Whether it is lawful for an adoption and fostering agency only to accept heterosexual evangelical Christians as the potential carers of fostered children.
The Honourable Mr Justice Julian Knowles
[2020] EWHC 1679 (Admin)
England and Wales
Updated: 31 December 2022; Ref: scu.652385
Reasons for allowing appeal from refusal of adoption order
Mr Justice Keehan
[2020] EWCA Civ 797
England and Wales
Updated: 31 December 2022; Ref: scu.652315
Application by a married couple, who are of Asian origin, but British citizens, to adopt a young man, now aged nine and a half, who has lived with them, effectively, for his whole life.
Holman J
[2014] EWHC 3111 (Fam)
England and Wales
Updated: 28 December 2022; Ref: scu.537592
A half-sister had been assured that when her half-sister was adopted she would be given annual reports as to her progress. No report was provided. When she enquired and complained, she was told that the adopters had changed their minds and that it was not in the children’s interests for the report to be provided. Furthermore, confidentiality precluded any explanation of the reasons for that refusal. She applied to the court for leave to make an application for contact. The judge refused it. She appealed.
Held: She succeeded. The court balanced carefully on the one hand the right of an adoptive family to protection of confidentiality and their right to bring up the adopted child in the way that they thought appropriate, and the inappropriateness of enforcing informal arrangements which might no longer be appropriate and which therefore fell to the prospective adopters to terminate. On the other hand, for the applicant it was argued that if this decision was allowed to stand it meant that adoptive parents could effectively ignore any agreement entered into in the best interests of the child in question, and that that would in fact result in more contests and more difficulties in prospective applications. The court came down firmly in favour of the latter proposition. Guidelines were given on procedures for maintaining parental contact after adoption order. Reasons beyond ‘not in Child’s interest’ are to be given before contact may be withdrawn. Balcombe LJ: ‘I am not saying that it should never be open to adopters to change their minds and resile from an informal agreement made at the time of the adoption. But if they do so they should, as Butler-Sloss LJ said in In re T (A Minor) (Contact After Adoption) [1995] 2 FCR 537, 543 give their reasons clearly so that the other party to the arrangement, and if necessary the court, may have the opportunity to consider the adequacy of those reasons. Nor need adopters fear that their reasons, when given, will be subjected to critical legal analysis. The judges who hear family cases are well aware of the stresses and strains to which adopters in the position of Mr and Mrs H are subject and a simple explanation of their reasons in non-legal terms would usually be all that is necessary. In my judgment where adopters in the position of Mr and Mrs H simply refuse to provide an explanation for their change of heart, particularly where, as here, the contact envisaged – the provision of a report – is of a nature which is most unlikely to be disruptive of the children’s lives, it is not appropriate for the court to accept that position without more.’
Balcombe LJ
Times 08-Aug-1995, Independent 23-Aug-1995, [1996] Fam 34
England and Wales
Cited – In re R (a Child) (Adoption: Contact) CA 18-Aug-2005
The child was placed for adoption. In the period before adoption, contact with her family continued. The prospective adopters said that this was unsettling.
Held: It would be unusual to make an order for contact against the wishes of the . .
Cited – In re R (A Child) CA 18-Aug-2005
An application was made for continued contact after a proposed adoption. The mother was young and had herself lost her family and taken into care when very young.
Held: Her request for permission to appeal failed. Wall LJ said: ‘I am . .
Cited – Oxfordshire County Council v X and Others CA 27-May-2010
The LA, the guardian and adoptive parents appealed against an order that they should provide to the parents an annual photograph of the child. They contended that an image should only be made available to be viewed at the authority’s offices . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 20 December 2022; Ref: scu.82227
An application was made for continued contact after a proposed adoption. The mother was young and had herself lost her family and taken into care when very young.
Held: Her request for permission to appeal failed. Wall LJ said: ‘I am reasonably confident that in this particular case both sides understand the other’s position. When one comes to analyse it helpfully with the latest report of the guardian, whose mind itself has swayed both ways on this issue, I am prepared to accept, from what the guardian tells me, that the prospective adopters are genuinely anxious, not only about the outcome of the proceedings but about the issues that they raise, that their attitude to contact is a perfectly reasonable one, and that this is now a case which has to be dealt with by the human beings on the ground and is not one dealt with by legal proceedings. All that, in my judgment, comes within section 10(9)(a).’ Whilst the judge’s decision might be described as terse, it was essentially correct.
[2005] EWCA Civ 1128
England and Wales
Cited – Re C (A Minor) (Adoption Order: Conditions) HL 1988
The House considered the question of conditions to be applied to any continued contact with a child after adoption. Lord Ackner said: ‘The cases rightly stress that in normal circumstances it is desirable that there should be a complete break, but . .
Cited – Re B (Minors: Contact) CA 7-Feb-1994
A Judge may deal with case on the papers and summarily or after an oral hearing at his discretion. . .
Cited – In re J (Leave to issue application for residence order) 2003
An application was made by a family member (a grandparent) to be joined as a party to care proceedings.
Held: A court should not dismiss such an application without proper inquiry. . .
Cited – In re H (Children) CA 2003
The maternal grandmother sought permission to intervene in care proceedings to put herself forward as the carer of her young grandchild. The local authority and the guardian objected to the intervention. The judge had refused it. The grandmother . .
Cited – In Re T (Minors) (Adopted Children: Contact) CA 8-Aug-1995
A half-sister had been assured that when her half-sister was adopted she would be given annual reports as to her progress. No report was provided. When she enquired and complained, she was told that the adopters had changed their minds and that it . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 12 December 2022; Ref: scu.230147
Appeal by adoptive parents against order for contact between natural grandparents
Kerr LCJ, Campbell LJ and Sheil LJ
[2004] NICA 35
Northern Ireland
Updated: 12 December 2022; Ref: scu.216022
A contact order which was not strictly necessary should not be made in adoption proceedings. Arrangements for contact should not be ‘imposed’ upon the adoptive parents but should be ‘left to their good sense so that they could be trusted to do what they believe to be in the best interests of their daughter.’ Butler-Sloss LJ indicated that the court could intervene in future and make an order if the adoptive parents were to behave unreasonably
Butler-Sloss LJ
Times 13-Jan-1995, [1995] 2 FLR 251
England and Wales
Cited – Oxfordshire County Council v X and Others CA 27-May-2010
The LA, the guardian and adoptive parents appealed against an order that they should provide to the parents an annual photograph of the child. They contended that an image should only be made available to be viewed at the authority’s offices . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 09 December 2022; Ref: scu.82219
There is no obligation to join an unmarried father without parental rights, in adoption proceedings. The choice is the mother’s.
