Parental Responsibility

Parental responsibility (PR) in family law is a legal status derived from the Children Act 1989. You may be quite rightly regarded as a ‘responsible’ parent by a host of organisations, even singly responsible for your child’s daily care, but at the same time not have the formal status of a parent with parental responsibility. Generally this page will be concerned with a child’s parents and their parental responsibility. However, others, besides parents, can have parental responsibility for a child; for example, a local authority for children in its care, a child’s guardian, a child’s stepfather and perhaps a child’s grandparents or other relatives will be able acquire parental responsibility in certain circumstances.

In some instances explained elsewhere on this webpage, unless you have parental responsibility you will not be considered to be a ‘parent’ of the child since the definition of parent in some instances only includes parents with parental responsibility.

What is Parental Responsibility

Parental responsibility was a legal concept first defined in the Children Act 1989 (s3) 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. “ Detailed and explicit definition as to what this encompasses was deliberately avoided. Over the years a number of Court of Appeal judgments have given flesh to the bones of the bare definition provided in the statute. The 1989 Act emphasised parental responsibilities over parental rights but in many instances a parent must exercise his rights in order to perform his responsibilities. For example, in order to fulfill your parental responsibility to see that your child attends school and is educated properly a parent must be accorded certain rights with regard to the education system. Parental responsibility, unless discharged, runs until the child reaches the age of 18, though its importance and impact on the child will diminish as the child grows older and his own views and wishes carry more weight.
Parental responsibility also confers status on a parent. This status is important for:
(a) the father and the mother: unless both parents have parental responsibility the parent with care (PWC) (and the non-resident parent (NRP) themselves) may view the NRP as a ‘second-class’ parent, rather than as an equal parent. A NRP perceiving himself as a second class parent may be less inclined to involve themselves with their child, be more inclined to walk away; a PWC, regarding the NRP as a second-class parent may ignore the NRP and make all important decisions about the child without any reference to them.
There is no difference in law between the powers of mothers and fathers.

(b) the child: though in most instances the child will not be made aware of parental responsibility, in separated families the child needs to have a positive image of the parent he no longer lives with in order to bolster his own self-esteem. Lord Justice Ward’s words from the 1995 judgment Re S (Parental Responsibility) are frequently quoted to emphasise this aspect.
(c) public authorities; all are more willing to fully engage with a parent who has formal parental responsibility and to treat him as an equal parent, than a parent who does not.

Do parents with parental responsibility need to share decision making?

s2(7) of the Children Act 1989 states:
Where more than one person has parental responsibility for a child, each of them may act alone and without the other (or others) in meeting that responsibility;
However case-law has established that in certain circumstances parents are under a legal duty to consult, meaning that where parents are separated, the resident parent is not always entitled to act without first consulting her ex-partner. Back in 1998 the Court of Appeal (Re H (Parental Responsibility) said that a father with parental responsibility would have to be consulted on “schooling, serious medical problems and other important occurrences in the child's life'.
Parental responsibility is not concerned with the day-to-day care of the child, does not permit either (separated) parent to interfere with how the other parent cares for the child when the child is in their care. In A v A (Shared Residence) [2004] EWHC142 at paragraph 118 Mr Justice Wall remarked:
‘It is a basic principle that, post separation, each parent with parental responsibility retains an equal and independent right and responsibility to be informed and make appropriate decisions about their children. However, where children are being looked after by one parent, that parent needs to be in a position to take the day-to-day decisions that have to be taken while that parent is caring for the children. Parents should not be seeking to interfere with one another in matters which are taking place while they do not have the care of their children. Subject to any questions which are regulated by court order, the object of the exercise should be to maintain flexible and practical arrangements whenever possible.’
The parents in the case above had, with the help of NYAS, agreed a ‘Schedule of Items in Relation to their Exercise of Parental Responsibility’, a schedule which Mr Justice Wall chose to endorse by appending it to the end of his judgment. The schedule differentiated between 3 sorts of decisions:
(a) Decisions that could be taken independently and without any consultation or notification to the other parent
(b) Decisions where one parent would always need to inform the other parent of the decision, but did not need to consult or take the other parent’s views into account
(c) Decisions that you would need to both inform and consult the other parent
Though there is no absolute agreement, the rule of thumb is that the following matters require the consent of all those who have parental responsibility for the child:
Change of surname (even where there is no residence order)
Removing the child from the jurisdiction (i.e. England and Wales) for more than one month
Committing to a serious and irreversible operation (except in an emergency)
Change of school

Who automatically has parental responsibility for a child?

Many parents will have parental responsibility without being aware that they do.

All mothers, whether married or unmarried, automatically have parental responsibility for any child born to them. [Children Act 1989 s2(1) & s2(2)(a)]

Fathers who were married to the mother of the child when the child was born also automatically have parental responsibility. [CA 1989 s2(1)]

How can an 'unmarried father' obtain parental responsibility?

Unmarried Fathers can acquire parental responsibility in any of the following ways:
(a) By jointly registering the child’s birth with the mother (for births registered after 1 December 2003) you will automatically gain parental responsibility (i.e. there will be no separate official document stating that you have PR) [CA 1989 s4(1)(a)]. It is the date of registration, not the date of birth which is important in determining whether the father has parental responsibility.
(b) By re-registering the birth for pre December 2003 registrations, to add the father’s details, you will automatically gain parental responsibility [CA 1989 s4(1)(a)].You would either need the mother to attend with you or provide a formal declaration of agreement that your name is to be added to the birth record.NB: the birth can only be re-registered if the father’s name was omitted from the original registration. If it is already there, you cannot re-register, and therefore you cannot gain parental responsibility by this means.
(c) By subsequently marrying the mother of the child you automatically gain PR [CA 1989 s2(3)Family Law Reform Act 1987 s(1)]
(d) By obtaining a residence order from the court (PR is a ‘by-product’ of the residence order) you will automatically acquire parental responsibility [CA 1989 s12(1)], although in this form PR will terminate when the resident order ends (usually age 16).
(e) A birth parent can sign a parental responsibility agreement on form C(PRA1) according to the Children Act 1989. This document itself will signify that you have parental responsibility for the child) [CA 1989 s4(1)(2)].

(f) A step-parent's PR agreement can ne made by consent with all those already having PR for the child on form C(PRA2) according to the Children & Adoption Act 2002.
(g) By obtaining a parental responsibility order from the court. The order will specifically state that the court has granted you parental responsibility. [CA 1989 s4(1)(3)]
(h) By obtaining an adoption order from the court.

Only with (d), (e), (f), (g) and (h) will you obtain a document that explicitly states that the father has parental responsibility for the child. With the other means of obtaining parental responsibility there will be no separate documentation confirming parental responsibility, the documentation of the status acquired (marriage, child’s birth certificate, etc.) being themselves evidence of parental responsibility.