Who has Parental Responsibility?

1. A special guardianship order gives the special guardian parental responsibility for the child until the child reaches 18 years old.

Unlike adoption a special guardianship order will not remove parental responsibility from the child’s birth parent(s).

For more information about parental responsibility click here

The special guardian can also appoint a guardian for the child in the event of his or her death.

This means that the special guardian will have responsibility for the day-to-day decisions AND all the important decisions about the child or young person. An example of this could be a decision about which school the child or young person is to attend.

As the parent(s) retain parental responsibility there may be a times where the birth parent(s) would need to be consulted, for example, a special guardian cannot give their consent to change a child’s surname, or live abroad for more than 3 months without the agreement of others with parental responsibility, or the leave of the court. The special guardian cannot override a parent's refusal to consent to the adoption of the child.