Children and
Adoption (Amendment) (Jersey) Law 2016
A LAW to amend the Children (Jersey)
Law 2002 in relation to the acquisition of parental responsibility by
unmarried fathers and make consequential amendments to the Adoption (Jersey)
Law 1961
Adopted by the
States 13th September 2016
Sanctioned by
Order of Her Majesty in Council 16th November 2016
Registered by the
Royal Court 25th
November 2016
THE STATES, subject to the sanction of Her Most Excellent Majesty in Council, have
adopted the following Law –
1 Children (Jersey) Law 2002 amended
In Article 5 of the Children (Jersey) Law 2002[1] –
(a) in paragraph (1), before sub-paragraph (a), there
is inserted the following sub-paragraph –
“(aa) subject to paragraph (1A), the
father shall have parental responsibility for the child if he becomes
registered as the child’s father under Article 55 or 56 of the
Marriage and Civil Status (Jersey) Law 2001[2] (the ‘2001 Law’);”;
(b) after paragraph (1) there is inserted the following
paragraph –
“(1A) Paragraph (1)(aa)
does not apply to a father who was registered under the 2001 Law before
the commencement of the Children and Adoption (Amendment) (Jersey) Law 2016[3].”.
2 Adoption
(Jersey) Law 1961 amended
(1) In
this Article “Law” means the Adoption (Jersey) Law 1961[4].
(2) For
Article 12(7) of the Law there is substituted the following
paragraph –
“(7) Before making an order under
this Article, in the case of a child whose father does not have parental
responsibility for the child, the Court shall satisfy itself in relation to any
person claiming to be the father that –
(a) the person has no
intention, within the next 6 months, of –
(i) requesting registration as the child’s father under Article 56
of the Marriage and Civil Status (Jersey) Law 2001[5], or
(ii) applying
for an order under Article 5 of the Children (Jersey) Law 2002[6] or a residence order under Article 10
of that Law; or
(b) if the person did
make an application referred to in sub-paragraph (a)(ii), it would be
likely to be refused.”.
(3) In Article 12B(3)(c) of the Law, before clause (i), there is inserted the following clause –
“(ai) parental responsibility acquired by
a father in accordance with the requirements of Article 5(1)(aa) of the
Children (Jersey) Law 2002[7],”.
3 Citation
and commencement
This Law may be cited as the Children and Adoption (Amendment)
(Jersey) Law 2016 and shall come into force 7 days after the day it
is registered.
l.-m. hart
Deputy Greffier of the States