Mother is trying to move her child to another school without the father's consent

[5Cats2Kittens]

Hello,

I am involved in a situation, and I am hoping to get some advice on it.

Mother and father are divorced. They share a 9 year old daughter. They have 50-50 custody, one week on, one week off. The father gets the child benefit. There is no CMS paid.

The mother moved to another area two years ago. It is a 30 minute drive away. The daughter still goes to school in the area the mother previously lived in, so the mother has to do that drive every day, every other week.

Since moving, the mother has been trying to convince the dad to move the daughter to a school in the area the mother is now in. The dad doesn't agree. The schools in the mother's new area are not good.

The mother is now saying that she is just going to move the daughter with or without the father's consent. Can she legally do this? Is there anything dad can do to stop it? What should the father be doing before this move happens?

Aaarrrgh! This is all so confusing... Everyone seems to give a different answer?

We asked here as the school and local council gave us conflicting answers too.

There should just be a set country-wide policy for this situation really.

And I stand by the comment that a 9-year old is incapable of understanding the seriousness of this situation.

Ex has pr of my ds.. He is absent and has never been involved on any paperwork for school. No one has ever questioned it.

@MyDcAreMarvel

Yes either parent with PR can move a child. If the father wants to then move the child back he will have to go to court. Only one parents consent is needed.

Jesus, so much misinformation here. Of course it only takes one signature to sign the form (my ex is very absent from my dc life) but if the father objects then it's an obvious conflict and the mother should not assume she can unilaterally move the school.

Dad needs a prohibited steps order, pronto, to stop the child being withdrawn.

Also, the mum chose to move. She needs to suck up the commute. And if it's 60/40 residence in dad's favour he's deffo eligible to claim cb .

If I were him I'd be in touch with the current school in writing/email first thing on Monday to let them know he objects. Then printing off the PSO forms and taking them to court myself. No need to wait for/pay solicitors for this, it's really simple.

I think if the child has a good circle of friends, is happy and thriving, then a move is probably not in their best interests. 30 mins every other week really isn't a big deal, and if in year 5 then they have just under five terms left. Works out at what 35 weeks of school runs left? Or the equivalent of 7 weeks a term? Seems like significant disruption for the 9 year old. (Unless there is a huge back story here, but going on what you have written in the OP, it doesn't seem fair to disrupt the child any further).

@Fuuuuuckit

If I were him I'd be in touch with the current school in writing/email first thing on Monday to let them know he objects. Then printing off the PSO forms and taking them to court myself. No need to wait for/pay solicitors for this, it's really simple.

I agree with this and would do exactly this. I would also contact the LA to say the same.

The situation is this. In law (unless there is any court order to the contrary) both parents have equal parental responsibility. Generally a person with parental responsibility can act alone without the other but moving schools is one of the areas in which courts have said there is an obligation to consult the other parent. Presumably this is partly because if one parent moved the child the other can then choose to move them again and the child needs to have a settled education. Practically the LA is likely to accept an application with one signature, especially as many children don't have an active 2nd parent with PR. So in practice she might be able to fill in the forms and start the process BUT a court will take a dim view of any parent who does so without a very good explanation.

The best thing for the father to do is as the PP says, contact the school/LA to try to stop this happening and apply for a PSO if it looks as if the mother will try anyway.

On consulting the 9 year old. If it gets to court they will want to know what the child's view is. No-one is suggesting the 9 year old gets to make the final decision, nor that they have to understand all the different facets of that decision. But ultimately it is the child's life and they will be the one living with the decision so how they feel about their situation is important (but not determinative). If the parents (or a court) are going to make the best decision for the child, a significant part of that will depend on whether the child is happy, settled, has a good friendship group, has an environment they can learn in etc. If the child has all of that it will be more difficult to justify moving them in these circumstances.

Id also add that there are probably other factors which the dad could look at which might help mum be happy to keep the child in the school.

If dad is closer to school he could offer to have dc a bit more. If he has week days when he isn’t working he could offer to do school run for mum even if that’s a pain. He could suggest that they begin mediation / discussion about secondary.

If dc has problems at school he could be really proactive at sorting Then. If mum wants to move them for a reason (eg they are struggling with friends) he could put something else in place to support with that.

Any help?

This happened at the school I work at. The mum wanted the child in our school and did the paperwork etc but then the dad got in touch and said he didn't agree so we wouldn't accept the child. Not sure what happened next, I presume they would have consulted lawyers but the child never did start.

There is one countrywide policy. It is the law. Changing a child's school requires the consent of everyone with parental responsibility. However, most LAs expect parents to sort this out themselves so only require a single signature to change school. As per my previous post, the father can go to court and get a Prohibited Steps Order to prevent the mother attempting to move the child to a different school.

Thanks

He has looked into the PSO, but he doesn't want to cause further tension between himself and the mum. The relationship is bad enough at the moment, and he doesn't want to rock the boat more unless absolutely necessary.

He has emailed the school though. Will the school share his email with the mum if she asks?

No way of knowing. They shouldn't as, under GDPR, it is his personal data. Even if they anonymised it, it would be obvious that it was his personal data so they still shouldn't share it. But I wouldn't like to guarantee what a school would do.

He should also email his LA (and the LA where the mother now lives if that is different). None of this guarantees that the LAs or the school will stop the mother if she tries to move the child without his consent, I'm afraid. But, if he isn't willing to get a PSO, this is the best he can do.