Registering births

Parental responsibility means having the legal rights and duties to care for and make decisions about a child’s upbringing. This includes things like:

• Providing a home
• Protecting and maintaining the child
• Choosing their education
• Agreeing to medical treatment
• Naming the child and changing their name
• Taking the child abroad

Who has parental responsibility?

Married parents

• The mother automatically has parental responsibility.
• The father also has parental responsibility if he was married to the mother at the time of the child’s birth.

Unmarried parents

• The mother automatically has parental responsibility.
• The father will have parental responsibility if:
  • He was present at the birth registration and is named on the birth certificate (after 1 December 2003).
  • He later marries the child’s mother.
  • He enters into a Parental Responsibility Agreement with the mother.
  • He obtains a court order granting parental responsibility.