Times 01-Jun-1995, Gazette 29-Nov-1995, [1995] 2 FLR 483
England and Wales
Updated: 09 December 2022; Ref: scu.85741
Munby J
[2008] EWHC 1324 (Fam)
Adoption and Children Act 2002
England and Wales
Updated: 09 December 2022; Ref: scu.347339
W was born in China to Chinese parents. His aunt came to Britain and acquired citizenship. He came to live with her while studying, and she applied to adopt him. The judge refused saying that the primary intention was to obtain citizenship.
Held: The appeal failed. It should be good practice to give notice to the Home Office where the making of an adoption order will have the effect of conferring citizenship on a child otherwise an alien. The primary concern remained the welfare of the child throughout the childhood, but the supervision of the immigration authorities remained an important public policy element.
[1986] 1 FLR 179, [1985] 3 WLR 945
England and Wales
Cited – Re IJ (A Child) (Foreign Surrogacy Agreement Parental Order) FD 19-Apr-2011
The court gave reasons for making a parental order under the 2008 Act in favour of the applicants where a child had been born under surrogacy arrangements which were lawful in the Ukraine where he was born, but would have been unlawful here because . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 07 December 2022; Ref: scu.440066
A court making an adoption order has the inherent power to make an order restricting disclosure of adoption details from register where this is in the child’s best interests.
Times 21-May-1998, Gazette 28-May-1998
England and Wales
Updated: 07 December 2022; Ref: scu.82275
LA’s appeal from refusal of order for placement of LC for adoption
Baker LJ
[2020] EWCA Civ 787
England and Wales
Updated: 06 December 2022; Ref: scu.651891
[2018] EWHC 3223 (Fam)
England and Wales
Updated: 06 December 2022; Ref: scu.631451
An adoption order alters the status of the child concerned, who is the person primarily affected and interested. Consequently, in any proceedings for the revocation or annulment of an adoption order, the child must be represented.
Lord Greene MR
[1948] Ch 387
England and Wales
Cited – Alexander Cameron (Ap) v Ian Macintyre Gibson, As Executor Dative of the Late Dugald Macintyre and Another SCS 2-Dec-2003
An adoption order had been made, but at the time, the adopted child was over the maximum age. Application was made to set it aside.
Held: Adoption orders could not be set aside save for where some fraud could be demonstrated to have been . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 06 December 2022; Ref: scu.194025
Maurice Kay LJ VP CA, Rafferty, Ryder LJJ
[2013] EWCA Civ 476
England and Wales
See Also – London Borough of Merton v LB FD 19-Dec-2014
The court considered applications in the case of a proposed adoption of a child LB. The mother, Latvian, and the Latvian authorities opposed the application, saying that the child’s future should be settled in Latvia. CB had been taken into care . .
See Also – Re CB (A Child) CA 6-Aug-2015
P was the child of now separated women. P was born in the UK but taken by one parent to Pakistan. The other parent now appealed from refusal of her request for the court to exercise its inherent jurisdiction or wardship to support her application . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 05 December 2022; Ref: scu.491838
Adoptive parents tried to reduce an adoption order. They asserted an essential error induced by innocent misrepresentations made by those acting for the natural mother; it was averred by the pursuers that they had been incorrectly assured that a satisfactory medical report existed in relation to the child. The child had suffered brain injury at birth. Secondly, they contended that statutory requiremnts had not been carried out; the adoption petition was presented less than three months from the date when the child was placed in the care of the adoptive parents, contrary to the Act.
Held: Adoption involves unpredictable risks as to the development of the child, and that therefore there should be no possibility of going back. Moreover, adoption affects status in a peculiarly fundamental manner; it creates a relationship whose paradigm is the relationship of natural parent and natural child, a relationship which, apart from the statutory possibility of adoption, is obviously wholly irrevocable and unbreakable. The Act ‘made a serious invasion upon the common law by introducing a novel institution which cannot easily be fitted into its setting’. An adoption order is sui generis; consequently the inherent power of the Court of Session to reduce decrees in absence and in foro should not apply. Essential error was not a valid ground for reduction of an adoption order.
1948 SC 636
Adoption of Children (Scotland) Act 1930
Scotland
Cited – Alexander Cameron (Ap) v Ian Macintyre Gibson, As Executor Dative of the Late Dugald Macintyre and Another SCS 2-Dec-2003
An adoption order had been made, but at the time, the adopted child was over the maximum age. Application was made to set it aside.
Held: Adoption orders could not be set aside save for where some fraud could be demonstrated to have been . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 05 December 2022; Ref: scu.194024
The President issued 22 new practice directions relating to practice and procedure in diferent courts dealing with adoptions. They are to be published on 23 December 2005.
Times 21-Nov-2005
Adoption and Children Act 2002
England and Wales
Updated: 01 December 2022; Ref: scu.235948
Application by Local Authority for permission to invoke the inherent jurisdiction of the High Court, with a view to the Local Authority seeking the revocation of an Adoption Order regarding G.
Held: The application was refused.
Bodey J
[2013] EWHC 1957 (Fam), [2013] Fam Law 1127, [2013] 2 FLR 1609, [2013] 3 FCR 336
England and Wales
Updated: 30 November 2022; Ref: scu.514451
[2006] EWCA Civ 1016
England and Wales
Updated: 30 November 2022; Ref: scu.266545
Lord Brailsford
[2015] ScotCS CSOH – 68
Scotland
Updated: 30 November 2022; Ref: scu.547652
The father sought to revoke a freeing order. He said that the social workers had conspired to exclude him from the process. The child was born of a casual relationship, and at first he was unaware of the proceedings. On learning of them he sought to revoke the placement order. Aware that they were doing so on the eve of the hearing of the father’s application for leave to apply to revoke the placement order, East Sussex CC exercised their power to place the child for adoption and thereby defeated his application by virtue of s.24(2) of the Act of 2002.
