Parental Responsibility Agreements and Advice
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Parental Responsibility
Parental Responsibility gives a person (usually a child’s parent) legal rights, duties and responsibilities in respect of a child.
A person with Parental Responsibility is able to make important decisions about a child’s life, for example, agreeing to the child’s medical treatment.
You automatically have parental responsibility of a child if you are:
- The mother of the child
- A father who is married to the child’s mother at the time the child is born
- A father who is registered on the child’s birth certificate (only applies after 1 December
- 2003)
- A person who adopts a child
You can acquire Parental Responsibility by:
- Entering into a Parental Responsibility Agreement with those other persons who have Parental Responsibility of the child;
- Obtaining a Parental Responsibility Order from the Court
