What’s in a Name?

Published: 20th September 2007

The government has recently announced that it is planning to make the registration of fathers' names on birth certificates compulsory. At the moment, a birth has to be registered within 42 days but only one parent is required to do so. The new plan includes proposals for safeguards for mothers who have been victims of violence or rape and would be fearful of naming their child's father on the birth certificate for those reasons.

The Institute for Public Policy Research has said that the plans would send an important signal to society and to fathers themselves about the importance of their role within child's lives. They believe that if a father's name is registered on the birth certificate, they are more likely to be involved in the child's life.

At present (and for any births after 1 December 2003), if a father is named on a child's birth certificate then he will automatically have parental responsibility for that child. For children born prior to that date, and in situations where the child's parents were not married at the time of the birth, a father had to obtain parental responsibility either by agreement with the mother or by Court order.

Parental responsibility is defined in The Children Act 1989 as "all rights, duties, powers, responsibilities and authority which by law a parent of a child has in relation to the child and his property". In practice it means the right to have a say in major decisions in a child's life such as education or health care.