Jade’s Law – suspending parental responsibility

A new law, also known as ‘Jade’s Law’ has been introduced to automatically suspend the parent responsibility of a parent who is convicted of the murder or manslaughter of a part or ex-partner with whom they have children. Family law Legal Assistant Chloe Hemmet-Fuller explains more.

Who was Jade?

In 2021, Jade was murdered by her husband who was sentenced to 25 years in prison, leaving her children to be cared for by her parents.  Despite being given a life sentence, Jade’s murderer still retained his parental responsibility and was still involved in decision making for the children.  This meant that Jade’s parents would have to communicate with their daughter’s murderer regularly concerning decisions on the children.

A family friend of the family started a petition to which received over 130,000 signatures and was debated in Parliament in November 2022.

What is Jade’s law?

In May 2024, the Victims and Prisoners Bill was passed creating ‘Jade’s Law’. Section 18 of the Victims & Prisons Act 2004 has amended the Children Act 1989 by inserting section 10(A) & 10(B).

Section 10(A) places a mandatory duty on the crown court, at the point of sentencing to make a prohibited steps order (PSO), which suspends the parental responsibility of a parent who is convicted of murder or manslaughter of a partner or ex-partner with who they have had children.

The three exceptions where the court cannot make a PSO include when:

• A child is placed/being placed for adoption.
• A PSO already exists and meets the requirements of section 10(A).
• The parent is convicted of manslaughter, and the crown court finds it would not be in the interests of justice, such as a case concerning self-defence in a domestic abuse matter.

The aim of Jade’s law

The Ministry of Justice stated that the aim of the new law is to better protect children by preventing the convicted parent from having a say in important decisions concerning the child, such as on their schooling and medical appointments.  Secondly, it was introduced to remove the burden (both financial and emotional) of applying for a PSO from the families left to care for the surviving children.

Criticisms raised on Jade’s law

 A key concern is on how the law will apply where someone who has been abused by a partner or spouse acts in self-defence to protect themselves and their children.  Several requests have also been made to include other serious offences including sexual abuse but this has been rejected for men who fathered a child through rape.

The Domestic Homicide Review report revealed that there were only 6 cases (in all cases the mother) of the child/children was killed by their father and the children were living in the family at the time.

It is also suggested that if the government had agreed to extend s18 of the Victims and Prisoners Bill to include other serious offences then more parents and children could be protected under the law.

A good starting point

Jade’s law appears to be a good starting point, but it arguably does not fully protect children against a parent committing other serious offences which makes it clearly unjustifiable that they should retain their parental responsibility.

The contents of this article are for the purposes of general awareness only. They do not purport to constitute legal or professional advice. The law may have changed since this article was published. Readers should not act on the basis of the information included and should take appropriate professional advice upon their own particular circumstances.