The legal concept of parental responsibility was introduced in The Children Act, 1989. For anyone involved in a dispute about children it’s important to understand that the obligations that come with parental responsibility are different from those associated with being the biological parent of a child.
A parent, clearly, is the person who gave birth, someone whose sperm or egg was used in fertility treatment or an individual who has legally adopted the child. However just because the law recognises you as a parent, does not mean you necessarily have automatic rights when it comes to deciding how to raise the child.
To make decisions about a child’s education or healthcare for example, you must also have parental responsibility. Notably, as we will see below, biological fathers do not always have parental responsibility. Depending on the circumstances, fathers without parental responsibility may have to apply to court to secure it.
Reported decisions where a father has been refused parental responsibility are rare. The decision in Re S (Parental Responsibility) from 2025 is therefore a useful illustration of the principles the courts apply when deciding whether to grant parental responsibility to a biological father where the mother, a local authority or another interested party opposes the application.
Below we briefly summarise the law on who has parental responsibility and examine the Re S case.
Do I Have Parental Responsibility?
We explain the law on parental responsibility here. Briefly:
- If you are the birth mother, you have parental responsibility
- Fathers usually have parental responsibility if married to the birth mother when the child is born
- The child’s biological father will automatically get parental responsibility if they marry the child’s birth mother after the child is born
- If a child is conceived through fertility treatment, you will have parental responsibility if you’ve married the birth mother, and you consented to the treatment taking place
- If you have not married the birth mother, you can get parental responsibility for your child by jointly registering the birth with the mother. If you don’t register the birth together, you can separately apply for parental responsibility.
- Step-parents must apply for parental responsibility, even if they’re married to a child’s parent.
Someone with parental responsibility must provide a home for the child and financially maintain them. Note that biological fathers without parental responsibility still have a legal obligation to financially support the child.
How do fathers without parental responsibility get it?
From the above we can see there are certain circumstances in which a biological father will not have parental responsibility meaning they have no say in the child’s upbringing. A father in this position can get parental responsibility by:
- Marrying the mother
- Putting their name on the birth certificate
- Obtaining the agreement of the child’s mother
- Applying to court for a Parental Responsibility Order (PRO)
Applications by fathers for PROs are relatively routine in the family courts, and in most cases will be successful. The case we are discussing here, Re S (Parental Responsibility)2025 is a rare example of parental responsibility being refused.
When Parental Responsibility is Refused Re S (Parental Responsibility) 2025
Thet father in Re S was ‘S’s’ biological father but the mother and maternal grandmother both opposed his application for a PRO. In what were long running and complex proceedings, the Local Authority had become involved. It also opposed the father’s application.
The father and mother of S were unmarried, and their relationship ended in March 2023. At the time of the hearing S was living with her grandmother. Following the parents’ separation, the father had no contact with S. For context it’s worth noting that in April 2023 the father threw a hammer through a window of the house in which S was living, and a restraining order had been imposed. The father subsequently breached this order.
In his application the father argued that the mother was making many allegations about him which were untrue. He simply wanted to have a relationship with S. S wanted no contact.
The Court’s Approach When Parental Responsibility is Opposed
The full judgment of the District Judge is available here. His task was, he said, to answer the following straightforward question:
‘will this father, with parental responsibility, behave in accordance with the child’s best welfare interest?’
The starting point for him was a three part test established in previous cases:
- Has the father shown appropriate commitment to the child?
- Is there attachment between the child and father?
- What is the father’s motivation in applying?
In addition to this test, the court also had to keep in mind all the factors in the welfare checklist set out in Section 1 of The Children Act. It also had to remember that it’s generally accepted that a child benefits when he or she grows up having a favourable, positive image of an absent parent. This means that, where possible, when a father has demonstrated willingness to assume the responsibility of fatherhood the law should give that father the ‘stamp of approval’ that comes with a PRO.
Here the father was not seeking to exercise his parental responsibility in day-to-day decisions about S. His lawyers said he was only looking for recognition that he is S’s father, and for updates about her upbringing. The mother (and grandmother) disputed this. They highlighted allegations (being investigated by police) that the father had engaged in harassment and had made death threats. Because of this behaviour they questioned the father’s real motivation for making the PRO application
In the end the judge refused the father’s application. While admitting the case was not easy, he refused the PRO for a number of reasons, including:
- S’s welfare was his paramount consideration. It was clear that in terms of S’s ascertainable wishes and feelings considered in the light of her age and understanding, she didn’t want to have any kind of contact
- S needed stability of placement and had that through living with her grandmother
- S was clearly aware of her father’s identity. Should she wish to re-establish contact in the future she would be able to do so
- S has been exposed to harm. If she were to find out that her father has been granted parental responsibility, the discovery may well lead to further instability and have an emotional effect on her welfare
But the real difficulty for the judge was the father’s reasons for applying for the PRO. On balance, the judge was satisfied that his dominant motive was to undermine the grandmother’s care of S. Taken alongside the welfare considerations, this was fatal to his request for parental responsibility.
Comment
Courts will not refuse parental responsibility lightly, and the vast majority of PRO applications proceed routinely. But where there is clear evidence that a father might misuse the status conferred by parental responsibility or where the underlying motivation for the PRO application is to interfere with existing care arrangements then there is a real possibility that parental responsibility will be refused.