How to get parental responsibility for a child
Custody: How do I file for a parental rights and responsibilities order?
Legal Information: Maine
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Updated:
December 28, 2022
How do I file for a parental rights and responsibilities order?
Step 1: File a petition with the court
If you and your child’s other parent are not married, you can file a petition for a parental rights and responsibilities order at your local district court. If you want to file for divorce, you can also do this at your local district court and parental rights and responsibilities will be part of your divorce case.1 Although the form will ask you for your address, if you are afraid of the other parent and don’t want him/her to know your address, you can ask to keep it confidential. The court clerk can give you more information on how to keep your address confidential. To find the courthouse nearest you visit our ME Courthouse Locations page.
Step 2: Arrange for the other parent to be served with a copy of the petition
After you file with the court, the other parent needs to receive legal notice of the petition, which the court refers to as “service of process.” You can get detailed instructions on how to properly serve the other parent from the court clerk.
Step 3: Appear in court
Once the other parent has been served with your petition, both of you will attend a Case Management Conference with a Family Magistrate (who is similar to a judge, but doesn’t have as much legal authority). The purpose of the conference is to make clear what each parent wants and note what issues the parents agree or disagree on. After the conference, you and the other parent will attend a mediation session.2 During mediation, a professional mediator will try to help you and the other parent work through your disagreements and reach a compromise that you can both be happy with.
If you are able to reach an agreement on a parental rights and responsibilities arrangement, you will attend a final conference so the Family Magistrate can review the proposed arrangement and make it into a court order, unless he/she feels it would not be in your child’s best interests. If you and the other parent cannot reach an agreement at mediation, you will attend a hearing in front of a judge. During the hearing, you and the other parent will both have a chance to present your case to the judge, be represented by lawyers, and the judge will issue a parental rights and responsibilities order.
You can find more information about service of process in our Preparing for Court – By Yourself section, in the question called What is service of process and how do I accomplish it?
1 See Pine Tree Legal Assistance’s website
2 M.R.S. 19-A § 1653(11)
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Parental Responsibility (PR) - familyseparationhub
The Children Act 1989 introduced the concept of parental responsibility and defines it as 'all the rights, duties, powers, responsibilities and authority which by law a parent of a child has in relation to the child and his property.'
The guidance to the 1989 Act states that parental responsibility is concerned with 'bringing the child up, caring for him and making decisions about him, but does not affect the relationship of parent and child for other purposes.
Thus, whether or not a parent has parental responsibility for a child does not affect any obligations towards the child, such as a statutory duty to maintain him, […] nor does it affect succession rights'.
What is parental responsibility?
In legal terms this is "all the rights, duties and powers which a parent has in relation to a child and their property". In other words, the responsibility to make decisions on behalf of your child, for example which school they attend, giving consent for operations and medication, the issue of passports etc. In fact the decisions which parents make every day when bringing up a child. But not everyone has the legal right to make the decisions.
Who has parental responsibility?
A mother always has parental responsibility (unless she has subsequently lost it through adoption or through a parental order under the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act (HFEA) 1990).
The child’s father has parental responsibility for a child if he was married to the child’s mother at the time of the child’s birth. Similarly, the mother’s civil partner will (subject to the conditions section 42 of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act (HFEA) 2008) have parental responsibility.
An unmarried father may take steps to acquire parental responsibility. He will have parental responsibility automatically if he registered the birth with the mother on or after 1 December 2003. Alternatively, he may acquire parental responsibility by: applying to the court for a parental responsibility order; making a parental responsibility agreement with the child’s mother; or being appointed guardian (see below). Similar provisions apply to second female parents (who meet the conditions in section 43 of the HFEA 2008).
A step-parent may acquire parental responsibility for a child if he or she is married to, or the civil partner of, a person with parental responsibility for the child, either by agreement with the parent (and with any other person with parental responsibility), by court order, or through adoption.
A special guardian has parental responsibility for the child. Subject to any other orders, a special guardianship order allows the special guardian to exercise parental responsibility to the exclusion of others with parental responsibility (except another special guardian).
A person named in a child arrangements order as a person with whom a child lives has parental responsibility.*
A guardian who is appointed for a child under section 5 of the Act has parental responsibility on the death of the child’s parent(s) or the person named in a child arrangements order as the person with whom a child is to live.
A local authority acquires parental responsibility for a child if a care order is in place.
