Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968

16 Assumption by local authority of parental rights

(1) Subject to the provisions of this Part of this Act, a local authority may, with respect to any child in their care under the last foregoing section in whose case it appears to them—

(a) that his parents are dead and that he has no guardian; or

(b) that a parent or guardian of his (hereafter in this Part of this Act referred to as the person on whose account the resolution was passed)—

(i) has abandoned him, or

(ii) suffers from some permanent disability rendering the said person incapable of caring for the child, or

(iii) suffers from a mental disorder which renders him unfit to have the care of the child, or

(iv) is of such habits or mode of life as to be unfit to have the care of the child, or

(v) has so persistently failed without reasonable cause to discharge the obligations of a parent or guardian as to be unfit to have the care of the child,

resolve that all the rights and powers which the deceased parent would have if he were still living, or, as the case may be, all the rights and powers of the person on whose account the resolution was passed, shall vest in the local authority.

(2) In the case of a resolution passed by virtue of paragraph (b) of the last foregoing subsection, unless the person on whose account the resolution was passed has consented in writing to the passing of the resolution, the local authority, if the whereabouts of the said person are known to them, shall forthwith after the passing of the resolution serve on him notice in writing of the passing thereof; and if, not later than one month after such a notice is served on him, the person on whose account the resolution was passed serves a notice in writing on the local authority objecting to the resolution, the resolution shall, subject to the provisions of subsection (3) of this section, lapse on the expiration of fourteen days from the service of the notice of objection.

Every notice served by a local authority under this subsection shall inform the person on whom the notice is served of his right to object to the resolution and of the effect of any objection made by him.

(3) Where a notice has been served on a local authority under the last foregoing subsection, the authority may, not later than fourteen days from the receipt by them of the notice, apply by way of summary application against the objection to the resolution to the sheriff having jurisdiction in the area of the authority, and in that event the resolution shall not lapse by reason of the service of the notice until the determination of the application, and the sheriff may, on the hearing of the application, order that the resolution shall not lapse by reason of the service of the notice:

Provided that the sheriff shall not so order unless satisfied that the child had been, and at the time when the resolution was passed remained, abandoned by the person who made the objection, or that that person is unfit to have the care of the child by reason of mental disorder within the meaning of the [1960 c. 61.] Mental Health (Scotland) Act 1960, or, in the case of a person furth of Scotland, would be deemed to be so unfit if that Act applied to him, or by reason of his habits or mode of life, or by reason of his persistent failure to discharge the obligations of a parent or guardian.

(4) Where, after a child has been received into the care of a local authority under the last foregoing section, the whereabouts of any parent or guardian of his have remained unknown for not less than twelve months, the parent or guardian shall, for the purposes of the foregoing provisions of this section, be deemed to have abandoned the child.

(5) Any notice under this section may be served by post, so however that a notice served by a local authority under subsection (2) of this section shall not be duly served by post unless it is sent in a registered letter or by recorded delivery service.