A guide on Prohibited Steps Orders.
A Prohibited Steps Order is an order used to prohibit something being done to a child. This order prohibits a parent from doing something they would otherwise be allowed to do as part of parental responsibility. They must be important issues that otherwise could not be resolved by a different order.
Common examples are orders prohibiting
- A parent taking the child abroad (to live or holiday)
- A parent taking the child out of England And Wales
- A parent applying for a passport or travel documents for the child
- Stopping a parent from attending the child’s school without an appointment
- Changing the child’s surname
- Not to register a birth or name a child without the other parent present
- Stopping a parent giving the child inappropriate medical treatment
- Stopping a parent enrolling a child in a certain school
- Stopping a parent indoctrinating a child in a certain religion
- Stopping a parent going to a place the child often visits (School, Clubs etc.)
- Stopping a parent approaching the child in the street
- Stopping a parent removing the child from the care for a certain adult
- Stopping a parent to allow the child to participate in a certain activity or visiting a certain person.
A Prohibited Steps Order can be seen by the court as an attempt to control the respondent and restrict their rights as it interferes with parental reasonability and can be difficult to get. If a PSO cause a parent to live somewhere they can’t afford, to lose out on a job etc, the court will no see this in the best interest of the child.
The children’s act can also deny a PSA if the issue could be resolved with a contact order or a resident order.
A PSO is only a temporary solution and are not made if the same result could be achieved by a different order.
PSO applications are made using form C100 and there is a fee of £200. You should as the court to attach a penal notice to the order so it can be enforced.
Orders made under section 8 only apply to issues of parental responsibility and cannot be applied to issues that only concern the adults in the case.
The original section 8 orders are –
- Prohibited Steps Orders
- Specific Issue Orders
- Contact Orders
- Residence Orders
Once a child is 16 years old, any order made under section 8 is no longer in effect. The court will usually not make new orders, apart from one to discharge an order. Under rare circumstances the court can make orders until the child is 18 years old, and the order will lose effect once the child turns 18.
Section 10 of The Children Act decides who can apply for a section 8 order. Parents, guardians and parental responsibility can apply for an order. Mothers and married fathers have parental responsibility as of right. Unmarried fathers, stepfathers etc. can receive responsibility under the right conditions.
