A father fails to achieve Sole Parental Responsibility
Parental responsibility confirms the legal rights and responsibilities a parent has over children; parental responsibility means legal decision making about a child’s upbringing and day-to-day welfare. Sole parental responsibility on the other is where one parent holds these rights. The Children Act 1989 states these are all the rights, duties, powers, responsibilities and authority which by law a parent of a child has in relation to the child and their property. The Act confirms that all holders of parental responsibility can make important decisions affecting the child’s life, including major decisions affecting education, change of name, medical treatment and travel abroad.
There are many unfortunate situations which take place where a father may want to obtain sole parental responsibility for their children. Financial support alone does not amount to sole responsibility for a child. One parent may also apply to the family court to obtain parental responsibility, for example through a parental responsibility agreement or court order where they are not automatically named on the child’s birth certificate. An example of this is where a mother unfortunately dies who would have automatic parental responsibility.
The courts must consider the rights of parental responsibility holders together with the child’s welfare and must strike a balance when considering such cases. This matter was considered in the case of C (A young person) (2018), where family law also requires the court to consider the child’s relationship with the other parent and the living arrangements, including who the child lives with and who they spend time with.
The background to the case of C (A young person)
The case concerns a 16 year old girl whose mother unexpectedly died from cancer in January 2016. The child’s mother and father were both born in Nigeria but met in the United Kingdom in 2000 when their relationship began. The relationship only lasted for a period of 6 months. In 2001 the child was born and began living with her mother and moved to Nigeria without any contact with her father.
The child and her mother returned to the UK in 2012 when the child’s contact with her father began. After the mother’s death, the child lived with her aunt, who then took over the child’s care and the practical living arrangements. In 2016 the aunt applied for a child arrangements order to be made in her favour and subsequently an interim child arrangements order was made in favour of the aunt in September 2016.
On 29 November 2016, the father was granted parental responsibility by a court order because he was not named on the child’s birth certificate. However the father did not hold sole parental responsibility due to the aunt being named on a child arrangements order. The father sought permission to appeal the child arrangements order granted in favour of the aunt. The London Borough of Croydon filed a section 7 report, which recommended an order in favour of the father. It was agreed at a hearing that the child was to live with the aunt but to have contact with her father. A children’s guardian report recommended that there be a child arrangements order made in favour of the father with plans for a transition for the child to move from the care of her aunt to the care of her father.
The father applied for a child arrangement order in March 2018 on the basis that the child lives with him and that he should be the only person who had parental responsibility for the child, he was therefore seeking sole parental responsibility. Both the child and the aunt opposed the application.
The courts considerations when dealing with sole parental responsibility
In disputes about sole parental responsibility, the court looks at who has day to day control, legal responsibility, emotional responsibility and financial responsibility for the child.
The following aspects were taken into account when considering this case, with the court assessing whether the father had a greater degree of control over significant decisions and important decisions about the child’s upbringing:
- The father’s relationship with the child is fractured.
- The father had a lot of work to do as to how he presents to the child.
- The child is more attached to her aunt who has a soothing maternal role.
- The child and the aunt have a very close relationship with the maternal family, whereas the father has no such relationship.
- The child does not trust either the father or the aunt to have sole parental responsibility for her.
Despite the child’s wishes of maintaining a relationship with her aunt, the father submitted that the child with the support of her aunty had made it impossible for him to exercise sole responsibility in practice and found it bizarre that the child wanted the aunt to have parental responsibility for her.
The judge was of the opinion that the aunt was “an emotional and psychological parent” to the child, in contrast to the father who was not meeting the child’s emotional and psychological needs, in particular he would not promote, or see in a positive light, the child’s need for a close relationship with the aunt and with her maternal family. Parental rights do not override the child’s welfare, and the court will not remove parental responsibility lightly.
Welfare of the child is paramount when dealing with child arrangements in family law
The judge’s assessment of the father was a man who is obsessed with his rights as a parent and not with the extremely important emotional and psychological needs of his daughter. As a result, the judge made a child arrangements outcome focused on the child’s welfare and family life, ordering that she live with her father while spending time with her aunt on no less than three occasions a week. The judge made it clear that the contact with the aunt ordered is a minimum and not a maximum. The judge also granted parental responsibility to the aunt.
Major decisions must still reflect the child’s best interests and overall welfare, not just a parent’s wishes.
The judge felt this order will enable the child to live with her father and, as she wants, to build her relationship with him. This will also provide the child with the very important emotional and psychological comfort that she requires from her relationship with the aunt and with the wider maternal family who are also very important to the child and to her future welfare.
This case law outlines and re-iterates that the court’s paramount concern is the child’s welfare across every aspect of the child’s life when considering child arrangement orders. Depending on the facts, additional considerations can also arise in a court application. Despite the rights of fathers or anyone with parental responsibility the courts will always be guided by what the best outcome for the child is. The court urged parents to focus on the welfare of their children rather than on their own rights as a parent which may not always be in the best interest of the child.
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