Can A Father Have His Parental Responsibility Removed?

Trainee Solicitor Matthew Light answers a question that arose from his previous blog on Parental Responsibility…

In last month’s blog, A Parents’ Guide: What Do I Need To Know About Parental Responsibility?, I covered how a father can gain Parental Responsibility. This month I will explore a question I have received since posting – “Can you lose parental responsibility? Do you have to do something illegal or that endangers the child?”

Ways Parental Responsibility Can Come To An End

Parental responsibility can be extinguished in two ways:

1. When The Child Reaches Maturity

As you know, parental responsibility enables both parents to be consulted about important decisions that need to be made about the child including his health, education and religious upbringing.

Naturally, therefore, parental responsibility automatically ends when the child reaches the “age of majority” and is thereafter considered an adult in law. The age of majority in the UK is 18, as set out in Section 1 of the Family Law Reform Act 1969 (legislation.gov.uk). Afterall, once a child has the legal capacity to make their own decisions, there is no need for their parents to retain it.

2. By Order Of The Court

Otherwise, parental responsibility can only be terminated by the Court in three ways:

1. By the making of an adoption order
2. By the discharge of an order that granted parental responsibility.
3. By the court ordering the discreet termination of parental responsibility

Adoption Orders

An adoption order severs the legal ties between a birth parent and the child, so that the adoptive parent(s) become the child’s legal parent(s) throughout life. An adoption order does not end when a child turns 18 – the child/adult remains a legal member of his/her new family permanently (although the adoptive parents’ parental responsibility will fall away when the children reaches maturity).

Discharge Of An Order

Some court orders, such as a Child Arrangement Order for a child to live with a designated person can confer parental responsibility that lasts as long as the order is in place. If the order is discharged, then the parental responsibility with fall away.

Court Ordered Termination Of Parental Responsibility

The case law in this area shows that removal of parental responsibility is possible in extreme cases but should only be ordered if it is necessary to protect the child and family from serious harm.

The case law includes the following examples:

1. Re P (Terminating parental responsibility) [1995] 3 FCR 753] – The father was found guilty of inflicting grievous bodily harm to the child
2. CW v SG [2013] All ER (D) 117 (Apr) – The father pleaded guilty for committing sexual assault against the child’s siblings
3. A v D (Parental Responsibility) [2013] EWHC 2963 (Fam) – The father was imprisoned for extreme domestic violence

It is noteworthy that in each of these cases the removal of parental responsibility was ordered where it had been acquired by an unmarried father.

If you have any questions or queries regarding parental responsibility, please feel free to contact me on 01332 364436 or via email at m.light@timms-law.com

Matthew Light
July 2021