Automatically remove parental responsibility for parents convicted of abuse

We want to change the law to automatically remove parental responsibility from parents convicted of abuse. We feel children being required to see their abusive parents and allowing them to still make decisions regarding the child's life is abuse in itself and may cause more suffering.

We believe many children are failed by the system and may be left with lifelong trauma and PTSD. Foster parents should been given full parental responsibility instead.

This petition calls for the removal of parental responsibility from abusive parents. As a strict matter of law, there are no provisions by which parental responsibility can be actually removed from a mother or a father who has parental responsibility through marriage (save for when the child has been adopted). Parental responsibility can only be removed from parents who subsequently acquire it rather than those who obtain it automatically. Where a parent has automatic parental responsibility it can only be restricted, albeit to a point where the parent holds it in name only and cannot exercise it in any meaningful way.

There are existing avenues available in the family courts to restrict the exercise of an offender’s parental responsibility. Any parent, step-parent with parental responsibility, or person named in a Child Arrangement Order as someone with whom the child is to live can bring proceedings to the Family Court for a “prohibited steps order” in order to achieve this. The Family Court will then consider all the evidence available to them and make a decision based on the best interests of the child involved, which may include removing parental responsibility where this is possible or restricting it in other cases.

The Government is committed to reforming the Family Court in order to ensure better outcomes for survivors of abuse and their children. That is why we have already introduced measures through the Victims and Courts Act 2026 (‘The Act’) to restrict the exercise of parental responsibility by certain sex offenders. Section 3 of the Act provides for the automatic restriction of the exercise of an offender’s parental responsibility where they have been sentenced to four or more years imprisonment for a serious child sexual abuse offence. Section 4 of the Act provides for the restriction of the exercise of an offender’s parental responsibility where they have been sentenced for a rape offence as a result of which a child was conceived.

These measures will protect children by preventing these parents from being involved in the day-to-day decision making about their lives.

The Ministry of Justice has begun work on developing a process for these measures and will implement them as soon as possible.

In addition to this, the Government has committed to implementing section 18 of the Victims and Prisoners Act 2024 (commonly known as ‘Jade’s Law’) by the end of December 2026. This will restrict the exercise of parental responsibility by a parent who is sentenced for killing the other parent.

The Government understands the calls for these measures to go further. The strength of feeling on this issue is clear, from recent debates in Parliament, campaigners and petitions such as this. Given how sensitive this topic is, it is vital that we get any further changes to the law in this area right. That is why rather than making further piecemeal changes, the Government has committed to undertaking a review of the law about parental responsibility in its entirety. This review will be an opportunity to consider how the law operates in practice, including when parental responsibility should be restricted.

Ministry of Justice