Parental responsibility and childrens rights

Question 1

Legal parenthood does not in itself confer rights or responsibilities on parents that they can exercise in respect of their children. In order to exercise responsibilities for children, or to make decisions on behalf of those children, parents must have parental responsibility.

Answer 1

What is parental responsibility?
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 (s.3(1) Children Act 1989).

Although children can only have two legal parents, there can be more than two people who have parental responsibility for the child. Parental responsibility can be acquired, in different ways. It is also possible, in limited situations, to remove someone’s parental responsibility.

Question 2

J in Re D (Contact and Parental Responsibility: Lesbian Mothers and Known Father (No.2) [2006] EWHC 2 Fam.

Answer 2

The scope of parental responsibility is “intangible and difficult to define precisely”

Question 3

Re P (Parental Responsibility) [1998] 2 FLR 96

Answer 3

• The court weighs in the balance “various factors in favour [of] and against granting parental responsibility and [decides], on the facts of the individual case, whether an order for parental responsibility is in the best interests of the child”

Question 4

See Re H(Minors) (Local Authority: Parental Rights) (No.3) [1991] Fam 151

Answer 4

• The court will take into consideration a wide variety of factors in deciding whether or not to grant a PRO to a father. As a starting point, three factors that will be considered are:
  1. The degree of commitment shown by the father to the child;
  2. The degree of attachment between the father and the child; and
  3. The reasons the father is applying for the order

Question 5

However, courts appear to be awarding PROs to fathers in recognition of their status as fathers, rather than in recognition of what they do for the child:

Answer 5

• In Re C and V (Contact and Parental Responsibility) [1998] Ward LJ further said that “It should be understood by now that a parental responsibility order is one designed not to do more than confer on the natural father the status of fatherhood” (at 397)
• In Re M (Contact: Family Assistance: McKenzie Friend) [1999] his Lordship said “it is essential for the well-being of the children… to begin to know that their father was concerned enough to make an application to be recognised as their father, and that his status as their father has the stamp of the court’s approval. Butler-Sloss LJ and Thorpe LJ took the same view on PR as a status in Re H (Parental Responsibility) [1998] and Re H (A Child: Parental Responsibility) [2002] respectively.
• Likewise, in Re G (A Minor) (Parental Responsibility Order) [1994] 1 FLR 504 Balcome J said that prima facie, an absent parent who applies for parental responsibility must be doing so for the child’s benefit or welfare. As such, unless his reasons for applying for a PRO are demonstrably improper or wrong, the order should be made.

Question 6

See Re P (A Minor) (Parental Responsibility Order) [1994]

Answer 6

That said, the courts have also been willing to grant a PRO with specific orders to prevent their misuse.