prescribed by a GP;
• Attendance at school functions (so the parents may avoid meeting each other wherever possible);
• Age at which children are allowed to watch age-restricted DVDs and video games.
Parents must make sure the child is financially supported, whether they have parental reasonability or not.
If you have parental responsibility but do not live with your child, this does not mean you have a right to spend time with the child, but the other parent must include you when making important decisions about the child’s upbringing and life. You may not always have to have the consent of the other parent when making routine decisions, if the child lives with you, without the intervention of anyone else with parental responsibility. Any major decision, such as one parent wants to take the child to live abroad, both parents with parental responsibility must agree and have their agreement in writing. If you can’t agree, you can apply for a Specific Issue Order or a Prohibited Steps Order. A judge will make a decision that is in your child’s best interest.
Who has parental responsibility ?
A mother has parental responsibility from the birth of her child.
A father usually has parental responsibility if he is married to the mother of his child or if he is listed on the birth certificate (depending on what part of the UK the child was born in).
If you do not have parental reasonability automatically, you can apply for it.
If the parents of the child are married when the child is born, they will both have parental responsibility and continue to have it if the divorce later.
Unmarried fathers can obtain parental responsibility by
- Jointly registering the birth of the child with the mother
- Getting a parental reasonability agreement with the mother
- Getting a parental responsibility order from a court
Applying for parental responsibility
If you are not the mother of the child or do not already have parental responsibility, you can apply to obtain it. You must be connected to the child such as being the father or step-parent. More than 2 people can have parental responsibility for the same child.
Parental responsibility agreement
If you are a father who wishes to have parental responsibility and the mother of your child agrees, you can fill in a parental responsibility agreement using from C(PRA1) (if you are a step parent you will need to use form C(PRA2) ). You will need to take the agreement to your local family court to have it signed and witnessed. You will also need to take the child’s birth certificate and proof of your identity such as a passport of driving licence.
Step Parental Responsibility
A step-parent can apply for Step-Parental Responsibility through a formal agreement or Court Order. Step-parents however still will not and do not acquire Parental Responsibility automatically. For a formal agreement each person with Parental Responsibility must sign the Agreement. This is often the natural parents and any other individuals who have acquired Parental Responsibility since the birth of the child.
A step-parent would need to be married to a biological parent for them to be a step-parent. The courts would need to be satisfied that the step-parent will be a consistent, long-term and stable part of the child's life - a co-habitation relationship doesn't (usually) suggest that.
If a step-parent gains PR, then they will have the same responsibilities and legal status as a biological parent with PR, and be able to make decisions on matters affecting the children.
The consent of all those currently with PR would be required for a step-parent to gain PR by mutual agreement; or they would need to make an application to Court for step-parental responsibility for the step-parent - the only other way for a step-parent to gain PR would be for him and her to make a joint Child Arrangements Order application and for that to be successful.
Parental Responsibility Order
If you wish to have parental responsibility but the mother of your child will not give her consent, you can apply for a parental responsibility order from the family court using form C1. A Parental Responsibility Order is an order under the children act 1989, which unmarried fathers can apply for when the mother refuses to allow the father to be registered or re-registered on the birth certificate or refuses to sign a parental responsibility agreement with him.
The mother should be given a chance to explain her reasoning for refusing to agree to the father having parental responsibility and why she thinks the court should not make the order, for example if there are welfare concerns. It is then left to the court to decide as to whether `it will make the order.
Before you can make this application, you must attend a Mediation Information and Assessment Meeting (MIAM). Applicants are legally required to attend (expect in certain circumstances) the respondent is only required to be invited. Wikivorce do a fixed fee MIAM for £100.
The most important thing to remember when applying to the family court is that the child’s welfare is the biggest concern. The court will not make an order if it is not seen as being in the child’s best interest.
Judges will take these things in to consideration –
- The child’s feelings
- Educational and emotional needs
- Potential risk to the child
- The extent of which parents can meet the child’s needs
Adding your name to your child’s birth certificate
It is possible for a father’s details to be added to his child’s birth certificate if he and the mother have never been married and his name was not recorded at the time of the original registration. The relevant application from is GRO185. This application for the re-registration does require the consent of both the mother and father. However, in the event that the father has entered into a parental responsibility agreement or obtained a parental responsibility order, is possible for just one parent to re-register the birth. This would be appropriate in such cases where the mother does not provide consent for the re-registration. The parent making the application for re-registration in this case would be required to fill out specific sections of the GRO182 form and attach a copy of the parental responsibility order. A new entry will be made to include the father details and the original entry would have a note added to show the birth has been re-registered.
