Parental Responsibility and Same-Sex Parents: What You Need to Know

June 23, 2025

For all parents, understanding who has Parental Responsibility (PR) is an important step in securing your child’s legal and emotional wellbeing. Whether you are planning a family or already raising children, knowing how PR is obtained and what it means in practice is vital.

What is Parental Responsibility?

Parental Responsibility means the legal rights, duties, powers, and responsibilities a person has for a child. This includes decisions about education, medical treatment, religion, travel, and day-to-day care.

More than one person can have PR for a child at the same time, and this often includes both parents, but this isn’t always automatic.

Why PR matters in practice

Parental Responsibility gives you the legal authority to make or be involved in key decisions about your child’s upbringing. Without it, you may not be recognised or included by schools, doctors, or government agencies, even if you are your child’s primary carer. Day-to-day, this can create distressing or frustrating obstacles and a lack of communication. Securing PR offers clarity, continuity, and the legal standing to protect your role in your child’s life.

How do both parents in same-sex couples obtain Parental Responsibility?

It depends on how the child was conceived and what legal steps were taken at the time of their birth.

1. Same-sex female couples using donor conception

If a same-sex female couple has a child via donor insemination and they are married or in a civil partnership at the time of conception, both partners automatically have PR and are named on the birth certificate.

If the couple is not married or in a civil partnership, it is important that conception takes place in a licensed fertility clinic in the UK, otherwise at birth the non-birth mother won’t be the legal parent and won’t automatically have PR.

If conception is at a licensed UK fertility clinic, the non-birth mother will usually need to complete forms at the clinic to become the child’s legal parent and be registered on the birth certificate.

If not, PR can still be acquired later through:

Adoption
A Parental Responsibility Agreement
A Parental Responsibility Order from the court

2. Same-sex male couples and surrogacy

For male same-sex couples who have a child via surrogacy, the surrogate (and potentially her spouse or civil partner) is the legal parent at birth. The intended parents must apply for a Parental Order to transfer legal parenthood and obtain PR.

This is a court process and should ideally be applied for within six months of the child’s birth. Once granted, both intended parents (if in a couple) will have PR.

3. Adoption

Adoption remains a key route to parenthood for many same-sex couples and individuals. Same-sex couples and individuals have been able to adopt children in England and Wales since 2005. Adoption gives full legal parental rights and responsibilities to the adopters and permanently severs the legal relationship between the child and their birth parents. Once the adoption order is made, both adoptive parents (if adopting as a couple) will automatically have Parental Responsibility.

4. Step-parents and blended families

If you’re a step-parent in a same-sex relationship, or have taken on a parenting role for your partner’s child, you can acquire PR through:

A Parental Responsibility Agreement (with the consent of all those with PR)
A court order, such as a Child Arrangements Order
Adopting the child

Can more than two people have PR?

Yes. The law in England and Wales allows more than two people to hold Parental Responsibility for a child. In LGBTQ+ families, it’s not uncommon for a child to have three or more parental figures involved in their care. PR can be shared among all individuals with a significant role in the child’s life. Additional individuals can be granted PR through agreement or court order, provided it is in the child’s best interests.

Disputes around PR

Unfortunately, not all parents agree on who should have PR or how it should be used. If someone with PR is making decisions that you feel are not in the child’s best interests, or if you are being excluded from important matters despite having PR, legal advice may be needed. The court’s focus will always be the child’s welfare, and it has the power to resolve disputes, restrict PR in certain cases, or decide who a child should live with and spend time with.

We can help you get it right

Each family is unique, and so is the path to parenthood. Whether you’re planning for the future or need to formalise your existing family arrangements, our Family Law team can guide you through the process of obtaining legal Parental Responsibility and help to protect your legal rights.

If you would like tailored advice on Parental Responsibility or parenting arrangements, please contact our Family team at Herrington Carmichael today.

Aadil Khan

Senior Solicitor, Family

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This reflects the law and market position at the date of publication and is written as a general guide. It does not contain definitive legal advice, which should be sought in relation to a specific matter.

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