Consent & Parental Responsibility (P.R)
Consent by Person (s) with P.R
In order for an Assessment or Therapy to begin, parental consent will need to be given. This will mean that the person(s) with parental responsibility will need to read, sign and date a consent form. Parental consent is also required in order to share information with relevant professionals and the storing/use of children's records. If the Local Authority has overriding parental consent via a court order, the designated signatory in Social Care may sign the consent form.
In cases where a professional is referring to Marvellous Resources Therapy Services, it is expected that this professional will have already had consent discussions with the family.
When Persons With P.R Cannot/Will Not Sign Consent Form
There will be times joint signed consent cannot be achieved. If there is an agreement between both persons with parental responsibility that Assessment/Therapy can take place but only one person can be present to sign the form (i.e. if one person works away from home or is in prison), the other person can send an email or make a telephone call to confirm their consent. This secondary consent can then be logged against the child’s file.
If one person with P.R is completely against any therapeutic assessment or intervention with their child taking place, then this will either need to be resolved by the consenting person via private law or through any social worker involved with the family. Any court decision or social worker’s best interest decision about overriding the P.R of the non-consenting person would be logged on the child’s file.
Where a person with P.R is not involved in the child’s life for safeguarding reasons, documentation will be need to be provide to this effect to prove why Marvellous Resources Therapy Services should not be pursuing consent conversations with any individual.
Who Has P.R?
It can be very confusing sometimes to understand who has parental responsibility for a child. Here is the legal guidance.
Biological Mother & Father
Mother automatically has parental responsibility from birth.
Father has parental responsibility if he was married to the child's mother when the child was born.
Listed on the birth certificate after a certain date ( England and Wales - 01/12/2003; Scotland - 04/05/2006; Northern Ireland 15/04/2002.
Adoptive Parents
Do have parental responsibility.
Same Sex Parents
Where one of the parents gave birth to the child.
If the couple are in a civil partnership or are married at the time of birth, both can have parental responsibility.
For non-civil partners and unmarried couples, the parent who did not give birth would need to seek parental responsibility via a court order.
Special Guardians
Are awarded a court order which means they share parental responsibility with the parents. However, the special guardians would have overriding parental responsibility.
The Local Authority
Can obtain a court order which would mean the local authority would share responsibility with the parents.
However, the local authority would have overriding authority to make decisions about therapy in the best interests of the child.
Foster Carers
Do not have parental responsibility.
Children’s Consent
Children’s wishes and feelings about any therapeutic assessment/therapy should be considered. It is counterproductive to progress with any therapeutic intervention if the child does not feel ready or is actively saying they do not want to engage. The child will be given information about any assessment/therapy and confidentiality prior to agreeing any work. This information will be appropriately targeted for their age and developmental level. It will need to be clear that the child has understood the information, has been able to hold it in mind and use it to make a decision. As with parental consent, there are clear legally determined times when consent to share information can be overridden, to safeguard the welfare of the child.