In November 2022, Parliament saw Mark Tami MP raise and debate the issue of curbing offenders’ parental responsibility for their children. This raises an interesting question of when and how parental responsibility can be terminated, particularly in the most tragic of circumstances.
The family of Jade Ward – who was killed by her estranged husband and the father of her four children in August 2021 – have been lobbying MPs to introduce a new law that would automatically suspend the rights of a parent found guilty of murdering the other parent. Despite the offender receiving a life sentence, Jade’s family are concerned that his parental responsibility for their four children remains live and he needs to be consulted on decisions affecting them such as schooling, medical treatment and travel.
Although it is possible, it is extremely rare for the court to remove parental responsibility from a parent. Currently, the only way to do this is to make an application to the court. Successful applications are the exception and not the rule. The law is complex and different rules apply depending on how someone has acquired parental responsibility in the first place. Legal advice from a specialist family lawyer is essential if you find yourself in this situation.
In Jade’s case, because she was married to her children’s father, his parental responsibility cannot be ended unless the children are adopted by someone else. There is no other way of ending his involvement. Understandably, this has caused Jade’s family – who are now looking after the children – great distress and upset because they need to consult him about things such as which school the children should go to and whether or not they can take the children on holidays abroad.
In this situation, the best the current law can do is limit the father’s parental responsibility. Jade’s family could apply to the court for help in making decisions on a case-by-case basis; however, this could become onerous, time-consuming and expensive if they have to keep going back to court. It is possible to ask the court to totally limit the father’s exercise of his parental responsibility. This basically means the father would still have parental responsibility but it would have no effect. However, under the current law, the onus is on Jade’s family to show why the father should have his parental responsibility limited. Under the proposed Jade’s Law the father’s parental responsibility would automatically be suspended and it would be up to him to show the court that it shouldn’t be limited.
There is an important difference between married fathers and unmarried fathers or second female parents. The court can remove or end the parental responsibility of an unmarried father or second female parent by deciding whether or not that parent is able to exercise their rights in a way that benefits the child.
We will have to wait and see if Jade’s Law will be introduced. It is unlikely to be something that will happen quickly - if it does at all - and it is more likely that existing processes and procedures will be changed first to make things more streamlined and less stressful or burdensome for families finding themselves in this situation.
Update
On 3 October 2023, the Ministry of Justice announced that the Victims and Prisoners Bill will be amended so parents who kill a partner or ex-partner with whom they have children will automatically have their parental responsibility suspended when they are sentenced. This new rule will apply to anyone convicted of the murder or voluntary manslaughter of a person with whom they share parental responsibility. A judge will be asked to review the suspension to check that it is in the best interests of the children. However, an automatic exemption would be put in place in cases where a domestic abuse victim kills their abuser.
The changes in the law has come as a bit of a surprise, even for those involved in the campaign. As recently as July 2023, a similar amendment was turned down by MPs. It remains a case of watch this space as the Victims and Prisoners Bill still needs to make its way through both the House of Commons and the House of Lords before receiving Royal Assent and coming into force.