* Courts also have the power to award parental responsibility to a person named in a child arrangements order as a person with whom a child spends time or otherwise has contact.
[SOURCE: Statutory guidance on court orders and pre-proceedings for local authorities, Department for Education. April 2014]
Useful links:
Parental Responsibility Agreement Form
Parents who wish to make a Parental Responsibility Agreement can download a Parental Responsibility Agreement Form from HM Courts Service.
How does a parent get a Parental Responsibility order?
An application for a parental responsibility order may be made to the family proceedings court, the county court or the high court. The application should be made on a C1 Form (if there have not already been legal proceedings about the child) or a C2 Form (if there have already been legal proceedings). Find more information and download the forms from The Children's Legal Centre
Her Majesty's Courts Service
HM Court Service can provide information and guidance.
Your local County Court or Magistrates Court will also be able to assist - details can also be found on this website.
This note provides information on acquiring parental responsibility, including for unmarried fathers, civil partners and step-parents. It applies to England and Wales and is provided by the House of Commons Library Socila Policy Section.
Responsibility of parents for the upbringing of children
Comments on the Family Code of the Russian Federation
The Family Code of the Russian Federation, which entered into force, made significant changes to the regulation of the rights and obligations of parents. First of all, this concerned taking into account the opinions and interests of children. Now let's look at the rights and obligations of parents.
The upbringing of children is both a right and a duty of parents. “Parents are responsible for the upbringing and development of their children. They are obliged to take care of their health, physical, mental, spiritual and moral development of their children ”(Article 63 of the RF IC).
The right to education consists in giving parents the opportunity to personally raise their children, independently choose the methods and ways of raising a child. Responsibilities for upbringing include caring for the health of the physical, mental and moral development of the child. In our difficult time, the formation of a child as a person, his mental, spiritual and moral development are of great importance not only for the family, but also for society as a whole. The desire of parents to raise a spiritually rich personality, to give the child basic ideas about good and evil, decency and meanness, to develop in him a desire for knowledge, the ability to communicate with people is the key to the normal development of civil society. The Family Code clearly outlines the permissible limits for exercising parental rights: “Ensuring the interests of children should be the main concern of their parents” (Article 65 of the RF IC). In this regard, the legislator determined that ".
.. parental rights cannot be exercised in conflict with the interests of children" (Article 65 of the RF IC).
In addition to the basic principle of exercising parental rights, the Family Code of the Russian Federation contains specific instructions on what parents are not entitled to do: “When exercising parental rights, parents are not entitled to harm the physical and mental health of children, their moral development. Ways of raising children must exclude neglect, cruel, rude, degrading treatment, insult or exploitation of children ”(Article 65 of the RF IC).
The responsibility of parents for the upbringing and development of their children is stipulated not only in the Family Code of the Russian Federation, but also in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Both parents are responsible for the upbringing and development of their children, regardless of whether the parents are in a registered marriage, and also wherever they are. It should be noted here that both parents ".
.. have equal rights and bear equal obligations in relation to their children" (Article 61 of the RF IC) . However, in practice, due to established traditions, in the event of divorce, minor children are transferred to the upbringing of their mother. Only in exceptional cases, when the mother abuses alcohol, uses drugs, leads an antisocial lifestyle, the court transfers the children to the upbringing of the father. Currently, the number of fathers who would like the child (children) to live with him after the dissolution of the marriage is steadily growing, but the judicial practice on this issue is changing very slowly. It is especially difficult to transfer young children to the father for upbringing, since it is traditionally believed that a small child cannot do without a mother, and the father will not be able to properly care for the child. From the age of 10, the child's opinion is taken into account. And the court is obliged to take this opinion into account.
But if parents or one of them exercise their parental rights to the detriment of the rights and interests of children, then they are liable in accordance with the procedure established by law (Article 65 of the RF IC).
This may be administrative liability for:
• malicious failure by parents to fulfill their obligations to raise and educate minor children;
• use of narcotic or toxic substances by minors;
• drinking by adolescents under 16 years of age of alcoholic beverages in public places;
• appearing drunk in public places;
• bringing a minor to the state of intoxication directly by the parents.
Parents also bear administrative responsibility if a teenager has committed petty hooliganism (Articles 162-64 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation). In all of these listed cases, a fine is imposed on the parents. A more serious responsibility of parents is provided for by the Family Code of the Russian Federation - deprivation or restriction of parental rights (Articles 69, 70, 71, 73 of the RF IC).
