the legal status that requires adults to act in the interests of a child’s welfare. A birth mother always has parental responsibility unless it is removed by an adoption order, as has the father if married to the birth mother or named on the birth certificate. Same-sex parents, if civil partners, both have parental responsibility. In medical ethics, a person with parental responsibility can consent to, or refuse, treatment on behalf of a child who is too young to have capacity to make his or her own decisions about health care. However, the entitlement to act on behalf of a child is limited to the extent to which a person with parental responsibility is acting in the child’s best interests. See also Gillick competence.
UK government guidance on parental responsibility
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