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Listen
Your Children Matter
Parental Responsibilities - Checklist
Here's a quick checklist of what we've found out about
Parental Responsibilities and Rights | What are they? |
- children are people up to 16 for most things and up to 18 for some other things
- people with parental responsibilities must:
- care for their child
- direct and guide their child
- have contact with their child
- be their child's legal representative
| - people with parental rights have the right to:
- have their child living with them or decide where their child lives
- control, direct and guide their child
- have contact with their child
- be their child's legal representative
|
- As well as these, parents have the responsibilities to support their child financially until he/she is 18 or 25 ( see here) and to make sure that their child is educated.
Parental Responsibilities and Rights
Who has them?
- People who have parental responsibilities are:
- All mothers
- All fathers who are or have been married to the mothers of their children
- All fathers who have signed and registered a Parental Responsibilities and Parental Rights Agreement
- All Guardians
- Anyone who has been given them by a court
BUT - A court can take responsibilities away from or give them to anyone |
This all comes from an Act of Parliament called the
Children (Scotland) Act 1995
Now I know what my parental responsibilities are,
who will check that I'm carrying them out?
Don't worry! It's not the parent police! Exactly how you put your parental responsibilities into practice is usually nobody's business outside your own family, unless there are worries about your child's safety. If there are worries about how your child is getting on, then maybe social workers will become involved. Their job first of all will be to help you carry out your responsibilities. If that becomes impossible for any reason, they may consider going to court to take over some or all of your parental responsibilities and rights.
So we've found out what parental responsibilities and rights are, who has them and how to get them if you don't have them but want them. Having parental responsibilities for a child means making decisions about their lives. Let's think now about whether children should have any say themselves.
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