29 Care Proceedings
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2. Who can make decisions about my child's care?
The right to decide how a child is raised and cared for rests with people who have ‘parental responsibility’ for him or her. Parental responsibility is the legal term used to describe all the rights and duties that parents (and sometimes other people) have towards their children. For example, it gives you the right to agree to medical treatment for your child, or to choose the school they attend.
When a child is born, the mother automatically has parental responsibility. So does the father, if:
- he is married to the mother when the child is born; or;
- he is registered as the father on the baby’s birth certificate (for children born after 1 December 2003).
However, later in the child’s life, the unmarried father of the child can get parental responsibility by:
- marrying the child’s mother;
- making a Parental Responsibility Agreement with the mother;
- re-registering the child’s birth (if the father was not on the birth certificate and if the mother signs a statutory declaration that he is the child’s father);
- getting a parental responsibility order from the court; or
- getting a residence or special guardianship order from the court.
Adoptive parents get parental responsibility when they adopt their child.
Other people caring for children may get parental responsibility if they obtain a court order. For example, the local authority will get parental responsibility if it obtains a care order from the court (see ‘What types of order can a court make?’).
3. Why would social services get involved in my child´s care?
4. What happens when social services start care proceedings?
5. What happens at the first hearing?
6. What orders can the court make at the first hearing?
7. Who will represent my child during proceedings?
8. What happens after an interim order is made?
9. How do I prepare for the final hearing?
10. What happens at the final hearing?
11. How does the court make its decision?
12. What types of order can the court make?
13. How long does a care order last?
14. How can I apply to end a care order?
The leaflets are regularly updated but the law may have changed since they were printed so the information in them may be incorrect or out of date.
Leaflet Version: January 2006