Held: His appeal failed. However, the county court would have had jurisdiction to restrain the placement by injunction.
Wilson J said: ‘I consider that jurisdiction is conferred upon the county court by s 38 of the County Courts Act 1984 (and upon the High Court by s 37 of the Supreme Court Act 1981) to enjoin a local authority from placing a child for adoption even if authorised to do so by a subsisting placement order; that such an injunction can be sought, no doubt on a very temporary basis, even without notice to the local authority; and that it can be sought at any time after issue of the application for leave or even prior to its issue provided that an undertaking is given to issue it immediately.’
and ‘if this kind of disgraceful conduct is repeated in another case, the likelihood is that the agency’s decision to place the child would be the subject of an application for judicial review. Speaking for myself, I can see no reason why the Administrative Court should not declare unlawful a decision such as that taken by the agency in the instant case. If it did so, it would quash the decision to place the child for adoption. It could then give directions for the hearing of the father’s application under s 24(2) in the county court, and restrain the agency, by injunction, from placing the child for adoption pending the determination of that application.’
Thorpe LJ (dissenting) would allow the appeal said that the authority had been determined to achieve its aims ‘by means more foul than fair.’ The 2002 Act should be read so as to comply with the Human Rights of the father, which would require his application for leave to be joined in the proceedings to serve.
Wall LJ said that he words of the section were clear and precise and it was not possible to read them in such a way as to allow the suspension of proceedings while the father applied for leave to be joined. Nevertheless: ‘speaking for myself, the behaviour of the agency in the instant case is about the worst I have ever encountered in a career now spanning nearly 40 years. ‘
Thorpe, Wall, Wilson LJJ
[2008] EWCA Civ 439, Times 09-May-2008, [2008] 2 FLR 550, [2008] Fam Law 715, [2008] 2 FCR 93
Adoption and Children Act 2002 24(5), Human Rights Act 1998 3
England and Wales
Cited – Ashingdane v The United Kingdom ECHR 28-May-1985
The right of access to the courts is not absolute but may be subject to limitations. These are permitted by implication since the right of access ‘by its very nature calls for regulation by the State, regulation which may vary in time and place . .
Cited – Regina v Derbyshire County Council, ex parte T CA 1990
The court upheld the decision of Swinton Thomas J to grant certiorari to quash the decision of a local authority to move a child to prospective adopters without informing the child’s parents and in an attempt to prevent them making an application to . .
Cited – In Re B (Minors) (Contact) CA 3-Feb-1993
The Judge had a discretion to look again at the natural mother’s case before making an adoption order. In order to minimise delay in any case, and to facilitate efficient decision-making, the court could, exercising its wide judicial discretion, . .
Cited – Norfolk County Council v Webster and others FD 17-Nov-2006
There had been care proceedings following allegations of physical child abuse. There had been a residential assessment. The professionals accepted the parents’ commitment to their son, but also found that they were unreliable. It was recommended . .
Cited – Re L and H (Residential Assessment); CT and Another v Bristol City Council and others CA 14-Mar-2007
Application for leave to appeal against refusal to order residential assessment under section 38(6). ECHR Articles 6 and 8, and the underlying philosophy of the 1989 Act, required that a case be fully investigated and that all the relevant evidence . .
Cited – Seal v Chief Constable of South Wales Police HL 4-Jul-2007
The claimant had sought to bring proceedings against the respondent, but as a mental patient subject to the 1983 Act, had been obliged by the section first to obtain consent. The parties disputed whether the failure was a procedural or substantial . .
Cited – Re F and H (Children) CA 24-Aug-2007
The father sought leave to appeal a care order and an order releasing his child for adoption.
Held: The court applied Re W as to the extent of the duty of the appellate court in such matters. The appeal would stand no reasonable prospect of . .
Cited – Warwickshire County Council v M and others CA 1-Nov-2007
The judge had granted the mother leave to apply for revocation of placement orders. The authority appealed. The mother argued that once a change of circumstances was shown, the court was obliged to give leave to apply.
Held: The judge was not . .
Cited – Regina v Lambert HL 5-Jul-2001
Restraint on Interference with Burden of Proof
The defendant had been convicted for possessing drugs found on him in a bag when he was arrested. He denied knowing of them. He was convicted having failed to prove, on a balance of probabilities, that he had not known of the drugs. The case was . .
Cited – Coventry City Council v PGO and Others CA 22-Jun-2011
The children had been placed with short term fosterers. On adopters being found, the fosterers themselves applied to adopt the children. The court was asked whether a county court judge had power to injunct the authority not to remove the children . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 27 November 2022; Ref: scu.267387
[1951] CLY 1629
England and Wales
Cited – Alexander Cameron (Ap) v Ian Macintyre Gibson, As Executor Dative of the Late Dugald Macintyre and Another SCS 2-Dec-2003
An adoption order had been made, but at the time, the adopted child was over the maximum age. Application was made to set it aside.
Held: Adoption orders could not be set aside save for where some fraud could be demonstrated to have been . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 26 November 2022; Ref: scu.194029
The foster mother of a baby promptly indicated a wish to adopt her. Following four months of assessment Coventry informed her that, for reasons which she wished to challenge, her adoption of the baby would be unsuitable. Three days prior to so informing her, Coventry had matched the baby with prospective adopters and had resolved to move her into their home within the following three weeks. In that the baby had not had her home with her for as long as one year, the foster mother needed leave to apply for an adoption order under s.42(6) of the Act of 2002, whereupon, pursuant to s.44(4), she would be able to give notice of intention to adopt.
Held: The factors relevant to the exercise of the discretion under s.24(3) of the Act of 2002, as identified in the Warwickshire case, were identical to those relevant to the exercise of the discretion whether to grant leave to apply for an adoption order under s.42(6) of the Act of 2002.
