Children Law

Parental responsibility is defined as “all the rights, duties, powers, responsibilities and authority which by law a parent of a child has”.
 
A mother always has parental responsibility for a child.

A father does not automatically have parental responsibility. A father can, however, acquire parental responsibility if:

• he is married to the mother at the time of the birth (or later on)
• he is on the child’s birth certificate if the birth is registered after 1 December 2003
• he and the mother have completed a parental responsibility agreement
• a court has made a parental responsibility order in favour of the father