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King's Speech

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AnxiousGirl

Member since
December 2023

282 posts

Just read on the BBC website that Labour plans to strip sex offenders of their parental rights.

Posted Wed July 17, 2024 12:20pmReport post

Bub84

Member since
January 2024

130 posts

I've just seen that too and it made my heart sink xx

Posted Wed July 17, 2024 1:29pmReport post

Sad&Scared

Member since
January 2024

172 posts

I saw it mentioned in passing in coverage of the King's Speech, but can't find any references in the speech itself. Does anyone have a link?

I'm not anti TBH, depending on how its implemented. Its my children's father under investigation and personally I don't think he should retain PR if the police turn up a sustained interest in images of abuse.

Posted Wed July 17, 2024 2:20pmReport post

AnxiousGirl

Member since
December 2023

282 posts

I read it on the BBC website.

My kids are older and they have chosen to distance themselves from their father.

Posted Wed July 17, 2024 2:39pmReport post

Hopelesscared

Member since
November 2023

69 posts

I'm in two minds about this. It helps those were the father is clearly a threat to the child and therefore the child needs guarding.

At the same time it will be easy to use in retaliation by the other parent, if the father was in fact not a threat (this would have to be quantified) but he lost his PR.



However, if the relationship with the father and mother is good, it might necessarily not impact the father's relationship with the child. But it will make 'admin' side of things easier for the mother of the father was eg. sentenced to prison (eg passport applications).

I do think this could be extended to cases where there is domestic abuse towards the child by either parent though. And obviously if the child was the victim of sexual abuse by a parent.

Posted Wed July 17, 2024 4:02pm
Edited Wed July 17, 2024 4:03pmReport post

Dragonmama

Member since
November 2022

269 posts

for parents who need to get child maintenance this would be incredibly stupid, stripping PR means that the parent would no longer be responsible for paying for child/children. Even if it was amicable no PR no responsibility.

It should be left for the other parent to decide if they are happy or not for PR to be stripped not the government

Posted Wed July 17, 2024 4:17pmReport post

Hopelesscared

Member since
November 2023

69 posts

Based on what I've read, they wouldn't be stripped off them but their rights would be restricted. I assumed responsibilities would stay the same, ie child maintenance.

If stripping someone of parental rights was the other parents decision, this would exclusively be used for retaliation.

Posted Wed July 17, 2024 4:38pmReport post

hpl111

Member since
November 2022

409 posts

I don't see the point - usually parental rights of the sex offender are already limited due to social services intervention.

Posted Wed July 17, 2024 4:52pmReport post

Cherry

Member since
January 2023

111 posts

I don't think they would be stripped for child maintenance because my daughters bio dad pays child maintenance and he's not on my daughters birth certificate and he has no PR for her hasn't seen her since age 3. I've also read it's for the most serious of sex offences unless they've changed it ?

Posted Wed July 17, 2024 8:05pmReport post

scaredandconfused

Member since
June 2021

437 posts

I've looked into this after reading it on here. It looks like it's for the most serious offence. I think if the other parent tries to get it taken away then it can happen but I'm not sure I've read a update one, what I read was a few months back

Posted Wed July 17, 2024 9:25pmReport post

Ocean

Member since
September 2023

965 posts

AnxiousGirl, is this a new bill or is it the amendment to the Criminal Justice Bill tabled by the government on 10 May 2024 for a small number of offenders who will have their ability to make decisions about their own children’s lives suspended when sentenced?
My heart sank when I first saw this post but having now had time to look in to it more deeply I cannot find any further details than those I read a couple of months ago and which doesn't apply to all.

Posted Wed July 17, 2024 10:44pmReport post

Lucy from Stop it Now!

Member since
September 2018

564 posts

Hello,

We want to provide a bit of information about the new legislation being discussed in this thread. It is our understanding that the proposed legislation would only apply to people convicted of rape of a child under 13 and not apply to individuals convicted of online sexual offences. For people convicted of rape of a child under 13, it would suspend or restrict their parental responsibility. Parental responsibility is a special legal status which allows parents to make decisions on their child’s behalf regarding their wellbeing, property and education. In these cases, those affected will be able to appeal to have their parental responsibility reinstated by the family courts.

It is our understanding that this law would not change Social Services involvement. Additionally, the law considers parental responsibility and child maintenance to be separate, so any changes to parental responsibility would not impact the duty to provide child maintenance.

At this stage, this law has not been voted on and is not currently in effect. We also want to repeat that we do not believe it will apply to individuals convicted of online sexual offences.

If you want to read a bit more about the proposed law. BBC News published an article about this legislation from when it was announced in April here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-68830796#:~:text=It%20covers%20the%20most%20serious,deprived%22%20of%20their%20parental%20rights.

We hope this has been helpful.

Kind regards,

The Forum Team

Posted Thu July 18, 2024 1:10pmReport post

Ocean

Member since
September 2023

965 posts

Thank you forum team for the clarification. I did a bit of research myself after reading the thread yesterday and your information agrees with what I'd found. Thank you for putting my mind at rest

Posted Thu July 18, 2024 4:42pmReport post

Quick exit