Ward, Moore-Bick, Wilson LJJ
[2007] EWCA Civ 1383, [2008] 1 FLR 959, [2008] 1 FLR 959
Adoption and Children Act 2002 24(3) 42(6)
England and Wales
Cited – Warwickshire County Council v M and others CA 1-Nov-2007
The judge had granted the mother leave to apply for revocation of placement orders. The authority appealed. The mother argued that once a change of circumstances was shown, the court was obliged to give leave to apply.
Held: The judge was not . .
Cited – In re G (A Child) (Special guardianship order: Application to discharge) CA 10-Feb-2010
The mother had failed in her application to have set aside a special guardianship order made in favour of the child’s grandmother. The judge had held that the change in her circumstances was not significant.
Held: Her appeal succeeded. The . .
Cited – Coventry City Council v PGO and Others CA 22-Jun-2011
The children had been placed with short term fosterers. On adopters being found, the fosterers themselves applied to adopt the children. The court was asked whether a county court judge had power to injunct the authority not to remove the children . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 26 November 2022; Ref: scu.263402
1999 SC 388
Scotland
Cited – Alexander Cameron (Ap) v Ian Macintyre Gibson, As Executor Dative of the Late Dugald Macintyre and Another SCS 2-Dec-2003
An adoption order had been made, but at the time, the adopted child was over the maximum age. Application was made to set it aside.
Held: Adoption orders could not be set aside save for where some fraud could be demonstrated to have been . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 26 November 2022; Ref: scu.194027
The court considered an appeal against an order allowing a child to be taken to the US for adoption.
[2008] EWCA Civ 105, [2008] Fam 97, [2009] 1 FCR 210, [2008] 1 FLR 1497, [2008] Fam Law 502, [2008] 3 WLR 853, [2008] 1 FLR 1484
Adoption and Children Act 2002 84(1)
England and Wales
Updated: 24 November 2022; Ref: scu.264653
A single homosexual man complained that the respondent state had made it impossible for him to adopt a child.
Held: The claim was within the ambit of article 8 as regards respect for family life, but the court dismissed the claim under article 14 in conjunction with article 8, on margin of appreciation grounds. The claimant succeeded on a separate complaint of a breach of article 6. There was the legitimate aim of protecting the interests of children at a time when child psychiatrists and psychologists were divided in their opinions of the effects of being adopted by homosexual parents. Article 14 ‘ . . complements the other substantive provisions of the Convention and its Protocols. It has no independent existence since it has effect solely in relation to ‘the enjoyment of the rights and freedoms’ safeguarded by those provisions.’
36515/97, [2002] ECHR 156, [2003] 2 FLR 9, (2002) 38 EHRR 438, [2002] ECHR 156
European Convention on Human Rights
Human Rights
See Also – Frette v France ECHR 2002
There are certain grounds of factual difference which by common accord are not acceptable, without more, as a basis for different legal treatment, including sexual orientation: ‘. . the Contracting States enjoy a margin of appreciation in assessing . .
Cited – Secretary of State for Work and Pensions v M HL 8-Mar-2006
The respondent’s child lived with the estranged father for most of each week. She was obliged to contribute child support. She now lived with a woman, and complained that because her relationship was homosexual, she had been asked to pay more than . .
Cited – Wilkinson v Kitzinger and Another FD 12-Apr-2006
The petitioner intended to seek a declaration as to her marital status. She and the respondent had married in a civil ceremony in British Columbia in 2003. She sought a declaration of incompatibility with regard to section 11(3) of the 1973 Act so . .
Cited – Wilkinson v Kitzinger and others FD 31-Jul-2006
The parties had gone through a ceremony of marriage in Columbia, being both women. After the relationship failed, the claimant sought a declaration that the witholding of the recognition of same-sex marriages recoginised in a foreign jurisdiction . .
Cited – In re P and Others, (Adoption: Unmarried couple) (Northern Ireland); In re G HL 18-Jun-2008
The applicants complained that as an unmarried couple they had been excluded from consideration as adopters.
Held: Northern Ireland legislation had not moved in the same way as it had for other jurisdictions within the UK. The greater . .
Cited – Gaughran v Chief Constable of The Police Service of Northern Ireland (Northern Ireland) SC 13-May-2015
The court was asked as to to the right of the Police Service of Northern Ireland to retain personal information and data lawfully obtained from the appellant following his arrest for the offence of driving with excess alcohol.
Held: The appeal . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 24 November 2022; Ref: scu.212864
Mr Justice Mostyn
[2020] EWFC 26
England and Wales
Updated: 22 November 2022; Ref: scu.650522
[2015] EWFC B8
Adoption and Children Act 2002 24(2)
England and Wales
Updated: 22 November 2022; Ref: scu.543532
Applications made by X County Council for Final Care Orders and Placement Orders in respect of two sibling children
[2104] EWFC B201
England and Wales
Updated: 22 November 2022; Ref: scu.543543
Mother’s appeal from refusal of leave to oppose adoption
Macur LJ
[2021] EWCA Civ 605
Adoption and Children Act 2002 47
England and Wales
Updated: 20 November 2022; Ref: scu.662311
‘In A, B and C (Adoption: Notification of Fathers And Relatives) [2020] EWCA Civ 41 this court considered the approach to be taken where a mother wants a baby to be placed for adoption without notice being given to the child’s putative father. This appeal raises two related questions. First, to what extent does the same approach apply where there is uncertainty about the child’s paternity? And second, what should the response of the court be to a proposal that paternity should be investigated by carrying out DNA testing on other children of the mother without reference to the possible father? I will call this ‘sibling testing’ although it begs the question of whether there is shared parentage.’
Lord Justice Peter Jackson
[2020] EWCA Civ 577
England and Wales
Updated: 20 November 2022; Ref: scu.650531
Issues that have arisen relating to a prospective application for an adoption order under the 1993 Hague Convention (Convention of 29 May 1993 on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption
Mrs Justice Theis DBE
[2020] EWFC 33
England and Wales
Updated: 20 November 2022; Ref: scu.650523
Ryder J
[2008] EWHC 403 (Fam), [2008] FamLaw 501, [2008] 1 FLR 1475
England and Wales
Updated: 19 November 2022; Ref: scu.267146
The mother wished the baby to be released for adotion, but refused to identify the father. The local authority applied to court for directions.
