What is parental responsibility?

Parental responsibility (PR) means the legal rights, duties, powers, responsibilities and authority a person has for a child and their property.

A person who has PR for you has the right to make major decisions about your care and upbringing. This can include things like:

• Your education
• Your religion
• Consenting to certain medical treatment
• Choosing, registering or changing your name.

Who has parental responsibility?

Your mother automatically has PR.

Your father will have PR if:

• he was married to your mother when you were born, or he married her after you were born. Your father will not lose PR if your parents divorce.
• he was not married to your mother but he is named on your birth certificate as your father.
• he has an order from the court giving him parental responsibility.

A step-parent may be able to get PR if they are married to your mother/father and they enter into an agreement (step-parent PR agreement) or get a court order (step-parent PR order).

Other people can get PR if you live with that person under a court order, such as a special guardianship order. For example, this may be a grandparent or older sibling.

If you have been adopted, your adoptive parent(s) will get PR once an adoption order is made.

Can parental responsibility be removed?

If you have been adopted, your biological parents will lose PR. Your adoptive parent(s) will then have PR.

If you live with someone who isn’t your biological parent under a court order, the court can later remove that order, and that person will lose PR.

Sometimes, a father may have his PR removed by the court, but this is very rare.

Can I still see my father if he does not have parental responsibility?

You can still have contact with your father even if he doesn’t have PR. Contact is your right and doesn’t depend on PR.

At what age can I make my own decisions?

PR ends when you turn 18 because that’s when you become an adult. But the older you get, the more say you have in these decisions. For more information, see: Disagreements about major decisions.