Daughters dad is in prison does he still have any rights?

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larley
Posts: 1
Joined: Wed Oct 11, 2017 3:50 pm

Daughters dad is in prison does he still have any rights?

Post by larley » Thu Oct 12, 2017 3:51 pm

Hi, my estranged husband ( we have been separated for 6 years but are still legally married ) is serving a 13 year prison sentence for 18 charges of jointly sexually abusing his partners children. He has to serve the 13 years before he is eligible for parole then he will be on licence for 8 years & on the sex offenders register for life. Contact between him & our 2 daughters was stopped a year ago by social services because of the severity of the charges. The prison have denied all contact again but he is trying to fight it. I need to know if he still has any parental rights where our 2 children are concerned, they are 15 & 12. Can anyone help please?

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Suzie, FRG Adviser
Posts: 4207
Joined: Mon Jul 04, 2011 2:57 pm

Re: Daughters dad is in prison does he still have any rights?

Post by Suzie, FRG Adviser » Mon Oct 16, 2017 3:39 pm

Dear Larley
Thank you for your post and welcome to the Board. In response to your question, fathers have parental responsibility for their children in the following circumstances:

Fathers have parental responsibility if:

• they are married to the mother at the time of the child's birth or they marry after the birth ; or
• they are registered as the child's father on the birth certificate if the registration took place after 1st December 2003. If they were not on the birth certificate they can re-register the child’s birth after 1st December 2003 which will give them parental responsibility at that point. or
• the mother and father have both signed an authorised agreement giving the father parental responsibility ; or
• there is an order of the Court giving the father parental responsibility.

Please see our advice sheet about parental responsibility.

You say that two years ago social workers stopped your children having contact with their father, do phone us on our confidential telephone advice service to discuss this as it is not clear from the information you have provided how this came about. Our advice service is open Monday to Friday, 9.30am to 3pm, the number is 0808 801 0366.

From your question it seems that you have considered the children’s wishes and feelings in this matter, for general information or support, the following websites may be of interest to you. Lucy Faithfull, Action for Prisoners and Offenders Families and NACRO.

I hope this response is useful.

Best wishes

Suzie

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