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Written by Administrator
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Tuesday, 08 April 2008 19:08 |
What is Parental Responsibility?
The Children Act describes it 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 is concerned with bringing a child up, caring for him and making decisions about him. However irrespective of whether or not a parent has parental responsibility for a child, he still has legal duties towards the child such as financially supporting him. The reason the Law Commission recommended the use of the term “responsibility” was to reflect the every day reality of being a parent and to emphasise responsibilities of all those who are placed in that position. Parental responsibility cannot be relinquished, transferred but it can be shared or delegated.
The courts have been required to consider the meaning of parental rights. This has been described as a bundle of rights including the power to control education, the choice of religion and the administration of a child’s property. They include for example entitlement to veto the issue of a passport and to withhold consent to marriage. Below is a list of some aspects of parental responsibility that have been acknowledged by the court determining a child’s religion, education, naming the child, consenting (or not) to a child’s medical treatment, representing a child in legal proceedings, consenting (or not) to marriage, consenting (or not) to adoption, lawfully correcting a child, arranging a child’s emigration, consenting to the temporary removal of a child from the jurisdiction for holidays or extended stays, protecting and maintaining a child, having physical possession of a child, having contact with a child, allowing a child to be interviewed and allowing confidential information relating to a child to be published.
A child’s parents or others with parental responsibility exercise their parental responsibility for a child by taking decisions that will affect his upbringing. Where there is a dispute between those who have parental responsibility, the court may be asked to decide the issue. In most cases this will be by way of an application under Section 8 of the Children Act 1989.
Another common problem is change of name. Where a child’s parents act jointly they have an absolute right to name and re-name their child and this applies to all of the child’s names. It is therefore not necessary to execute a Deed Poll to change a child’s name although it might be sensible for proving the change and to avoid any later confusion.
Where two or more people have parental responsibility for a child, then one of those people can lawfully cause the change of surname if all other people having parental responsibility consent or agree. In any other situation, an appropriate Order of the court is required. However, this does not relate to a much older child, in particular over the age of 16 where the consent of that particular child may be both necessary and sufficient to change the name.
Where only one person has parental responsibility then that person has the right and power lawfully to cause a change of surname without any other permission or consent. However it is good practice where a father does not have parental responsibility that he be contacted and in the event of disagreement the matter should be brought before a court for determination.
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