Petition · past parliament
Automatic parental responsibility for all unmarried fathers
Closed
55 signatures
What the petition asks
Unmarried fathers need more rights. The only people losing out is the kids. We have to jump through hoops, mediation sometime this can take months. It's unfair and really needs to be looked into. I understand why some fathers walk away. That's not right.
An unmarried father has few legal rights with regard to his children unless he has Parental Responsibility (PR). All married fathers have PR, but unmarried fathers only have PR if they are named as the child's father on the birth certificate, they have a legally binding Parental Responsibility Agreement or a Parental Responsibility Order. An unmarried father who has PR should be treated the same as a father who was married to the mother.
Timeline
| 7 Mar 2019 | Petition opened for signatures |
| 7 Sep 2019 | Closed to new signatures |
Key facts
Signatures
55
Status
Closed
Opened
7 Mar 2019
Closed
7 Sep 2019
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Source: the official petition page. Last checked 15 Jul 2026.