In order to be an active father of Louise he will first have to apply for the parental responsibility for Louise. To seek parental responsibility Simon will have to adopt one of the routes laid down in Section 4 . If he choses to apply for the parental responsibility order through an application in the court, the court will then have to take into account the following test in considering to decide whether to make a responsibility order under Section 4 of 1989 Act . The court will look into a) the degree of commitment the father has shown towards the child, b) the degree of attachment with the child and (c) the reasons of the father for applying for the order. The question states that after the birth of Louise, Simon has made no financial contribution towards his up keep. And In fact he told Ruby that the law places an automatic parental responsibility of Louise on her and she is better off claiming benefits for him. The court might treat it as evidence towards Simon’s lack of commitment and attachment with Louise. Simon has shown very little interest in Louise since his birth. Therefore, it will be an important question for the court to decide what changed Simon’s mind and what are the reasons for him to apply for the responsibility order. It is likely that based on the result of this test Simon’s application for parental responsibility order is refused by the court. …show more content…
Section 10 (4) laid down the list of people who are entitled to apply for any Section 8 order. These include any parent or the guardian of the child, any person who has the parental responsibility under Section 2 and any person in whose favor the residence order in in force. Simon is a natural father of Louise therefore he can apply for the contact order under Section 8. The changes of success for Simon’s contact order application in the court are high as the case law regards the contact with parents as the child’s right and not the parents. And the court strongly emphasizes the contact to take place between the child and the parent. In the case of Re P (children)[2008] Ward LJ stated that ‘contact should not be stopped unless it is the last resort for the