Parents who fail to perform or improperly perform their duties of raising children and combining this with cruel treatment of them are subject to criminal liability (Article 156 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation "Failure to perform duties of raising a minor") .
Cruelty should be understood not only as beatings, bullying or systematic humiliation of a minor, but also the inaction of parents, expressed in leaving the child without food, locking one in a room for a long time, etc. If the court establishes that the cruelty of the parents led to harm to health minor, the parent may be held criminally liable and convicted under the above article and other articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.
Deprivation of parental rights is a very serious measure that is used in cases where it is necessary to protect a child from his own parents. This measure is applied only when all other measures of influence on the parents have been exhausted, but the parents did not realize their guilt towards the child.
“Parents (or one of them) may be deprived of parental rights if they:
1. evade the performance of their duties, including in the event of malicious evasion of the payment of alimony;
2. Refuse without good reason to take their child from a maternity hospital (department) or from another medical institution or other similar social institutions;
3.
abuse their parental rights;
4. abuse children, including physically or mentally abuse them, encroach on sexual inviolability;
5. are chronically alcoholic or drug addicted;
6. have committed an intentional crime against the life or health of their children or against the life or health of their spouse” (Article 69 of the RF IC) .
The procedure and conditions for deprivation of parental rights are as follows (Article 70 of the RF IC) :
1. “Deprivation of parental rights is carried out in a judicial proceeding. Cases on deprivation of parental rights are considered at the request of one of the parents (persons replacing them), the prosecutor, as well as at the request of the authorities or institution that are responsible for protecting the rights of minor children (guardianship and guardianship authorities, commissions for minors, institutions for orphans and children left without parental care, and others). It should be noted that grandparents and other relatives do not have the right to apply to the guardianship and guardianship authority, the prosecutor's office, the commission for minors with a request that these authorities file a lawsuit on their behalf.
2. The action for deprivation of parental rights is brought at the place of residence of the defendant, that is, the parent who is asked to terminate parental rights. The claimant in court is the body that protects the interests of the child.
3. A parent deprived of parental rights in relation to a child, as a legal representative of a minor, cannot receive child allowance in the future, and also cannot count on receiving support from a minor child if he is unable to work. Naturally, a parent deprived of parental rights is deprived of all the benefits provided by the state for parents with children: the right to additional leave, to establish various forms of preferential labor conditions (engaging to work on weekends), etc.
4. “If the court, when considering a case on deprivation of parental rights, finds signs of a criminally punishable act in the actions of the parents (one of them), it is obliged to notify the prosecutor about this.”
5. “The court is obliged, within three days from the date of entry into force of the court decision on the deprivation of parental rights, to send an extract from this court decision to the civil registry office at the place of state registration of the birth of the child.
”
But persons deprived of parental rights retain the obligation to support their children. In addition, such parents, within three years after the deprivation of their parental rights, are liable for the harm caused by their children in accordance with paragraph 2 of Art. 71 of the RF IC, art. 1075 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, if the court decides that the harm caused by the child was the result of the parents' improper performance of their duties.
Raising children is work and duty. Parents have the right and duty to educate their children, provide them with the means to take care of the child, promote his spiritual, moral and physical development in accordance with the generally accepted standards and characteristics of the child's personality.
Parents are free to choose the ways and methods of education, consistent with the developing abilities of the child. However, they are not entitled to exercise their right to education contrary to the interests of children.
At the same time, parents bear the main responsibility (moral and legal) for the upbringing and development of their children.
For a positive educational impact on the child, parents have RIGHTS that are guaranteed and enshrined in international, federal and regional legislative documents: the Declaration of the Rights of the Child, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Constitution of the Russian Federation, the Family Code, the Civil Code, the Criminal Code, the Law of the Russian Federation "On Education ”, Decrees of the Government of the Russian Federation and so on.
On the basis of these documents, one can speak of the decisive role of a parent in upbringing, because it is mainly through the family that children inherit the moral coordinates and orientation of the personality. And this is its meaning, for "a good family will add intelligence," and "the parental word does not pass by," says folk wisdom.
Article of the Family Code of the Russian Federation states: "Parents have the right and obligation to raise their children, provide them with the means to take care of the child, promote his spiritual, moral and physical development in accordance with generally accepted standards and personality traits.
