Issues of PR

Question 1

Both have PR

Answer 1

S 2(1) if the mother and father are married at the time of the birth of the child both will have PR.

Question 2

S 2(2)

Answer 2

If they are unmarried, the mother will have PR and the father will only have it is he has acquired it.

Question 3

S 2(7)

Answer 3

each may act alone and without another

Question 4

Changing schools fell within s 2(7)

Answer 4

Re G: A boy lived with his father after his parents divorced. As he was getting into trouble at school, the father and headmaster decided that he should be moved to a state boarding school. The mother heard about this on the day that he was due to start at the new school and sought an emergency PSO to try and prevent the move. Although, he could do this the mother should have been consulted

Question 5

Change of surname

Answer 5

Re PC (CA): - Authority to accept the change of name. Where two or more people have parental responsibility for a child, then one of those people can only lawfully cause a change of surname if all other people having parental responsibility consent or agree.

Question 6

Circumcision

Answer 6

Re J:a judicially created exception to s 2(7) and will require consent of all. Such a decision ought not to be made without the specific approval of the court. Sterilisation is one example. The change of a child’s surname is another. … In my view circumcision comes within that group. The decision to circumcise a child on a ground other than medical necessity is a very important one; the operation is irreversible.

Question 7

Re C

Answer 7

SIOs granted to two fathers ordering the mothers to have immunisations, including the MMR, carried out on their children. The CA held that, in these cases, the immunisations would be in the children’s best interests.

Question 8

NHS Trust v SR

Answer 8

cancer treatment would be in the child’s BI . However, when the matter is a very serious one and the parents cannot agree, it is accepted that an application will or may need to be made to the court for a declaration that the procedure in question is lawful.

Question 9

First way an unmarried father can acquire PR

Answer 9

S 4(1)(a) CA: The birth registration reform: - Re-registering can only be done when the original registration was made by the mother alone. If the father had any involvement in registering he cannot acquire PR this way.

Question 10

Second way to acquire PR

Answer 10

S 4(1)(b) Children Act 1989: Parental Responsibility Agreements (PRAs): - Only a few thousand of these agreements registered each year. Due to ignorance of the law and father’s not realising they have PR.

Question 11

Another way to acquire

Answer 11

• Therefore, s 10(4) allows unmarried fathers without PR to apply without leave for any s 8 order. If a CAO is made, an unmarried father without PR, the court must make an order under s 4 to give the father PR- S 12 CA.

Question 12

Last way to get PR

Answer 12

4(1)(c): Parental Responsibility Orders (PROs): - Father may not want to take over day-day care of the child. He may just want PR. If all he wants is PR then should apply for a PRO. He will have a greater chance of getting a PRO rather than a CAO.

Question 13

Who else are PRO available to

Answer 13

• As a result of ACA and the CPA they are now available to step-parents.

Question 14

When granting a PrO does the WC apply

Answer 14

No just the WP

Question 15

CAR critter

Answer 15

Re H (CA) the court formulated an altenrtaive list of criteria (1) the degree of commitment which the father has shown towards the child; (2) the degree of attachment which exists between the father and the child, and (3) the reasons of the father for applying for the order. (CAR criteria)
-	Not exhaustive as governed by welfare principle, CAR criteria guide the court in working though the welfare principles.

Question 16

Re G (CA)

Answer 16

presumption that welfare will demand involvement S 1(2A)

Question 17

PRO is a stamp of approval

Answer 17

Re S

Question 18

Using to control and cataract conditions

Answer 18

Re P; Re D (HC);

Question 19

Re M (CA):

Answer 19

The father’s principal aim in exercising PR would be to seek to exercise control over his son and thereby, indirectly, over the mother

Question 20

Re M (FD)

Answer 20

• will not be in her interests that a parental responsibility order should be granted to the father in circumstances in which I predict he would be highly likely to misuse it to lend weight to future interference in her care, thus continuing the stress on the mother and potentially undermining her ability to care properly for KM’

Question 21

re J-S

Answer 21

The CC judge had jumped too quickly to the conclusion that a violent father’s motive was to harass the mother. It was just as likely that he was genuinely concerned with the boy’s well-being.

Question 22

What is that status of unmarried fathers PR

Answer 22

Unlike married fathers whose PR has enduring status, which he will only lose if the child is adopted, dies or ceases to be a child. However, an unmarried father’s PR can be revoked under s 4(2A)

Question 23

Re P (FD)

Answer 23

PR of father who inflicted serious injuries on his baby daughter revoked. In making its decision, the court applied the WP and the CAR criteria but also said that Parental responsibility once obtained should not be terminated in the case of a non-marital father on less than solid grounds, with a presumption for continuance rather than for termination.

Question 24

Re D (CA)

Answer 24

An unmarried father does not benefit from a “presumption” as to the existence or continuance of parental responsibility. - it is the welfare of the child that creates the presumption, not the parenthood of the unmarried father.

Question 25

A v D (HC)

Answer 25

This father is interested in controlling the mother above all else and, frankly, not in his son at all. Even though he has evinced no real interest in his son his capacity to create mischief by deploying his parental responsibility if he retained it would remain.

Question 26

Why are married and unmarried treated differently?

Answer 26

• Government argument is that unmarried fathers vary more than married. Some living in stable marriage like relationships with the mother, while at the other there are one night stands, and men who would use as a mean of harassing and controlling the mother. Government agreement, unmarried father’s need to be treated differently to protect mothers from father’s at the ‘bad end of the spectrum’.

Question 27

Is there any ECHR interference with the differential treatment?

Answer 27

B v UK (ECHR): does not breach Art 8 and Art 14 rights, there is reasonable justification for the different treatment.