blondie Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 (edited) this was given to me at a safeguarding children course thought might be helpful to someone/sometime parental rights and responsibilities unlike mothers, fathers do not always have "parental respnsability" for their children.with more than one in three children now born outside marriage, some parents may be unclear about who has legal parental responsibility for their children what is parental responsibiltiy? while the law does not define what parental responsibility is,the following list sets out the key roles *providing a home for the child *having contact with and living with the child *protecting and maintaining the child *disciplining the child *choosing and providing for the child's education *determining the religion of the child *agreing to the child'ss medical treatment *naming the child and agreeing to any change of the child's name. *accompanying the child outside the uk and agreeing to the child's emigration,should this issue arise *being resposibl;e for the child's property *appointing a guardian for the child if necessary *allowing confidential information about the child to be disclosed who has parental responsibility? if the paretns of a child are married to each other or if they have jointly adopted a child,they they both have parental responsibility.this is not automatically the case for unmarried parents. according to the current law, a mother always has parental resposibility for her child. A father, however, has this responsibility only if he is marreid to the mother or has acquired legal responsibility through one of these three routes 1. (after dec 1 2003) by jointly registering the birth of the child with the mother 2.by a parental responsibility agreement with the mother 3.by a parental responsibility order,made by a court. living with the mother,even for a long time,does not give a father parental responsibility and if the parents are not married, parental responsibility does not always pass to the natural father if the mother dies. all parents (including adoptive parents) have a legal duty to financially support their child, whether they have parental resposibility or not. so what about the fathers of children born before 1 dec 2003 who haven't acquired parental responsibility by virtue of marriage or are not named as fathers on the childs birth certificate? in these cases it is only the mother who is deemed to have paretnal responsibilities in respect of the child. hope this might help someone somewhen - sorry think put it in wrong area -but sure someone will move it for me Edited June 2, 2009 by blondie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cait Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 thanks - that's interesting Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest mukerjee1 Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 Thanks blondie that's interesting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rea Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 Its hard work being a dad, these rules dont make it any easier do they? They presume that all dad's unless married to the mother are unnecessary in some way and need to prove themselves. It makes me very cross when fathers are disregarded en masse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunnyday Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 Thank you blondie - it is my understanding that we are now required to gain information with reference to 'Parental Responsibility' for the children in our care -I have just changed my registration form to include this Sunnyday Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunnyday Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 Its hard work being a dad, these rules dont make it any easier do they? They presume that all dad's unless married to the mother are unnecessary in some way and need to prove themselves.It makes me very cross when fathers are disregarded en masse. Couldn't agree more Rea - I have actually seriously thought about joining 'Families need Fathers' or 'Fathers for Justice' it is something I feel very strongly about - maybe because I have sons. Sunnyday Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susan Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 Moved into lounge for you but maybe this info should be in the resource library somewhere? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HappyMaz Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 They presume that all dad's unless married to the mother are unnecessary in some way and need to prove themselves. This is why they changed the law in 2003 - so that fathers who register the child with the mother are automatically granted parental responsibility. Mr Maz and I registered all of our children together but strictly speaking he has no parental responsibility and I could have just whisked them away and he would have had no say in what happened to them without taking legal action against me. Even now I guess technically he doesn't have the legal right to make decisions on their behalf which is ridiculous really. Obviously I am a sane rational woman and I would never use my children as a weapon if ever Mr Maz should decide the grass was greener on the other side of the fence. However, it is easy to see how men in his position could easily be completely devastated by a feckless woman who wanted rid of the father of her children. Some would say its a lot easier just to get married... Maz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 Its hard work being a dad, these rules dont make it any easier do they? They presume that all dad's unless married to the mother are unnecessary in some way and need to prove themselves.It makes me very cross when fathers are disregarded en masse. I agree with you entirely Rea, but would like to point out that sadly not all fathers want parental responsibility, my ex being one of them. I wish a law existed to make fathers more responsible, but in my case, my ex husband only wants to see his children for 6 hours on a saturday. When our divorce was going through and we had an access meeting the judge offered him alternate weekends, one evening a week for tea and a fair split of the holidays, through his solicitor he offered the 6 hours. As my children are getting older they are asking him why they only see him for such a short time, to which his excuses are starting to wear a bit thin with them. He even has the audacity to cancel the 6 hours if he is going away etc. So while I agree in justice for fathers, I also feel fathers should be held more accountable, but hey ho, I know what he is missing out on and my children are starting to see it for themselves to, which is very sad. Claire x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rea Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 A couple we know in America, both British but with US citizenship lost their son last year to suicide. His estranged wife who also uses the children just like you suggest maz) was able under state law to give his body to the state to dispose of and his parents had no right to know where the funeral was or when. The policeman who atended when his body was discovered told them what his suicide note said but also added that he could lose his job for telling them as under the law they had no rights. Not really related but it does show just how little parents matter to the powers that be, and its strange that when things go wrong its always the parents to blame. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HappyMaz Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 Not really related but it does show just how little parents matter to the powers that be, and its strange that when things go wrong its always the parents to blame. And of course by extension, it is devastating how this kind of unfair legislation affects grandparents too. Shocking. Maz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blondie Posted June 3, 2009 Author Share Posted June 3, 2009 (edited) hi sunnyday havent got as far as that yet - could you give me an idea of how you worded this on your forms please? will have to amend ours too or add extra form - more paperwork!!!!!! hi susan - thought was in wrong area but dont know how to do this - could someone do this for me and let me know how to do this for the future -i would be very grateful Edited June 3, 2009 by blondie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Upsy Daisy Posted June 3, 2009 Share Posted June 3, 2009 (edited) Thank you so much for sharing this Blondie. My last Ofsted report included an action to have, in writing, details of who has parental responsibility for each child. As I care for children in complicated familes I rang the Ofsted helpline to find out how to identify who has parental responsibility. They couldn't tell me! After I made a bit of a fuss about where they expected me to get this information I had my inspector on the phone telling me it was now a recommendation rather than an action but that they still couldn't tell me how to work it out. It would seem that the people who ran your safeguarding course are better informed than Ofsted. I will print this off and keep it with my contracts. Edited June 3, 2009 by AlisonP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunnyday Posted June 3, 2009 Share Posted June 3, 2009 hi sunnyday havent got as far as that yet - could you give me an idea of how you worded this on your forms please? will have to amend ours too or add extra form - more paperwork!!!!!!hi susan - thought was in wrong area but dont know how to do this - could someone do this for me and let me know how to do this for the future -i would be very grateful Hi blondie - I have sent you a pm. Sunnyday Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blondie Posted June 3, 2009 Author Share Posted June 3, 2009 Hi blondie - I have sent you a pm. Sunnyday thank you so much sunnyday -will use this from now on it ticks all the boxes x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 4, 2009 Share Posted June 4, 2009 Hi sunnyday, At the risk of appearing cheeky may I ask you to pm me too? We've just realised we need to change our forms but can't access the relevant training until next January. It would be a great help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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