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Listen
Your Children Matter
Parental Responsibilities - Why do I have them?
But why do I have these responsibilities?
You have them because children need to be cared for and the law thinks that children are best cared for by their parents. Children need you to carry out all these duties so that they can grow up in the best way. The test always has to be what is best for the child.
But wait a minute - what has happened to parental rights?
No - they haven't been abolished! You still have them. They go together with parental responsibilities so that you can meet your parental responsibilities. You can see what your parental rights are.
One last word about parental responsibilities and rights. Each person with parental responsibilities and rights can carry them out without anyone else's permission. Except that a child leaving the country has to have the permission of all those who have parental responsibilities and rights. Remember, the law expects those who have parental responsibilities for children to work together for their good and listen to each other even when they don't live together. Bear that in mind when making decisions about your children.
Well, that's fine. But what if we can't agree what's best for our children? What then?
First you should try to talk about your differences and agree what to do. Even if parents don't live together, this is what the law expects them to do. Sometimes that's not possible. If you can't agree about how each of you should meet your responsibilities and you can't talk about it on your own, you could get help from a mediation service. There, someone who's trained to help you to deal with disagreements will let you try to talk about your differences. If that doesn't work, you could seek advice from a solicitor, and as a last resort you can ask a court to make a decision. Children can themselves also ask the court to make a decision.
But remember, court should always be a last resort in disagreements within families. In any case the court will only do something if it is necessary to do it in the child's best interest.
So where have we got to?
People have parental rights so that they can meet their parental responsibilities. Now we've found out what parental responsibilities and rights are. ( Checklist) Let's look at exactly who has them.
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