KIE: England's Court of Appeal, Civil Division, ruled that parents had the right to prevent a physician at the local health authority from prescribing contraceptives to girls under the age of 16 without parental consent.
The Capacity Assessment for Mental Health Treatment (Gillick Competence) Child and Youth form is only intended to assist in establishing whether the child or young person has capacity to make decisions related to mental health treatment and care.
The House of Lords' decision of Gillick was delivered in 1985. The Court held that children who are under 16 years, but have the intelligence and understanding to be competent to give consent to a particular treatment, may give consent for themselves.
The legal test used to determine if a child is capable of giving consent is when he or she “achieves a sufficient understanding and intelligence to enable him or her to understand fully what is proposed”. This is referred to as 'Gillick competent' or a 'mature minor'.
Gillick competence is concerned with determining a child's capacity to consent. Fraser guidelines, on the other hand, are used specifically to decide if a child can consent to contraceptive or sexual health advice and treatment.
A child younger than 14 may be competent to consent to treatment . Conversely, a child aged 16 or over may lack competence . Health practitioners need to make an assessment of competency to consent for all young people aged under 18 years (or 16 years in South Australia) .
The so-called Fraser Guidelines (some people refer to assessing whether the young person is Gillick competent) state that all the following requirements should be fulfilled: the young person will understand the professional's advice. the young person cannot be persuaded to inform their parents.
Gillick competency applies mainly to medical advice but it is also used by practitioners in other settings. For example, if a child or young person: would like to have therapeutic support but doesn't want their parents or carers to know about it. is seeking confidential support for substance misuse.
Generally, a child under the age of 18 years is assessed as being a 'mature minor' if they fully comprehend the nature, consequences and risks of the proposed action, irrespective of the presence or absence of parental consent.
Gillick competence in children
The doctor has to assess and come to a judgement that the minor who is aged 14 or above has sufficient understanding and intelligence to enable him to understand the proposed procedure and its consequences. If so, the minor's consent can be accepted as valid.
This provision essentially lays down the essence of the decision in Gillick in statutory form in Scotland, making it plain that someone under the age of 16 can consent to medical treatment.
In Lord Scarman's judgement, a child is considered to have Gillick competence if: (i) the child displays sufficient maturity and understanding in relation to the treatment or advice provided or (ii) the doctor believes that in the face of exceptional circumstances, it would be in the child's best interests to proceed ...
Yes. There is no reason why you can't ask to see the doctor by yourself. They might want to find out why and might encourage you to tell your parent or carer. But they should try to understand how you feel if you don't want to.
The parental right to consent terminates when a child is deemed Gillick-competent. The assessment of Gillick competence is a question of fact for the doctor to determine in each case. In reality, most medical decisions concerning children are dealt with by doctors, parents and children.
Definition of Competency
A witness is competent if he or she can lawfully be called to give evidence. The principle is set out in Section 53(1) of the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999 (YJCEA 1999): “At every stage in criminal proceedings all persons are (whatever their age) competent to give evidence”.
Children under 18 cannot legally refuse to see a parent following divorce or separation. Children under 18 will be bound to the co-parenting arrangements made by their parents, set out in Consent Orders, and endorsed by the courts.
In legal terms, it is referred to as a defence of infancy. All states and self-governing territories of Australia have adopted 10 years of age as a uniform age of criminal responsibility. As of October 2022, some jurisdictions have made moves towards raising the age to 12 or 14.
If you are 16 years old and above, you can legally have sex (or do another sexual activity) with another person who is 16 years or older as long as you both agree to it.
There isn't a lower limit for either Gillick competence or Fraser guidelines to be applicable. Most children under the age of 13 have parent involvement when consent to treatment is concerned as it is not appropriate or safe.
This law and the resulting guidelines apply to the British situation, only. They have no legal validity in Ireland. Subsequently, guidance has been issued for UK doctors on judging the Gillick competence of a child (The Fraser guidelines - detailed in the Appendix).
This means that the general age of consent in Victoria is 16. Persons aged 18 or older can validly consent to sex with a person who is in a position of authority over them. In this context, the age of consent is 18. A person aged less than 12 cannot consent to sex with any other person.
People over the age of 16 with decision making capacity have the right to consent or refuse to consent to their own medical treatment and/or healthcare.
While consent is the free and voluntary agreement to sexual activity, the legal age of that consent varies across States and Territories to protect children and young people from sexual exploitation. NSW, Qld, Victoria, WA, NT and ACT have the age of consent at 16-years-of-age.
In the ACT it is legal for a person to have sex if: But, if you are over 16 and the other person is in a position of care or authority over you, it is illegal for them to have sex with you. E.g. Your sports coaches, counselors and teachers cannot legally have sex with you, even if you 'consent.