"
Article of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (adopted by the United Nations in 1989) states: “Parents have an obligation to protect the child from all forms of physical or psychological abuse, abuse or abuse, negligence, maltreatment, exploitation and to prevent these violations of rights, including neglect about the child."
But responsibility is not only moral, but also legal, it is more strict and comes for violation and non-fulfillment of the law.
Thus, the article of the Code of the Russian Federation on Administrative Offenses provides for administrative measures that can be applied to parents:
• for malicious failure to fulfill the duties of raising and educating minors
• for the consumption of drugs by children without a doctor's prescription
• for committing offenses by minors
• for petty hooliganism, hooliganism committed by teenagers between the ages of 14 and 16
The article of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation provides for criminal punishment for non-fulfillment or improper fulfillment of obligations for the upbringing of minors by parents.
It must be said that the rights, duties and responsibilities for the upbringing and education of children are based on morality, on the desire for goodness, truth, justice, humanity. Therefore, it is necessary to educate children with the help of methods that do not degrade the human dignity of children, because “education is a great thing; it decides the fate of a person, ”the great Russian writer V. G. Belinsky quite rightly noted. The famous psychologist Alan Fromm wrote: "The main influence on the development of the child will always be not the school, but the parents."
One of the main reasons for the criminal activity of minors is the unfavorable situation in the family. Families in a socially dangerous situation (unfavorable) include those families where parents or other legal representatives of minors do not fulfill their duties for their upbringing, education or maintenance, negatively influence their behavior or treat them cruelly.
Art. 63 of the Family Code, parents have the right and obligation to raise their children, they are responsible for the upbringing and development of minors.
They are obliged to take care of the health, physical, spiritual and moral development of children.
The law, on the one hand, gives the right to education, protects this right, and on the other hand, punishes persons who have forgotten their duty. The punishment of persons who evade the upbringing of children is provided for by the Code of Administrative Offenses, the Criminal and Family Codes. Malicious failure by parents or persons replacing them to fulfill the obligations of raising and educating minor children, as well as committing offenses by children, entails the imposition of a fine on parents or persons replacing them. For 8 months of 2012, under article 5.35 part 1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation (non-fulfillment by parents or other legal representatives of minor duties for the maintenance and upbringing of minors), 79materials. Parents have been warned or fined.
of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, a separate chapter is assigned to crimes against the family and minors, which stipulates the responsibility of parents for criminal acts against children.
Thus, for the involvement of minors in the commission of a crime, the guilty parent or a person who is entrusted by law with the responsibility for raising a minor is punished with imprisonment. For the involvement of minors in committing antisocial acts (systematic use of alcoholic beverages, intoxicating substances, prostitution, vagrancy or begging), parents are also liable in the form of imprisonment. For non-fulfillment or improper fulfillment of the duties of raising children, accompanied by cruel treatment of minors, parents are punished with imprisonment. Cases of child abuse by parents are extremely rare, but almost every year several people are brought to justice for this kind of criminal acts. On the territory of the Volkhovsky municipal district for 8 months of 2012, no materials on child abuse were considered.
The most severe and severe punishment for parents who avoid raising children is the restriction of parental rights. In exceptional cases, when all measures of preventive influence on the family have been exhausted, the law provides for the deprivation of parental rights.
Why can parents be deprived of parental rights? For evasion from fulfilling the duties of parents, including in case of malicious evasion from paying alimony; if parents, without good reason, refuse to take their child from a maternity hospital or other medical or educational institution, they abuse their parental rights; in cases of cruel treatment of children, including physical or mental violence against them, attempts on their sexual inviolability; if the parents are ill with chronic alcoholism or drug addiction, and also commit an intentional crime against the life or health of their children or against the life and health of their spouse.
The state of moral, physical, mental health of children depends on a reasonable, kind attitude of parents. Children have the right and should be brought up in an atmosphere of love, happiness and mutual understanding.
RIGHTS, DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF PARENTS
Parents have the right to raise a child, and also bear duties and responsibilities for the upbringing and development of the child.
According to the Family Code of the Russian Federation, this is called parental rights. Parental rights terminate when the children reach the age of 18 (the age of majority), as well as when minor children enter into marriage, and in other cases established by law when children acquire full legal capacity before reaching the age of majority.
