Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent assessment he has made of the (a) legal and (b) financial challenges faced by grandparents in gaining care rights of their grandchildren in the event of one or both child's parents dying.

In the unfortunate circumstance of the death of a parent, a child is cared for by a remaining parent or any other person with parental responsibility, such as a guardian, or any other person with a child arrangements order as to living or contact arrangements. Grandparents can apply to be a guardian, or seek permission to be a special guardian, or for a child arrangements order as to contact or with whom the child is to live (where permission is required, it can be applied for at the same time as the main application). The child’s welfare always remains paramount in deciding care for a child in such circumstances.

In the even more distressing circumstance of the death of both parents, a child first becomes the responsibility of the courts who look to whether there are any others with parental responsibility, and to whether either or both parents left a will expressing wishes as to care of the child, and would look to appoint a guardian for the child. Again, grandparents can apply for guardianship or permission for a child arrangements order. The child’s welfare remains the court’s paramount consideration.

We are looking at the scope for extending legal aid for applications for special guardianship in private law proceedings as part of wider consideration of the civil legal aid scheme more generally.