Dr. Kenneth Burns:

This is a really interesting question. My contribution on this will be of a personal nature as somebody who had to apply for a form to get guardianship of my own child. It was a source of curiosity that the lawyer had never dealt with the form before and did not know what to do with it. There was no register, which meant I was worried about losing the document. I see the merits of a register and why it would be very important. I grew up in a generation when it was socially possible and not culturally reprehensible to have children outside of marriage and we now have a plurality of family forms. We have been very successful as a nation in trying to recognise them.

The fathers I know who are not married do not know the minutiae of what they are entitled to and, in particular, they do not know about guardianship. Most of them did not know they were not automatically guardians of their children and were somewhat worried about the process of how to go about it. The 2015 Act made some progress but I understand there is a lot of confusion among men about how to go about receiving full guardianship if they are actively involved in the day to day care of their child, whether they live with the child or not. Progress on this is required.