What are your responsibilities as a parent?
Until your child is 16, it is your responsibility:
-
to look after your child’s health, development and welfare
-
to provide guidance to your child
-
to maintain regular contact with your child if he/she is not living with you
-
to act as your child’s legal representative
You are also responsible for providing guidance to your child until he/she is 18 years old. All of these responsibilities must be exercised in the best interests of your child.
What are your rights as a parent?
Until your child is 16, it is your right:
-
to have your child living with you or decide where your child lives
-
to decide how your child is brought up
-
to maintain regular contact with your child if he/she is not living with you to act as your child’s representative
Who has parental rights and responsibilities?
Other adults can hold full parental rights and responsibilities only if this is decided in court. However, all adults who care for children who do not have full parental rights and responsibilities must do what is reasonable to look after the child’s health, development and welfare, for example, childminders.
What about parents who are separated or divorced?
There have been changes in the law to make sure that parents who are separating or divorcing are both involved in bringing up their child and continue to share their responsibilities towards the child. Again, this is to make sure that both parents meet all of the child’s needs. This means:
-
both parents continue to have responsibilities and rights towards the child
-
both parents can agree who the child lives with and who has contact with the child
-
if a court is not satisfied with the arrangements or parents cannot agree, the court can decide who the child lives with and who the child has contact with
-
a court can also decide to give parental responsibilities and rights to another adult and to make "specific issue” orders to help the child, for example, residence and contact orders
At all times, the welfare of the child is the most important factor and the child’s views must be taken into account.
The rights of the child
It is important to understand your responsibilities and rights as a parent in relation to the rights your child has too:
-
your child has the right to have her/his best interests as the most important consideration in any decision you take which affects her/him
-
your child has the right not to be subject to any Court Order or requirement from the Children’s Hearing unless this would be better for the child than no order at all
-
your child has the right to a say in any major decision which affects her/him and you should take their views into account
-
the Children (Scotland) Act states all children should have the right to express a view and specifically that children over 12 should be assumed old enough to form a view
-
your child has the right to consult a medical practitioner in confidence - if he/she is under 16, he/she also has the right to consent to his/her own medical, surgical, dental treatment or examination if the qualified medical practitioner believes he/she is capable of understanding the nature and possible consequences of the treatment or examination
-
your child has the right to instruct a solicitor in any civil matter where he/she has a general understanding of what it means to do so
Useful Contacts
Scottish Child Law Centre
Phone: 0131 667 6333
Who Cares? Scotland
Phone: 0141 400 6363
Social Work Services Children's Rights Service
Phone: 0141 287 8850/8844
Reporter to the Children’s Hearing
Phone: 0141 567 7900
Parentline
Phone: 0808 800 2222
Mon/Wed/Fri 10:00am - 1:00pm
Tues/Thurs 6:00pm - 9:00pm
Sat/Sun 2:00pm - 5:00pm
This information can be downloaded as a PDF Responsibilities and rights of parents 120kb, 6 pages.
This document is in portable document format (PDF) for downloading and requires Adobe Acrobat to access them. The Adobe Acrobat reader can be freely downloaded from the Adobe web site.
Back to top