Explain
Who counts as a parent, and corporate parents
For these rights, "parent" means more than a birth parent. It includes anyone with parental responsibility, and anyone who has care of the child, which can include a foster or kinship carer. A council that looks after a child acts as its corporate parent and must have regard to the corporate parenting principles. Who acts as the parent for a decision can depend on the care arrangements, so the social worker or virtual school head may also be involved.
- Type of rule
- Law (Act or Regulations)
- Rule id
who_counts_as_parent- Rules version
- england-2026.10
- Law as at
- 30 September 2026
Sources
- Education Act 1996, s 576Law (Act or Regulations)
- Children and Families Act 2014, s 83(7)Law (Act or Regulations)
- Children and Social Work Act 2017, s 1Law (Act or Regulations)
Related
- Looked-after children and the virtual school
- Young person (and when the rights move to them)
- Mental capacity and representatives
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