Having a child, parenting and adoption

• Parental rights and responsibilities

  Who has parental responsibility for looking after children, and how to apply for parental responsibility if you were unmarried to the mother or aren't on the birth certificate

• Adding a father's name to a birth certificate

  Re-register your child’s birth to add the father's name to the birth record or certificate at the register office

• Adoption records

  If you were adopted you can access your birth records or get on the Adoption Contact Register to find birth relatives - how to apply, forms and information for birth relatives

• Alcohol and young people - the law

  It's illegal to buy alcohol if you're under 18 and you can be stopped, fined or arrested by the police for drinking in public

• Apply for a special educational needs assessment

  Apply to the council for a special educational needs (SEN) assessment for your child

• Apply for short-term care for your child

  Apply through your local council for short-term ('respite') care for your sick or disabled child to enable you to have a break from caring

• Apply to adopt a child through your council

  Apply to adopt a child through your local council if you are 21 or over and can offer a stable home to a child

• Apply to foster a child through your council

  Apply to foster a child through the social services department of your local council

• Arrange child maintenance: the Child Maintenance Service and Child Support Agency

  Child maintenance - how to work it out, how the Child Support Agency and Child Maintenance Service can help, complaints, appeals

• Arranging child maintenance yourself

  How to arrange child maintenance yourself without using the Child Support Agency or Child Maintenance Service - family-based arrangements, court orders

• Become a child's legal parent

  Get a parental order to become a child's legal parent - UK residency, C52 acknowledgement form, surrogacy, adoption

• Child adoption

  The adoption process - eligibility, assessment, adoption agencies, overseas adoptions and the rights of birth parents

• Child employment

  Minimum working age and pay for children, how to apply for performance licenses and what local council bylaws say about employing children

• Child maintenance calculator

  Work out the amount of child maintenance if you’re arranging it yourselves, or to get an idea of the statutory amounts from the Child Support Agency or Child Maintenance Service

• Child maintenance if one parent lives abroad

  What to do if you need to get child maintenance from an ex-partner who lives abroad

• Child Trust Fund

  Child Trust Fund accounts - find a lost account, providers, payments, managing the account

• Childcare and tax credits

  Tax credits for childcare costs while you work - eligibility, how much you get, childcare vouchers and working out your costs

• Childcare Grant

  Childcare Grants for full-time students in higher education - grants, CCG1, CCG2 forms, how to apply, eligibility

• Childcare out of school hours

  Childcare for your children before and after school - after-school clubs, breakfast clubs, homework clubs, childminders

• Childcare vouchers: better off calculator

  Use this calculator to work out if you're better off getting childcare vouchers from your employer or claiming tax credits

• Complain about the Child Support Agency (CSA)

  How to complain about the Child Support Agency (CSA) and what you can do if you're unhappy with their response

• Contact Sure Start

  Sure Start Children's Centres provide advice and support for parents and carers, from pregnancy to when a child goes to primary school

• Contact the Child Maintenance Service or Child Support Agency (CSA)

  Contact the Child Support Agency (CSA) or Child Maintenance Service (CMS) about child maintenance or making deductions from employees' pay

• DNA testing to solve parentage disagreements

  DNA testing can solve parentage disagreements for child maintenance - when, process

• Early years foundation stage

  The early years foundation stage (EYFS) sets standards for the learning, development and care of children from birth to 5

• Find a registered childminder

  Contact your local council to find a registered childminder - Family Information Service, early years education, childcare and family support in your area

• Find a Sure Start Children's Centre

  Search for Sure Start Children's Centres near to your home to find out about daycare and parenting advice

• Foster carers

  Foster carers look after children when their parents aren't able to - becoming a foster carer, money and support available, fostering agencies

• Free early education

  3 and 4-year-olds in England can get 15 hours of free early education each week for 38 weeks of the year. Some 2 year-olds in England may also be eligible

• Get a police check on someone involved with a child

  Visit your local police station to check the background of someone involved with a child to see if they have a record of sexual offences.

• Help if you have a disabled child

  Your rights and the support you can get if you have a disabled child, including childcare, car costs, house adaptations and education

• Help with childcare costs

  There are different kinds of help you can get with the cost of childcare - vouchers, tax credits, Sure Start, Discretionary Learner Support, Childcare Grant, Care to Learn

• How child maintenance is worked out

  Use the child maintenance calculator to work out how much child maintenance to pay - or see the rates the Child Support Agency and Child Maintenance Service use if you're arranging child maintenance

• If your child is taken into care

  What happens when a child is taken into care - who is responsible for what, care proceedings, care orders, going to court and the role of Cafcass

• Junior Individual Savings Accounts (ISA)

  How to open a Junior ISA for your child - including managing and adding money to an account.

• Legal rights for egg and sperm donors

  If you're a sperm or egg donor, you could be the legal parent of any child that is born

• Parental leave

  Employer and employee guide to unpaid parental leave - eligibility, how much leave can be taken and notice periods

• Parents' Learning Allowance

  Parents' Learning Allowance for full-time students with children - funding, apply, eligibility

• Payment to register a birth abroad in the UK

  Pay the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) if you’re eligible to register the birth of a British national abroad

• Pregnant employees' rights

  Legal rights for pregnant employees - including paid time off for antenatal appointments, maternity leave and pay, protection against discrimination and telling the employer about the pregnancy

• Reciprocal Enforcement of Maintenance Orders (REMO) Unit

  The Reciprocal Enforcement of Maintenance Orders (REMO) unit deals with international child maintenance agreements in England and Wales

• Register a birth

  Parents must register their child's birth within 42 days (or 21 days in Scotland) - who can register, birth certificates

• Register a birth abroad

  Parents must register the birth in the country where the child was born - find out if you can also register the birth in the UK

• Register a stillbirth

  Where and how to register a stillbirth, who can register it, financial support you may be able to get and support organisations

• Rights for surrogate mothers

  A surrogate mother has a mother's rights to any child they carry, unless they sign a parental order - father's rights, maternity leave

• Sure Start Maternity Grant

  Sure Start Maternity Grant - a £500 payment to help with the costs of a new baby, eligibility, applying, claim form SF100

• Surrogacy: legal rights of parents and surrogates

  Legal rights for intended parents when using surrogates or donors

• The law on leaving your child home alone

  The law doesn't say an age when you can leave a child on their own, but it's an offence to leave a child alone if it places them at risk.

• When child maintenance payments stop

  Child maintenance payments usually stops when the child reaches 16 - but there are some exceptions