The Children Act 1989 explains that parental responsibility refers to all of the rights, responsibilities, duties and authority that a person has in relation to a child and their property.
Parental responsibility ends when a child reaches 18, the child is 16 or 17 and marries, a child arrangements order ends or is discharged or if a court makes an order terminating parental responsibility.
In this article, we look at how the law applies in England and Wales.
There are people who automatically acquire parental responsibility when a child is born:
Other people can acquire parental responsibility by taking one of the following actions.