If your child is under 18, they need your formal consent to join up – your signature on a form.
IMPORTANT: Once your child enlists with your consent, you can’t withdraw your consent afterwards.
My child lives with both their parents. Do we both need to sign?
Yes. If the child lives with both parents, then both parents must consent for the enlistment to ahead.
If one parent withholds consent then the enlistment SHOULDN’T go ahead. That parent can challenge and stop the enlistment if it does.
My partner and I are separated and my child lives with only one of us. Who needs to sign?
If the child lives with only one parent, then that parent’s consent is needed.
If that parent withholds consent, then the enlistment SHOULDN’T go ahead, even if the other parent consents to it.
My child is in care. Who needs to sign?
If the child is living in care with one or more legal guardians, then they must consent for the enlistment to go ahead.
My child is living on their own. Who needs to sign?
In very rare cases where the child lives neither with their parents nor in care, then either parent or the legal guardian can sign.
If no parents or legal guardian can be found for the child, then any adult they are living with can sign instead.
One important exception
If the father has lost parental responsibility, then they are not eligible to sign. In this case, only the mother can sign.
What happens when parents can’t agree on whether to consent?
We get a lot of emails asking this. Very often, the father favours a child’s enlistment and the mother opposes it.
If you have parental responsibility for a child who wants to join the army, then:
- If your child lives with both you and the other parent, OR they live only with you, AND if you have not consented to the child’s enlistment yourself, then the enlistment SHOULDN’T go ahead. You can instruct the army to stop it. And if the enlistment has happened without proper consent, then you can still reverse it any time up to three months after the day of the enlistment.
- In the following circumstances, you can also take the matter to a court and ask a judge to make a decision in the child’s best interests:
- If your child lives with the other parent and not with you, and you have not consented to the enlistment yourself.
- If your child lives with the other parent and not with you, and you want to give consent but the other parent is withholding it.
- If your child lives with both you and the other parent and you can’t agree on whether to consent together.
‘Parental responsibility’. A mother always has parental responsibility, even if they don’t live with their child. The same usually goes for fathers, too (a court can remove parental responsibility from a father but this is rare.) This means that in most circumstances, either parent can object to their child’s enlistment, if they want to. Also in most cases, either parent can object to the other parent when the other parent is withholding consent to enlistment, if they want to.
The regulations online
If you want to check the consent regulations online, you can here – look for paragraph 5.
Before You Sign Up 