Suspension of parental responsibility | “I paid £30k to protect my child from her paedophile dad"

A recent case reported by the BBC four days ago, involves a child who, “is one of more than 80,000 caught up in private family law proceedings.”

The BBC's article also highlights the stark fact that, “In 2022, the average private family law case in England and Wales took around 10 months, or almost 45 weeks - it is a system "in crisis", according to the Law Society.”

Read the full article here.

The automatic suspension of parental rights is a topic that requires immediate attention by the Government.

Although an extremely positive announcement last month confirmed that Jade’s Law will be introduced to automatically suspend parental responsibility of anyone who kills a partner or ex-partner with whom they have children, or with whom they share parental responsibility; clearly there is further scope to find out how the suspension of parental rights can benefit all individuals seeking relief through the Family Courts.

Find out more about Jade's Law.

Currently, to suspend or amend the rights of someone who has parental responsibility, an Order from the Court must be obtained.

This process is complex, expensive and lengthy.

The Government are therefore called upon to evaluate this current position and update legislation regarding the suspension of parental responsibility.