Parental Rights and Responsibilities in Scotland for Kinship Carers

What PRRs Actually Are

Parental responsibilities and rights (PRRs) in Scotland are defined by the Children (Scotland) Act 1995. Responsibilities include safeguarding the child's health, development, and welfare, providing direction and guidance, and maintaining personal contact. Rights include the right to have the child live with you, to control and guide their upbringing, and to act as their legal representative.

Birth parents hold PRRs automatically (mothers always; fathers if married to the mother, named on the birth certificate post-2006, or granted by court order or agreement). Without a court order, a kinship carer — even one who has looked after the child for years — holds none of these rights.

Why PRRs Matter for Day-to-Day Life

Without formal PRRs, you can't:

• Consent to medical treatment — a GP can refuse to register the child or carry out non-emergency procedures
• Enrol the child in school — some local authorities require proof of legal authority
• Apply for a passport — HM Passport Office requires consent from someone with parental responsibility
• Make decisions about the child's education — choosing a school, consenting to trips, accessing records
• Relocate the child outside Scotland — the order does not by itself authorize relocation; Section 2(3) requires express written consent from everyone who holds PRRs or prior leave from the sheriff

These administrative roadblocks are often what pushes kinship carers to seek a formal order. The child is living with you, depending on you, but the system doesn't recognise your authority until you have a court order.

How a Section 11 Order Transfers PRRs

A Section 11 order is the mechanism for transferring some or all parental responsibilities and rights from the birth parents to a kinship carer. The sheriff decides exactly what transfers based on the child's circumstances.

Common arrangements include:

• Full PRRs to the carer — the carer holds all responsibilities and rights, with the parents retaining only what the sheriff specifically preserves (often contact rights)
• Shared PRRs — the carer holds residence and day-to-day decision-making, while the parents retain certain rights like the right to be consulted on major decisions
• Residence with specific rights — the carer gets the right to have the child live with them plus specified rights (medical consent, education decisions), while other PRRs stay with the parents

The court tailors the order to the child's needs. There's no standard template — each case is different.

What Birth Parents Keep

A Section 11 order doesn't automatically strip parents of everything. The sheriff can preserve specific rights — most commonly the right to contact (visits, phone calls, video calls). Even when a parent loses residence rights, they may keep the right to be informed about major decisions or to apply to the court in future to vary the order.

If the sheriff removes all PRRs from a parent, that parent can still apply to vary the order if family circumstances change significantly.

The Difference Between PRRs and Guardianship

A Section 11 PRRs order operates during the parents' lifetime. Section 7 guardianship is different — it's an appointment (by will or court order) that takes effect only when the appointing parent dies. A kinship carer who needs legal authority now, while the birth parents are alive, needs a Section 11 order, not a guardianship appointment.

A Section 11 order may be a Kinship Care Order under Section 72 of the 2014 Act. A Section 7 guardian appointment is a separate route recognized in Part 13 eligibility rules, subject to the child's eligible-child criteria.

Getting the Order

The process starts with an Initial Writ filed at the sheriff court, setting out the specific PRRs you're asking for. Your solicitor drafts this based on your circumstances.

Our Kinship Care Orders in Scotland guide explains exactly which responsibilities and rights you should ask for, how the court decides what to grant, and what your new legal authority means in practice once you have the order.

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