Child law

Beyond straightforward, pragmatic advice on the impact of a separation on these rights and responsibilities, our family team can help resolve disputes relating to the care of children.

This includes drawing up agreements and raising court proceedings.

Here, a key consideration for the court is the child’s welfare. And the child’s views may be taken into account depending on how old they are.

In most cases, we offer a fixed-fee initial meeting, where we give preliminary advice including on the next steps as well as a clear explanation of our costs. If you decide to proceed, the rest of the work is charged based on our hourly rates.

Parental rights and responsibilities

Broadly, these are the rights and responsibilities a parent has in relation to their child.

They relate to —

• Residence and contact — the living and care arrangements for children, previously referred to as custody and access respectively. Residence refers to where the child principally lives

• Contact — the time a child spends with the non-residential parent. This could involve staying overnight

• Child’s health, development and welfare — this could include decisions about medical care or even what school a child goes to

• Providing direction and guidance — this can include religious beliefs

• Acting as the child’s legal representative

If parents can’t agree on any of these things, the court can be asked to decide.

The court’s main consideration is the child’s welfare and their views may be considered, depending on their age.

Importantly, the court has the power to award and remove parental rights and responsibilities so, ideally, parents should reach an agreement themselves if they possibly can.

Often you can achieve this through negotiation or mediation.

Adoption

If you’re considering adoption, our team can make an application on your behalf to the court, as well as take you through the process.

Here’s what you can expect.

Pre-adoption requirements

If you, or someone you’re applying with, is a step-parent, parent or relative of the child, the child —

• Needs to be at least 19-weeks-old

• Must have lived with you continuously for 13 weeks immediately before the court makes the order

If you’re not a parent, step-parent or relative, the child needs to live with you for 12 months immediately before the court makes the adoption order.

If the Children’s Panel has placed a child with you, you’ll need to send formal notification to the local authority saying you intend to adopt.

It’s then three months before the court can award the adoption.

In all cases, a report is completed. Your council’s social work team usually takes care of this.

Application stage

Once the application is lodged, the court will set a preliminary hearing for around six to eight weeks’ time.

A defender has 21 days to lodge a response if they intend to oppose it.

This is usually another parent, but can be a parent without parental responsibilities, or the child’s guardian.

At the preliminary hearing, if a response hasn’t been lodged, the application may be granted.

If a response has been lodged, the court needs to consider what happens next.

There are specific documents you’ll need to lodge a petition —

• Child’s extract birth certificate

• Extract marriage certificate/civil partnership if the applicants are married

• Consent from the child’s natural mother, natural father, guardian, and the child themselves, all if applicable

• Extract of the permanence order with authority for adoption and the order feeing the child for adoption, in local authority care cases

• Local authority acknowledgement of the intention to apply for adoption, if applicable

• Social work report

Kinship

Kinship care is when a family member or close friend looks after a child if they can’t stay with their birth parents.

You don’t have to be related to a child to be a kinship carer, but you must have a pre-existing relationship with them.

The rights and responsibilities of kinship carers can be complicated, particularly if people want to legalise an informal arrangement. One way to do this is to apply for a residence order through the court.

The court application, referred to as an initial writ, sets out what you’re seeking and why including residence, parental rights, and responsibilities and even guardianship.

Our team can guide you through this process and make sure you’re clear about all the options.