Remove parental rights of a father

[Rozee]

sorry to ask and the title sounds terrible but my XH is causing all sorts of issues for both my children who live with me 100%- he really doesn’t deserve to have any say in their upbringing and I don’t say that lightly - is there a legal way to stop him having any rights /say in their lives ?

No neither you nor your husband have 'rights'

The rights lie with the kid

No only in very very extreme circumstances. He may be a complete arse but he is still the father, whether you like it or not.

What does “the rights lie with the kids mean”?
my XH is a narcissist who psychologically abused both me and them / he has been arrested for control a d coercion on several times (hence no longer with him) but now my poor kids suffer because of his ways ~ they do not deserve a father like him.

You chose to have children with him children have rights you must have realised that before the first pregnancy?

It doesn't work 'well I say he shouldn't' doesn't mean a magic wand is waved and it dissapears for the children's sake get legal advice

And this is less harsh than it should be

The answer is no, it's not possible. Apart from in very very extreme circumstances.

Although your ex sounds awful, no court would even consider this.

Parents have parental responsability not rights. Children have the right to a safe, happy and healthy relationship with both parents. If that right is not possible the way to manage that is a contact order
It is incredibly rare for parental responsability to be removed and the bar is very very high for it. Sadly just being a narcissist is not enough. You have to teach your children how to be able to stand up for themselves.

In all UK jurisdictions it is vanishingly rare for Parental Responsibility to be removed (other than at the culmination of social service involvement, which usually means both parents losing PR)

Nor can it be voluntarily relinquished, unless the DC is being put up for adoption.

I have heard of it being done for DC of the most notorious murderers, but committing an offence with a custodial sentence is not in itself sufficient.

The previous poster meant parents in UK law don’t have rights the have responsibility.
With regard to what you mean though it is the same thing, it means he can make decisions for the children and it is very difficult to remove.

In my personal opinion the bar is set too high for removal there was a man who slashed his exes throat in front of his children she miraculously survived and was court ordered to facilitate contact via letter that meant giving him her address he continued to use the court systems to berate her for trying to use a post office box and her parents address instead of her personal address a case had to be made in court why he after nearly killing her should not be allowed her address he also attempted to force HER to bring the children to see him in prison

I completely agree.

in answer to your question OP. No, the likelihood of getting PR removed is zero.

No, as others have said, it is vanishingly rare. A few years ago a family had to campaign and fight very hard to have PR taken off a father who had killed the mother of his children, there’s a campaign recently trying to make it easier to remove PR when a father is found guilty of sexual offences against children (not their own). When children are removed from their parents by social services, PR is not removed unless there is an adoption order. So, while I get where you’re coming from, no I cannot see it happening with what you describe.

The rights/responsibilities thing is tricky. It’s true that in law parents have responsibilities, but in practice this gives them rights. Eg choosing where a child goes to school - both parents have the responsibility to make a good decision for their child, but in practice that means both have the right to their opinion being heard.

It's extremely rare for a parent to have their parental rights removed. We did manage this in our family but the parent had actually tried to kill the child involved. In court we were told that our law firm had never ever been successful in getting a parents rights removed and we were their first ones.

Such horrible victim-blaming.
You show a total lack of understanding of the intricacies of abuse, abusers and how they operate, and vulnerability to abuse.
It's the system that needs to change, not victims.

I remember that;the court order meant she to o post him the kids artwork they made at school plus copies of their school reports.

Nope not until our last child did he really show his true colours yes we are split now and he has nothing to do with his children he has finally discarded them but he has done damage lots and lots of damage because I couldn't protect them even now I'm tied to an area he no longer lives in because he can take me to court at any time despite not seeing his children for years he has rights

The only time PR is taken away is if your child is adopted……other than that he will retain PR until your child is 18

It's virtually impossible. I know someone who found out their child's father is a SO against children yet he STILL has parental rights.

Here is a recent example where parental responsibility was removed. In this case the father was a convicted rapist, there was domestic violence including rape against the mother, and as you will see from the case, it had to go to appeal so was not a straightforward or quick process.

This is the kind of bar that exists for removing PR. And even then this is not common.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/sep/14/father-who-is-convicted-rapist-stripped-of-parental-responsibility-for-daughter

Assuming you are in England or Wales, if you were married to the father or you were civil partners at the time of birth the only way his parental responsibility can be removed is if the children are adopted. The examples given up thread where a father's PR have been removed are all cases where the parents were not married at the time of birth.

Yeah, I'm sure she deliberately had children with an abuser and she knew exactly what he was like before she had kids. 🙄 honestly.

This. There is no mechanism by which the court can remove his PR if you were married to him at the time the childen were born.

That said, you may be able to have his use of parental responsibility restricted if he is harming the childen through it. You would need to apply for a prohibited steps order. In some extreme cases the courts will approve restrictions that effectively mean that the parent has PR in name only.

Wow….what a relief for that mother

My ex told court he wants nothing to do with our son but still has PR. There's no taking it away unfortunately unless extreme circumstances

Woowwww that is truly terrible - some fathers don’t deserve their kids.

The children's act says that the child has a right to know both parents, parental responsibility cannot be removed except by a court & only in extreme circumstances.
Also, there are other ways to allow contact either indirect or direct, & you can do either without your own involvement.
Personally I would suggest that they have some contact with their father because they might grow up to resent you if you remove that relationship entirely