Parents have the right to:
- protect the rights and legitimate interests of children, speak before individuals, including in courts, their legal representatives without issuing special powers;
- to ensure by the state of general accessibility and free of charge for their children to receive basic general education;
- to choose for their children (before they receive basic general education) forms of education and types of educational institutions, including family education or in non-state educational institutions;
- for reimbursement at the expense of the state of the costs of teaching children in non-state educational institutions that have state accreditation and implement general education programs;
- for the admission of children to study in educational institutions located at the place of residence;
- for familiarization with the Charter of the educational institution and other documents regulating the organization of the educational process;
- to participate in the management of an educational institution in which their children study;
- to get acquainted with the course and content of the educational process, as well as with the grades of their children;
- to the transfer of a child receiving education in a family to continue education in a general educational institution with a positive assessment;
- express consent (or disagreement) for children to undergo military training in civilian educational institutions on an optional basis;
- to ensure the religious and moral education of children in accordance with their own convictions;
- for assistance from the state in the performance of their duties for the education and upbringing of children;
- for the care and maintenance of their adult children, if the parents were not deprived of parental rights;
- parents living separately from the child have the right to communicate, participate in upbringing, resolve issues of education and receive information about their child from educational, educational and other institutions (restrictions are possible only if there is a threat to the life or health of the child).
Speaking of rights, one should not forget about duties. Duties are inseparable from rights.
Parents are obliged:
- to ensure and protect the rights and interests of their children, not to harm the physical and mental health of children, their moral development; educate children, excluding neglect, cruel, rude, degrading treatment, insult or their exploitation;
- ensure that children under 15 receive basic general education in a general education school or in another educational institution of equal status;
- fulfill the Charter of a general educational institution;
- not allow improper interference in the work of teachers on issues that, by their nature, are included in the professional duties of a teacher;
- to provide, within their abilities, the conditions of life necessary for the normal development of the child;
- to support their minor children (the procedure and forms for providing maintenance to children are determined by the parents independently; if the parents do not provide maintenance to their minor children, the funds for the maintenance of children (alimony) are recovered from the parents (parent) in a judicial proceeding).
For failure to perform or improper performance of parental duties, as well as for committing offenses against their children, parents bear administrative, criminal and other liability.
What administrative penalties can be applied to parents?
Commissions on juvenile affairs may apply administrative measures to parents (declare a public censure or warning, impose an obligation to make amends for the harm caused or impose a fine):
- in case of malicious failure by parents to fulfill their duties of raising and educating children;
- for bringing them to a state of intoxication or drug use without a doctor's prescription;
- for committing traffic violations by teenagers under the age of 16;
- for the appearance of children in public places in a drunken state, as well as for drinking alcohol or in connection with the commission of other offenses.
When are parents criminally liable?
- The Criminal Code of the Russian Federation provides for special rules on the criminal liability of parents:
- for involving minor children in the commission of a crime by promises, deceit, threats or otherwise;
- for involving a minor in the systematic use of alcoholic beverages and intoxicating substances;
- for involvement in prostitution, vagrancy or begging;
- for non-fulfillment or improper fulfillment of duties for raising children, if these acts are connected with cruel treatment;
- for malicious evasion of the payment of funds for the maintenance of children.
Who and under what circumstances can deprive parents of parental rights or limit their rights?
Parents may be deprived of parental rights by a court if they:
- - evade fulfilling the duties of parents, including maliciously evading the payment of alimony;
- - abuse parental rights;
- - cruelly treat children, including mental and physical abuse, encroach on sexual integrity;
- - committed a crime against the life or health of a spouse.
In the event of a direct threat to the child's life or health, the guardianship and guardianship authorities may immediately take the child away from the parents based on the decision of the local government.
Taking into account the interests of the child, the court may take the child away from the parents without deprivation of parental rights (restriction of parental rights). Such a decision is possible due to circumstances beyond the control of the parents (dangerous diseases, a combination of difficult family circumstances, etc.
), and in cases where leaving the child with his parents is dangerous for him.
What does the termination of parental rights entail?
Parents deprived of parental rights or restricted in their rights lose their rights based on the fact of kinship with the child, as well as the right to benefits and state benefits established for citizens with children. Deprivation of parental rights does not release parents from the obligation to support the child.
Can parental rights be restored?
If a parent has changed behavior, lifestyle or attitude towards raising a child, he can be reinstated in parental rights.
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