Charities that help with changing a child's name

Which charities help with changing a child's name?#

For the law, start with Child Law Advice, the free service of Coram Children's Legal Centre, which explains how a child's surname is changed in England and what to do when a parent will not agree. For support as a parent, try Coram Family Lives, Gingerbread, One Parent Families Scotland or Both Parents Matter.

None of them changes a name for you, and none names a deed poll company. What they offer is a clear view of the rules before you act, and someone to talk to when the other parent's agreement is the hard part.

What does changing a child's name involve?#

In brief, with the full detail on the handbook's own pages:

• Agreement or a court order. GOV.UK requires the agreement of everyone with parental responsibility, or a court order, and says you must try to reach agreement first. Who has parental responsibility? helps you work out who that is.
• If someone will not agree, the court route is a specific issue order on form C100, fee £270. Can I change my child's surname without the other parent's consent? and how a court decides explain it.
• If a parent cannot be found, Child Law Advice says a change without their consent may be possible once reasonable steps to contact them have failed, though the passport office can be strict about it. Changing a child's name when the other parent is absent covers the steps.
• Under a special guardianship or child arrangements order, the Children Act 1989 bars anyone from causing the child to be known by a new surname without everyone's written consent or the court's leave.
• At 16 or 17, GOV.UK says the young person can make their own unenrolled deed poll. Changing your name at 16 or 17 gives the exceptions.
• The birth certificate usually stays as it is. Child Law Advice explains that it is a historical record; the deed poll sits beside it.
• Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own records and courts: see Changing a child's name in Scotland and in Northern Ireland.

Charities that can help#

What each kind of charity can help with#

Free legal information

Child Law Advice has the most complete charity page on a child's surname in England: consent, specific issue orders, a parent who cannot be traced, the birth certificate, and the difference between a legal name and a "known as" name at school or the GP. Its sister site Lawstuff explains the same rules to young people themselves. Rights of Women's guide to children and the law when parents separate covers a child's name among other decisions, and its advice lines give women free legal advice. Citizens Advice's page on young people and family has a short section on names.

What to ask: who has parental responsibility in your family, whether your evidence is enough if the other parent cannot be found, and how strong a court application would be.

Support for parents

• Coram Family Lives runs a confidential parenting helpline, live chat and email. Its page on changing a child's surname after separation explains the consent rule and that an enrolled deed poll puts the change in The Gazette.
• Gingerbread supports single parents in England and Wales. Its page covers getting consent, the court route and statutory declarations, and notes that a court is more likely to allow a double-barrelled surname than one that replaces the other parent's name entirely.
• One Parent Families Scotland runs the Lone Parent Helpline. For a child's surname it points parents to Citizens Advice Scotland's guide, which says everyone with parental responsibilities must agree before National Records of Scotland records a change, and to the Scottish Child Law Centre.
• Both Parents Matter, formerly Families Need Fathers, supports separated parents through a helpline, support groups and fact sheets. It is the place to go if you are the parent being asked to agree, or you object.

What to ask: how to raise the subject with the other parent, whether mediation could help, and how to keep the conversation about the child.

When a parent has died

Child Bereavement UK supports bereaved children, young people and families. It publishes no advice on names, but a change of surname after a death is often part of a wider change, and changing a child's name after a parent dies sets out who must agree.

Other situations

• A trans or non-binary child: Mermaids publishes free deed poll templates and consent letters; see charities for trans and non-binary people.
• Kinship care, fostering or adoption: charities for care and adoption.
• Domestic abuse: charities that help after domestic abuse, and the court safeguards in changing your name after domestic abuse.

How do I reach them?#

Each charity lists its helplines, chat and email on its own website; use those pages rather than a number copied from elsewhere, because opening hours change. If the other parent has been abusive, use a device they cannot see, and look for the exit button that Lawstuff and many safety charities have.

Can I make my child's deed poll for free?#

Yes, if everyone with parental responsibility agrees. GOV.UK's guide mentions a specialist deed poll agency or a solicitor for a child's unenrolled deed poll, but HM Passport Office's guidance to its staff says an unenrolled deed poll has no set format or wording and can be drawn up by the person themselves, and Mermaids publishes a free template for under-16s. At 16 or 17 a young person can make their own with GOV.UK's adult wording, at no cost.

A paid child deed poll adds a draft checked by a paralegal on certificate paper, a cover letter for the school and GP, optional certified copies, and a refund if an organisation refuses it. Can I get a deed poll for free? compares the two. These charities are listed for the help they give; a listing does not mean any of them recommends us, and none has reviewed this page.