Munby J
[2007] EWHC 1771 (Fam)
England and Wales
Updated: 19 November 2022; Ref: scu.260015
In adoption proceedings, ML refused her consent to the proposed adoption. She argued that the provision in the 1997 Act (allowing a court to dispense with her consent) was beynd the competence of the Scottish Parliament, and infringed her right to family life.
Lord President, Lady Paton, Lord Kingarth
[2011] ScotCS CSIH – 38, 2012 SC 8, 2011 GWD 21-482, 2011 SLT 1204, [2011] CSIH 38, 2011 Fam LR 106, 2012 SCLR 172
Adoption (Scotland) Act 2007, Scotland Act 1998 29(2)(d), European Convention on Human Rights 8
Scotland
Appeal from – ANS and Another v ML SC 11-Jul-2012
The mother opposed adoption proceedings, and argued that the provision in the 2007 Act, allowing a court to dispense with her consent, infringed her rights under Article 8 and was therefore made outwith the powers of the Scottish Parliament.
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 19 November 2022; Ref: scu.441319
Application by the London Borough of Tower Hamlets (the Council) for a final injunction preventing the Respondents from disseminating information about prospective adopters, and to prevent the First and Second Respondents (the Mother and the Father) from approaching those adopters.
Mrs Justice Lieven
[2020] EWHC 832 (Fam)
England and Wales
Updated: 17 November 2022; Ref: scu.650024
Mr Peter Jackson QC sitting as a Deputy High Court Judge
[2007] EWHC 876 (Fam), [2007] 2 FLR 759, [2007] 2 FCR 1, [2007] Fam Law 703, [2007] 1 WLR 1654
England and Wales
Updated: 14 November 2022; Ref: scu.267149
The claimants sought damages from the defendant local authority after their identities had been wrongfully revealed to the natural parents of the adoptees leading to a claimed campaign of harassment. The adopters has specifically requested that their names and address be not revealed, but they details were let slip in a case conference. Both parties appealed. There had been one adoption, and then a second open adoption.
Held: The authority did not have to gve the undertaking, and should itself have understood the risks it ran. The council did owe a duty of care. The parents sought to continue their claim in breach of confidence, wanting to expand the claim for damages, but the court declined to take the view that additional damages might be recovered. The parents’ appeal against a finding that the harassment had not been shown to have derived from the birth family failed.
Buxton LJ, Sedley LJ, Bodey J
[2006] EWCA Civ 1388
England and Wales
Cited – Smith v Littlewoods Organisation Limited (Chief Constable, Fife Constabulary, third party); Maloco v Littlewoods Organisation Ltd HL 1987
The defendant acquired a semi derelict cinema with a view to later development of the site. A fire started by others spread to the pursuer’s adjoining property.
Held: The defendants were not liable in negligence. The intervention of a third . .
Cited – A and Another v Essex County Council CA 17-Dec-2003
The claimant sought damages. The respondent had acted as an adoption agency but had failed to disclose all relevant information about the child.
Held: Any such duty extended only during the period where the child was with the prospective . .
Cited – Roberts v Johnstone CA 1989
The measure of damages in respect of additional housing costs necessitated by a plaintiff’s injuries is the additional cost over his lifetime of providing that accommodation. As regards the discount to be applied for the immediate receipt of funds . .
Cited – Henderson v Merrett Syndicates Ltd HL 25-Jul-1994
Lloyds Agents Owe Care Duty to Member; no Contract
Managing agents conducted the financial affairs of the Lloyds Names belonging to the syndicates under their charge. It was alleged that they managed these affairs with a lack of due careleading to enormous losses.
Held: The assumption of . .
Cited – Seager v Copydex Ltd CA 1967
Mr Seager had invented a patented carpet grip which he manufactured and marketed under the trade mark Klent. There were protracted negotiations between Mr Seager and Copydex over a proposal for Copydex to market the Klent. One of the issues in the . .
Cited – Caparo Industries Plc v Dickman and others HL 8-Feb-1990
Limitation of Loss from Negligent Mis-statement
The plaintiffs sought damages from accountants for negligence. They had acquired shares in a target company and, relying upon the published and audited accounts which overstated the company’s earnings, they purchased further shares.
Held: The . .
Cited – AN, Regina (on the Application of) v Mental Health Review Tribunal (Northern Region) and others CA 21-Dec-2005
The appellant was detained under section 37 of the 1983 Act as a mental patient with a restriction under section 41. He sought his release.
Held: The standard of proof in such applications remained the balance of probabilities, but that . .
Cited – Swinney and Another v Chief Constable of Northumbria CA 22-Mar-1996
The plaintiff, a woman and her husband, had passed on information in confidence to the police about the identity of a person implicated in the killing of a police officer, expressing her concern that she did not want the source of the information to . .
Cited – In re H and R (Minors) (Child Sexual Abuse: Standard of Proof) HL 14-Dec-1995
Evidence allowed – Care Application after Abuse
Children had made allegations of serious sexual abuse against their step-father. He was acquitted at trial, but the local authority went ahead with care proceedings. The parents appealed against a finding that a likely risk to the children had still . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 14 November 2022; Ref: scu.246338
ECHR Article 8-1
Respect for family life
Authorities’ failure to ensure legal representation of mentally disabled applicant in proceedings divesting her of parental rights and to inform her of adoption proceedings in respect of her son: violation
Facts – The first applicant is the mother of the second applicant L., who was born in 2008. Soon after his birth, L. was placed, with his mother’s consent, in a foster family in another town, on the grounds that his mother had no income and lived in a dilapidated property without heating. In May 2010 the first applicant was divested of her parental rights in respect of L., on the grounds that she had a mild mental disability and was not able to provide proper care to him. She applied for legal aid to lodge an appeal, but was only assigned a lawyer after the time-limit for appealing had expired. In October 2010 her lawyer applied to a municipal court for an order restoring the first applicant’s parental rights, but the application was dismissed because in the meantime L. had been adopted by third parties. The first applicant was not a party to the adoption proceedings and was not informed of them, as her consent was not needed because she had been divested of her parental rights.
