Other agencies such as doctors and teachers are not always familiar with the rights of a non-resident parent. They may know they have legal responsibilities to share information but may have practical constraints. Schools, for example, may have a duty to inform parents (whether or not with parental responsibility) but they tend to take the practical short cut. The child is given information in an envelope to take home to the main carer. This does not reach all the relevant people. Maybe you need to get in touch with the school directly and ask for arrangements to be made about copies of reports or the school calendar. GPs are under so much pressure. They do not want to produce anything in writing and do not usually do so when someone attends for an appointment. They have little or no access to legal advice and do not know what to do or what their legal responsibilities are. If in doubt, they will take the line of least resistance and will not necessarily put themselves out just because you share parental responsibility. There could be informal ways round this, depending on the situation. For example, your child suffers from asthma. Mother usually takes the child to the GP as the child lives with her. You want to know more – see if you can agree that you should take the child to the GP and let the GP know that you may want a bit longer so you can be got up to speed.
I have dealt with the above on the basis of the most common situation – the child is living with mother and having contact with dad. The same applies if the situation is reversed. Similar considerations arise if PR is being shared between parents and grandparents.
