Civil partnership in Scotland makes you legally the step-parent of your partner’s child. You can apply for parental rights and responsibilities for the child, whether you are a civil partner or a cohabiting partner. Parental rights and responsibilities (PRR) give you a say in how the child is brought up. You need to apply to court to get PRR, for which you need a family law solicitor.

Even without PRR or civil partnership the law says you have certain responsibilities for a child you care for. If you accept the child as part of your family, you have a duty to provide reasonable maintenance, and that duty may continue even if the relationship with the child's parent is dissolved. For more information on PRR and issues about children, contact your family law solicitor. The Law Society of Scotland can tell you about family law solicitors in your area.

At present, same-sex couples cannot adopt a child together: one partner can apply to adopt the child as a single person. The Scottish Executive has proposed changes to the law that could make it possible to adopt your partner’s child, or for same-sex couples to be able to adopt a child together.

At present, while sexual orientation or transgender identity is not in itself a legal barrier to fostering children, no same-sex couple in Scotland can foster children together: mixed-sex cohabiting couples or married couples can foster children: same-sex cohabiting couples or civil partners cannot. The Scottish Executive has proposed changes to the law that will make it possible for same-sex couples to provide foster homes for children.

For current information on changes to the law, see www.equality-network.org/rights.

If you are living with your partner, and your partner has a child, unless your name is on the birth certificate, if the relationship ends you have no right of contact with the child.

A man is presumed to be the father of a child if his name is on the birth certificate. This presumption is not affected by marriage, civil partnership, or cohabitation either to the mother of the child or to anyone else: however, the mother’s consent or a court order declaring him to be the father is required for him to put his name on the birth certificate if he is not married to the mother. There are no circumstances at present which allow a same-sex partner to have her name on the birth certificate of her partner's child.

If your name is not on the birth certificate, you can apply to court for PRR (see above). You can apply even if your relationship with the child's parent has ended, but you want to remain in contact with the child. A court will only award PRR if the sheriff considers it to be in the best interests of the child. If you have PRR for the child, you are entitled to stay in touch until or unless a court removes your PRR for that child.