The law relating to children is primarily governed by the Children Act 1989. The aim of the Act is to encourage cooperation between parents in respect of the children’s needs and welfare and the basic principle is that the children should have a continuing relationship with both parents regardless of whether they live together, unless they are likely to suffer harm.

An order regulating arrangements relating to:

• who a child is to live with, spend time, or otherwise have contact with,
• when a child is to live, spend time, or otherwise have contact with any person.

Child Arrangement Orders were previously called Residence Orders and Contact Orders, relating to child custody issues and access arrangements.

A Prohibited Steps Order is an order preventing a parent from doing a specific action concerned with parental responsibility for the child, without the consent of the court e.g. changing a child’s name. A Specific Issue Order is an order giving directions for the purpose of determining a specific question which has arisen or which may arise in connection with any aspect of parental responsibility for a child e.g. which school should a child attend.

This encompasses all the rights and duties a parent has with regards to a child and includes the ability to make decisions such as where a child should go to school, what form of religious upbringing a child should have and what medical treatment a child should receive. An unmarried father will automatically have parental responsibility if he is named on the birth certificate and the child was born after 1st Dec 2003. Otherwise he can obtain parental responsibility by entering into an agreement in the form prescribed by the regulations or by making an application to the Court.