Law – Article 8
(a) Standing of the first applicant to act on behalf of L. – In respect of any issues concerning the facts after the adoption became final, L.’s only representatives under national law were his adoptive parents. However, all issues concerning the severing of his ties with his biological mother before his adoption should be examined by the Court. It was in principle in a child’s interest to preserve its ties with its biological parents, save where weighty reasons existed to justify severing them. In the present proceedings, owing to his tender age, L. was not in a position to represent his interests. The first applicant was the only person able to argue on his behalf that severing the ties between them had also affected L.’s right to respect for his family life. The Government’s objection as regards the locus standi of the first applicant to represent L. in the proceedings before the Court had to be dismissed.
(b) Applicability – Although the child had been placed in a foster family soon after birth, the first applicant had continued to visit him. In the Court’s view there existed a bond between the first applicant and her son that amounted to ‘family life’. Article 8 was therefore applicable.
(c) Merits – The measures taken by the State amounted to interference with the applicants’ right to respect for their family life. The interference had a basis in domestic law and had been aimed at protecting the best interests of the child. The Court was not called upon to determine whether the adoption of the first applicant’s child was justified as such. Nor did it have to rule on the compliance with Article 8 of legislation which did not allow a parent divested of parental rights to participate in the adoption proceedings. Instead, the Court examined whether sufficient safeguards for the protection of the applicants’ private and family life had been provided at every stage of the process. The domestic legislation provided adequate safeguards as regards the interests of parents and their children in proceedings. However, despite the legal requirement and the authorities’ findings that the first applicant suffered from a mild mental disability, she had not been represented by a lawyer in the proceedings divesting her of parental rights. Given that she could not properly understand the full legal effect of such proceedings and adequately argue her case and given the importance of such proceedings for her right to respect for her family life, the national authorities should have ensured that the interests of both the first applicant and L. were adequately protected, in particular from the standpoint of preserving ties between them. While the Court could accept that the consent of the first applicant, who had been divested of her parental rights, was not necessary in the adoption proceedings, it nevertheless considered that where, as in Croatia, a national system allowed for parental rights to be restored, it was indispensable that a parent be given an opportunity to exercise that right before the child was put up for adoption. However, by not informing the first applicant about the adoption proceedings the national authorities had deprived her of the opportunity to seek restoration of her parental rights before the ties between her and her son had been finally severed by his adoption. She had thus been prevented from enjoying her right guaranteed by domestic law and had not been sufficiently involved in the decision-making process.
Conclusion: violation (unanimously).
Article 41: EUR 12,500 to the first applicant in respect of non-pecuniary damage.
37956/11 – Legal Summary, [2013] ECHR 290
European Convention on Human Rights 8-1
Updated: 14 November 2022; Ref: scu.472432
Girvan LJ
[2007] NICA 20 – 3
Northern Ireland
Updated: 14 November 2022; Ref: scu.381801
Grand Chamber – The applicants alleged that they had been discriminated against in comparison with different-sex couples, as second-parent adoption was legally impossible for a same-sex couple.
Held: An applicant is entitled to the reimbursement of costs and expenses in so far as it has been shown that these have been actually and necessarily incurred and are reasonable as to quantum
Dean Spielmann, President
19010/07 – HEJUD, [2013] ECHR 148, [2013] 1 FCR 387, (2013) 57 EHRR 14, [2013] Eq LR 396
European Convention on Human Rights 3
Judgment – X and Others v Austria (Summary) ECHR 19-Feb-2013
(Grand Chamber) Article 14
Discrimination
Impossibility of second-parent adoption in same-sex couple:
violation
Facts – The first and third applicants are two women living in a stable homosexual relationship. The second . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 14 November 2022; Ref: scu.471039
The court considered an adoption in Pakistan which was valid in Pakistan but would not be recognised here. The natural father and the adoptive father were from the same family. The adoptive parents were unable to have a children of their own, and the adoption was a gift – an act of grace. At first instance, Singer J, found that according to custom in Pakistan the arrangement had the full consequences that would flow from the making of an adoption order in our society: ‘The mother and the father performed an act of great grace with considerable beneficial religious significance for them in giving up their child as a gift to childless relatives.’
Held: This was ‘a custom which we are told is recognised in many parts of the world’, and ‘It seems to me that we should respect that custom, founded as it is upon a humane response to a sad deprivation.’ The result of adoption is ‘the creation of the psychological relationship of parent and child with all its far-reaching manifestations and consequences.’
Thorpe LJ
[1998] INLR 424
England and Wales
Cited – Singh v Entry Clearance Officer New Delhi CA 30-Jul-2004
The applicant, an 8 year old boy, became part of his Indian family who lived in England, through an adoption recognised in Indian Law, but not in English Law. Though the adoption was genuine, his family ties had not been broken in India. The family . .
Cited – Oxfordshire County Council v X and Others CA 27-May-2010
The LA, the guardian and adoptive parents appealed against an order that they should provide to the parents an annual photograph of the child. They contended that an image should only be made available to be viewed at the authority’s offices . .
Cited – In re X (A Child) (Surrogacy: Time Limit) FD 3-Oct-2014
Extension of Time for Parental Order
The court considered the making of a parental order in respect of a child through surrogacy procedures outside the time limits imposed by the 2008 Act. The child had been born under Indian surrogacy laws. The commissioning parents (now the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 13 November 2022; Ref: scu.200327
A court had made an order freeing three siblings for adoption together. The parents accepted that this was inevitable for the two older but not for the third, who was a few months old. An emergency protection order had been obtained on the birth of the last child. The mother suffered depression which was likely to require long term treatment. No order had been made for a further period of assessment.
Held: The need for a decision was pressing. There was some need, and the appeal court could not say the decision at first instance was plainly wrong. Appeal dismissed.
Lady Justice Butler-Sloss, Lord Justice Henry
[1997] EWCA Civ 3056
England and Wales
Updated: 13 November 2022; Ref: scu.143455
Application by prospective adopters to adopt a child called SR
[2014] EWHC 1777 (Fam)
England and Wales
Updated: 13 November 2022; Ref: scu.526362
The claimant sought damages. The respondent had acted as an adoption agency but had failed to disclose all relevant information about the child.
