6.4 Parenthood

Arguably, these three pieces of legislation mentioned in Section 6 promoted a new model of parenthood, as they introduced the concept of parental responsibility; which seeks to balance the rights and duties of parents with the welfare of the child. Before the Children’s Act 1989, the Law Commission (England and Wales) considered that the law had focused on parental rights, rather than recognising parenthood in terms of responsibility (Brammer, 2015). The introduction of the concept of parental responsibility clearly places the responsibility for children with their parents – the state only intervening in those cases where it is necessary to safeguard children.