| Married Parents |
Each have parental responsibility for their child and have the right
to have their child living with them, unless the court has made a residence or
care order saying the child should live with someone else. They can exercise
their parental responsibility independently of each other. Both parents
continue to have parental responsibility even if they separate or
divorce unless the court orders
otherwise. |
 |
| Unmarried Mother |
Whether or not she is living with the father of the child, has sole
parental responsibility for the child. |
 |
| Unmarried Father |
An Unmarried Father starts off with no parental responsibility
towards a child even if he is living with the mother. The father can acquire
parental responsibility in a variety of ways. The mother can apply to the court
or to the Child Support Agency to establish his responsibility for financially
supporting the child even if he has not acquired parental responsibility.
|
 |
| An unmarried father can acquire the following rights and
responsibilities:- |
Parental responsibility. This can be done by a parental
responsibility agreement made with the mother, or by applying to court for a
parental responsibility order. These give the father equal responsibility with
the mother in relation to the child |
The right to have the child living with him - a residence
order. The residence order can stipulate that the child should live with the
father all the time, or for certain periods of the year, for example, during
school holidays or at weekends. If he obtains a residence order in his favour,
the court will also automatically grant him a parental responsibility
order |
| Contact with the child. The courts generally take the view
that the child should have contact with both parents wherever possible,
provided that this is in the best interests of the child. The father can apply
for a contact order. |
The right to prevent someone with parental responsibility
taking any action, for example, stopping the child being taken out of the
United Kingdom. This is called a prohibited steps order and may apply to
anyone. |
The right to bring a dispute about any issue relating to the
child to the court for a decision, for example, disputes about the child's
education or medical treatment. This is known as a specific issue order and it
can be attached to a residence/contact order or be made independently.
|
| Guardianship. If the father does not have parental
responsibility, he can apply to the court to be appointed the child's guardian
if the mother has died. This would give him parental responsibility. However,
the father would be in a stronger position if he had applied for a parental
responsibility order |
Adoption. A father
might apply to adopt the child. This is only likely to happen if the child is
looked after by him and his wife and the child's mother is dead or has no
contact or relationship with the child. |
If an unmarried man has a child, the child's mother can apply to the
Child Support Agency for a maintenance assessment for the child. If she is
claiming income support, income-based jobseeker's allowance, family credit or
disability working allowance, she will be contacted automatically by the Child
Support Agency. The father can be required to pay maintenance until the child
reaches the age of 16, or 19 if in full-time, non-advanced education.
|
| Grandparents |
Grandparents have no automatic rights or responsibilities in relation
to their grandchildren. They may be able to acquire rights and responsibilities
through the court in the following ways:- |
 |
| By applying for a residence order and/or a contact order. If
the grandchild has lived with the grandparent for three years, the grandparent
is entitled to apply for either of these orders. If the child has not been
living with the grandparent for three years, the grandparent must ask the court
for permission to apply for one of these orders. A residence order would also
give the grandparent parental responsibility for the child. The local authority
may pay residence order allowances to grandparents. |
By applying for a prohibited steps order or a specific issue
order, if they have a residence order. The grandparents would need to ask the
court's permission to apply if they do not have a residence order. |
By adoption in very limited circumstances or by making a child a ward
of court |
| Foster Carers |
Foster carers have day-to-day responsibility for looking after a
child in their care. They have no automatic parental responsibility. Parental
responsibility remains with the parents and, if there is a care order, with the
local authority. Foster parents in certain circumstances can apply to court to
obtain rights in relation to the child. |
 |
| Other Relatives & Friends |
A child often has a close relationship with other relatives and
friends and sometimes may be fully cared for by them. However, these adults
have no rights and responsibilities in relation to the child unless these have
been granted by a court or the person is a guardian. They can ask the court's
permission to apply for a residence, contact, prohibited steps or specific
issue order or they may have an automatic right to apply for a residence or
contact order if the child has lived with them for three years or if someone
with parental responsibility has given them permission. They may be paid a
residence order allowance |
 |
| Surrogate Parents |
Surrogacy is an arrangement whereby a woman agrees to become pregnant
and then hands the child over to another woman or couple. The surrogate mother
may conceive using the sperm of either the commissioning man or a donor.
Alternatively a couple could have in-vitro fertilisation treatment and have the
embryo transferred to the surrogate mother. |
 |
| Despite the surrogacy arrangement, the woman who has given birth to
the child is seen in law as the child's mother and retains exclusive rights
over that child if she is single. . |
If she is married, the child is assumed to be a child of the marriage
and the woman and her husband each have parental responsibility |
A married couple who commissioned the child can apply to court for an
order which would result in the child being treated in law as their child ('a
parental order'). Certain conditions have to be met:- |
| At least one of the couple must have contributed genetically to the
child; the child must be resident with the couple; there must be no payment
involved except reasonable expenses allowed by the court; and the surrogate
mother and her husband (if any) must have agreed unconditionally to the
parental order. |
If the commissioning parents are not married, they will not be able
to obtain a parental order but they may be able to apply to the court for
another order, for example, a residence order or a contact order. |
A single commissioning mother cannot obtain a parental order but can
apply for another order, for example, a residence order.I |
| f the child was conceived as a result of intercourse between the
surrogate mother and the commissioning father, the commissioning father could
acquire parental rights, for example, by making a parental responsibility
agreement with the surrogate mother whether or not she is married to someone
else at the time of the birth. |
Whenever the court makes an order in a case involving surrogacy, the
welfare of the child is of paramount importance, irrespective of the
arrangements planned by the adults involved in a surrogacy
arrangement. |
It may be possible for the commissioning couple to adopt the child
|
| Parents Who Have Children by Donor Insemination |
If a child born after 31 July 1991 is conceived by donor
insemination, arranged through a licensed establishment to a married couple,
the married man is the legal father of the child unless he can prove that he
did not consent to his wife having donor insemination. The baby must be
registered as if it were the child of the couple. |
 |
| For unmarried women, the child's birth is registered with 'father
unknown'. If the woman has a male partner who wishes to register on the birth
certificate as the father, he may do so under certain circumstances. If the
woman has a woman partner, the partner can apply to court for a joint residence
order with the mother in order to acquire parental responsibility once the
child has been born. |
If donor insemination is not arranged through a licensed
establishment, the position of the mother and donor would be the same as that
of any other unmarried mother and father, if the mother knows who the donor is,
for example, the donor would have financial responsibilities for the child and
could apply for a parental responsibility order. |
If the mother did not know who the donor is, for example, if the
donor insemination had been arranged through a third party, the donor cannot be
pursued, for example, by the Child Support Agency and an intermediary cannot be
forced to reveal the donor's name. If the donor insemination were arranged
through a licensed establishment, the donor cannot be recognised as having
parental responsibility because the law says that the child has no legal
father. |
| Step Parents |
If a parent has a residence order in her favour, s/he can go back to
court to have the order varied to include the step-parent. This will give the
step-parent parental responsibility for the child. |
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| The step-child has no automatic rights of inheritance from her/his
step-parents. |
Even if step-parents do not have parental responsibility, they do
have some responsibility towards step-children whom they have treated as
members of their own family (known as 'child of the family') and may be
required by the court to provide financial support for step-children if the
marriage ends. This will not usually happen if the children are being
financially provided for by their original parent. |
If the marriage between the step-parent and the parent ends, the
step-parent could ask for leave to apply for a contact order. |
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