Held: Any such duty extended only during the period where the child was with the prospective adopters pending their decision on adoption. Hale LJ: ‘Whenever the question of a common law duty of care arises in the context of the statutory functions of a public authority, there are three potential areas of inquiry: first, whether the matter is justiciable at all or whether the statutory framework is such that Parliament must have intended to leave such decisions to the authorities, subject of course to the public law supervision of the courts; second, whether even if justiciable, it involves the exercise of a statutory discretion which only gives rise to liability in tort if it is so unreasonable that it falls outside the ambit of the discretion; third in any event whether it is fair just and reasonable in all the circumstances to impose such a duty of care. The considerations relevant to each of these issues overlap and it is not always possible to draw hard and fast lines between them.’
The general adoption process is not in law a matter of contract, and contractual analysis cannot be applied to it.
Lady Justice Hale Lord Justice Ward Lord Justice Scott Baker
[2003] EWCA Civ 1848, Times 22-Jan-2004, [2004] 1 WLR 1881
England and Wales
Applied – Page v Smith HL 12-May-1995
The plaintiff was driving his car when the defendant turned into his path. Both cars suffered considerable damage but the drivers escaped physical injury. The Plaintiff had a pre-existing chronic fatigue syndrome, which manifested itself from time . .
Cited – X (Minors) v Bedfordshire County Council; M (A Minor) and Another v Newham London Borough Council; Etc HL 29-Jun-1995
Liability in Damages on Statute Breach to be Clear
Damages were to be awarded against a Local Authority for breach of statutory duty in a care case only if the statute was clear that damages were capable of being awarded. in the ordinary case a breach of statutory duty does not, by itself, give rise . .
Cited – Stovin v Wise, Norfolk County Council (Third Party) HL 24-Jul-1996
Statutory Duty Does Not Create Common Law Duty
The mere existence of statutory power to remedy a defect cannot of itself create a duty of care to do so. A highway authority need not have a duty of care to highway users because of its duty to maintain the highway. The two stage test ‘involves . .
Cited – Phelps v Hillingdon London Borough Council; Anderton v Clwyd County Council; Gower v Bromley London Borough Council; Jarvis v Hampshire County Council HL 28-Jul-2000
The plaintiffs each complained of negligent decisions in his or her education made by the defendant local authorities. In three of them the Court of Appeal had struck out the plaintiff’s claim and in only one had it been allowed to proceed.
Cited – Anns and Others v Merton London Borough Council HL 12-May-1977
The plaintiff bought her apartment, but discovered later that the foundations were defective. The local authority had supervised the compliance with Building Regulations whilst it was being built, but had failed to spot the fault. The authority . .
Cited – B and others v Attorney General and others PC 16-Jul-2003
(New Zealand) Children were removed from their home. The father was interviewed for suspected child abuse, but no charges were laid. He sought damages in negligence for the way the matter had been handled. Children whose allegations against adopted . .
Cited – JD, MAK and RK, RK and Another v East Berkshire Community Health, Dewsbury Health Care NHS Trust and Kirklees Metropolitan Council, Oldham NHS Trust and Dr Blumenthal CA 31-Jul-2003
Damages were sought by parents for psychological harm against health authorities for the wrongful diagnosis of differing forms of child abuse. They appealed dismissal of their awards on the grounds that it was not ‘fair just and reasonable’ to . .
Cited – W v Essex County Council and Another HL 17-Mar-2000
A foster child was placed with a family. The child had a history of abusing other children, but the foster parents, who had other children were not told. The foster child caused psychiatric damage to the carers.
Held: It was wrong to strike . .
Cited – W and B (Children) and W (Children) CA 23-May-2001
If the state is to interfere in the child’s right to respect for his family life, it has a duty to use its best endeavours to make good what it has taken away. . .
Cited – Bolam v Friern Hospital Management Committee QBD 1957
Professional to use Skilled Persons Ordinary Care
Negligence was alleged against a doctor.
Held: McNair J directed the jury: ‘Where some special skill is exercised, the test for negligence is not the test of the man on the Clapham omnibus, because he has not got this special skill. The test . .
Cited – South Australia Asset Management Corporation v York Montague Ltd etc HL 24-Jun-1996
Limits of Damages for Negligent Valuations
Damages for negligent valuations are limited to the foreseeable consequences of advice, and do not include losses arising from a general fall in values. Valuation is seldom an exact science, and within a band of figures valuers may differ without . .
Appeal from – A, B v Essex County Council QBD 18-Dec-2002
The applicants sought damages after they had had placed with them for adoption a child who proved to be destructively hyperactive.
Held: The authority might be liable where they failed to disclose to adoptive parents known characteristics of a . .
Cited – Carty v London Borough of Croydon CA 27-Jan-2005
The claimant sought damages in negligence from education officers employed by the respondent. He appealed refusal of his claim. A statement of special education needs had been made which he said did not address his learning difficulties. The . .
Cited – JD v East Berkshire Community Health NHS Trust and others HL 21-Apr-2005
Parents of children had falsely and negligently been accused of abusing their children. The children sought damages for negligence against the doctors or social workers who had made the statements supporting the actions taken. The House was asked if . .
Cited – B and B v A County Council CA 21-Nov-2006
The claimants sought damages from the defendant local authority after their identities had been wrongfully revealed to the natural parents of the adoptees leading to a claimed campaign of harassment. The adopters has specifically requested that . .
Cited – Jain and Another v Trent Strategic Health Authority CA 22-Nov-2007
The claimant argued that the defendant owed him a duty of care as proprietor of a registered nursing home in cancelling the registration of the home under the 1984 Act. The authority appealed a finding that it owed such a duty.
Held: The . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 12 November 2022; Ref: scu.188910
The father sought leave to appeal a care order and an order releasing his child for adoption.
Held: The court applied Re W as to the extent of the duty of the appellate court in such matters. The appeal would stand no reasonable prospect of success. Leave was refused.
Wall LJ
[2007] EWCA Civ 880
Adoption and Children Act 2002, Children Act 1989
England and Wales
Cited – Re W (Children), GW (The Father) Litigant in Person CA 26-Jul-2007
The father sought to appeal an order with respect to contact with his children, alleging ‘that the reasons he is not having contact with his children are a combination of maternal deceit, the deliberate alienation of the children from him by their . .
