Acquiring legal parental responsibility

Becoming a parent is momentous and, with all the life changes, brings the rights and responsibilities every parent needs to care for their child properly.

The legal term for these rights and duties is 'parental responsibility'. This term is defined in the Children Act 1989 as “all the rights, duties, powers, responsibilities and authority which by law a parent of a child has in relation to the child and his property.”

Parental responsibility provides the right to be involved with and make important decisions about a child’s upbringing, including decisions about schooling, medical treatment, changing a child’s name and religion.

Every mother acquires parental responsibility automatically upon the birth of her child. The situation for fathers is slightly more complicated. If he is married to the mother at the time of the child’s birth the father also acquires parental responsibility automatically. However, if he is not married to the child’s mother, a father will not have parental responsibility automatically will need to take steps to acquire it, most commonly by:

• Having his name registered on the birth certificate of the child, with the mother’s consent (for details of how to register a birth go to www.gov.uk)
• By entering a formal Parental Responsibility Agreement with the mother
• By obtaining a Parental Responsibility Order from the court

Same sex parents will both have parental responsibility where they are civil partners at the time of any fertility treatment. Where they are not civil partners, the second parent can apply for parental responsibility.

Step parents often play an important role in families and they can acquire parental responsibility for a step child by agreement with all those who already have it (usually the child’s mother and father.)