Will a second female parent have parental responsibility?

A parental responsibility agreement form can be filled in.  This is Form C(PRA3) and called Parental Responsibility Agreement – section 4ZA Children Act 1989 (Acquisition of parental responsibility by second female parent).

The form is available from any Family Court office. Or it can be downloaded from the court service website here.

These points explain what is involved and include some tips too:

• A separate form must be filled in for each child
• Use black ink to fill in the form
• Once the form is filled in BOTH the parents need to take the form to a local Family Court
• Make sure you have the child’s birth certificate and take this to the court too
• Each parent needs to take to the court proof of their identity. This needs to show their photo and their signature. This could be a passport or driving licence for example
• Ask for someone at the court to witness each parent sign the form. And to then sign the form themselves (the part called certificate of the witness)
• Any of the following people at the court can do this: a Justice of the Peace, a Justices’ Clerk , a court official who is authorised by the judge to administer oaths to witness your signatures.

When the certificate has been signed and witnessed then:

• Make copies of the Agreement
• Keep a copy for your own record
• Send the original form with certificate of witness signed to the Central Family Court so that the agreement can be recorded by the court. address of the Central Family Court is on the form. The address is: The Central Family Court,  First Avenue House, 42-49 High Holborn, London WC1V 6NP.
• The Central Family Court will record the Agreement and keep the original. The copies will be stamped and returned to each parent at the addresses given on the Agreement. The Agreement will not take effect until it has been recorded at Central Family Court.

If the child’s mother does not agree, a second female parent may look at applying to the Family Court for a parental responsibility order. This is an application made under section 4(1)(c) of the Children Act 1989).

The application must be made on the correct court form and with the correct fee:

• The form to complete is a Form C1 application. The form needs to explain to the court why an application is being made
• Once the form is complete, it needs to be sent to your local family court.
• The fee to apply for a parental responsibility order is £215
• It may be possible to get help with the court fee if you are on benefits or a low income. Information about that is available here.

Important note: When someone wants to apply for a parental responsibility order they usually must first meet with a mediator. This is to discuss whether mediation may be a suitable way of resolving their case. And a court form about mediation must be completed and sent to the Family Court at the same time as applying for the order.

See the next dropdowns for information about mediation, the mediation form and exemptions that may apply.

The meeting with a mediator is called a mediation, information and assessment meeting or MIAM. Usually this meeting must take place before someone can make an application to the Family Court for a parental responsibility order.

Usually, someone who wants to apply for a parental responsibility order must confirm to the Family Court that they have met with a mediator.   This is shown by the mediator signing a form.

This FM1 form is then sent in with the court forms which are used to apply for the order. Information on how to find a family mediator may be obtained from here: www.familymediationcouncil.org.uk.

Where a case is urgent, or where there has been domestic abuse or child protection concerns, the person applying for the order may not have to go to mediation first.

To rely on an exemption for not attending a MIAM:

• Confirm on the FM1 form what exemption applies and
• Confirm on the form what type of evidence there is about this.

This can be done by ticking the boxes that apply to your situation in section 2 of the form.  The actual evidence does not need to be sent in with the FM1 form or the main C1 application form. But it will need to be provided to the Family Court at the first hearing.

Open or download this table to see the different mediation exemptions and how they must be evidenced.

When the Family Court makes any decision relating to a child, the child’s welfare must always be the court’s ‘paramount consideration’. This is known as the welfare principle. Or the paramountcy principle.  It means the court needs to think what is in the child’s best interests when it makes decisions (see section 1 (1) of the Children Act 1989. This all applies where the court is deciding an application for a parental responsibility order.

To help work out what is in a child’s best interests, the court must use the welfare checklist. This is set out at section 1 (3) of the Children Act 1989.  Read more about welfare checklist here.

When the Family Court is deciding whether a second female parent should have a parental responsibility order it has to presume the involvement of that parent in the child’s life is good for the child (‘will further their welfare’) unless:

• There is evidence to suggest involvement with the child would put the child at risk of suffering harm
• And this would be the case, whatever the form of the involvement.

The law about parental involvement, second female parents and parental responsibility order applications is found in the Children Act 1989 in these sections:  section 1(2A), section 1(7) and section 4ZA(1)(c).

A second female parent may want to take advice about applying for a child arrangements order saying where the child should live (see section 8 of the Children Act 1989). This order gives the holder of the order parental responsibility for as long as the order is in place.

A second female parent without parental responsibility will need the permission of the Family Court to apply for this order. And the rules about mediation will still apply.