Cited – In re F (A Child) (Placement Order); C v East Sussex County Council (Adoption) CA 1-May-2008
The father sought to revoke a freeing order. He said that the social workers had conspired to exclude him from the process. The child was born of a casual relationship, and at first he was unaware of the proceedings. On learning of them he sought to . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 12 November 2022; Ref: scu.259133
[2014] EWFC B203
England and Wales
Updated: 09 November 2022; Ref: scu.543550
[2020] EWFC B7
England and Wales
Updated: 09 November 2022; Ref: scu.649471
Preliminary Issue : Adoption Agency/Parental Responsibility
His Honour Judge Nicholas R Marston (sitting as a s9 Judge)
[2014] EWFC B202
England and Wales
Updated: 05 November 2022; Ref: scu.543553
Appeal against refusal to revoke placement orders.
Longmore, Black LJJ, Dame Janet Smith
[2012] EWCA Civ 1340
Adoption and Children Act 2002
England and Wales
Updated: 05 November 2022; Ref: scu.464938
Adoption not made impossible by unlawful surrogacy payment for bearing child.
Times 16-Sep-1996
Scotland
Updated: 05 November 2022; Ref: scu.78811
[2010] ScotSC 130
Scotland
Updated: 04 November 2022; Ref: scu.464149
[2012] ScotSC 79
England and Wales
Updated: 04 November 2022; Ref: scu.463941
The court considered arrangements for an adoption in Northern Ireland where the parent’s consent was withheld.
Held: For parental consent to be overriden there had to be shown an overriding need for the decision.
Lech Garlicki P
[2011] ECHR 844, (2012) 54 EHRR 2, [2011] Fam Law 924, [2011] 2 FLR 1236,
European Convention on Human Rights 8, Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1995 3(1)(a)
Human Rights
Cited – Johansen v Norway ECHR 7-Aug-1996
The court had to consider a permanent placement of a child with a view to adoption in oposition to the natural parents’ wishes.
Held: Particular weight should be attached to the best interests of the child, which may override those of the . .
See Also – R and H v The United Kingdom ECHR 23-Sep-2008
The claimants complained at the procedure used to free their child for adoption against their wishes. . .
Cited – ANS and Another v ML SC 11-Jul-2012
The mother opposed adoption proceedings, and argued that the provision in the 2007 Act, allowing a court to dispense with her consent, infringed her rights under Article 8 and was therefore made outwith the powers of the Scottish Parliament.
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 04 November 2022; Ref: scu.463635
A request was made for an order that the Registrar General should provide information from his registers and records to enable a registered charity called the Post Adoption Centre to trace the applicant’s adopted daughter P, who had been made the subject of an adoption order very many years ago.
Held: A clear benefit to an adopted child is needed, before any disclosure is to be made to the natural parent. The words of section 50(5) were mandatory, and disclosure should be given in only exceptional cases.
Gazette 29-Jan-1997, Times 09-Jan-1997, [1996] EWCA Civ 1195, [1997] 2 WLR 739, [1998] Fam 19, [1997] 1 FLR 715, [1997] 2 FCR 240, [1997] Fam Law 315
England and Wales
Cited – Re H (Adoption: Disclosure of Information ) 1995
An application was made by the sister of an adopted child for disclosure of the records held in order to allow her to make contact and to warn her of the fact that she might have an inherited genetic disease.
Held: The jurisdiction to grant . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 04 November 2022; Ref: scu.141063
Foster carers of children wanted to adopt them without the parents knowing their identity, using the confidential serial number approach. The parents had been led to believe that the children had been placed with a different family for adoption and wanted to continue to have contact with the children. The irony was that their preference had been for the children to stay with the original foster family. The judge decided that the parents should not be told the adopters’ identity. The Court of Appeal considered the difficulties which this would give their representatives, who were aware of the true position and decided that the judge could not be said to be plainly wrong. Passing criticism was made of the local authority in not seeking orders giving them permission to refuse contact and free the children for adoption and for deceiving the parents in the first place. The Court of Appeal could only hope that some compromise could be reached by the time the adoption application came on for hearing.
President, Buxton LJ, Hale LJ
[2002] EWCA Civ 828, [2002] 2 FLR 476, [2002] 3 FCR 648
England and Wales
Updated: 03 November 2022; Ref: scu.175472
The case concerned applications for care orders. Four young girls would be separated from their elder sister and their mother, who sought interim contact. The judge disagreed with the care plan proposed by the local authority. His powers were, either to allow the care order and submit them to the care plan, or to refuse the care order, and have them with a possibly inappropriate carer. The local authority had since concluded that adoption would no longer succeed. A placement with a foster family might allow renewed contact, once the issue of care order came back to court, it was for the judge to settle the issue of contact. That is what the court should consider once a placement had been found.
[1996] EWCA Civ 1045
England and Wales
Cited – Re S and D (Child Care Powers of the Court ) CA 1995
The court considered the powers of the court in care proceedings where it did not approve the authority’s proposed care plan. The judge had made supervision orders in relation to both children coupled with an injunction restraining the mother from . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 03 November 2022; Ref: scu.140912
A revocation notice issued by the adoption agency precludes an application by adoptive parents.
Times 28-Nov-1996
England and Wales
Updated: 03 November 2022; Ref: scu.81801
Thorpe LJ, Carnwath LJ, Wall LJ
[2007] EWCA Civ 56
England and Wales
Updated: 31 October 2022; Ref: scu.248362
Adoption allowing child to stay in UK permissible within Judge’s discretion.
Gazette 30-May-1996
England and Wales
Updated: 31 October 2022; Ref: scu.85790
Test for adoption lays in the statutory considerations not on other cases.
Times 09-May-1996
England and Wales
Updated: 31 October 2022; Ref: scu.81920
Fort William (Bengal)
[1920] UKPC 21
England and Wales
Updated: 27 October 2022; Ref: scu.423069
SCott Baker LJ, Wall LJ
[2007] EWCA Civ 55, [2007] 1 FCR 308, [2007] Fam Law 387, [2007] 1 FLR 507
England and Wales
Updated: 27 October 2022; Ref: scu.248361
[2004] NIFam 8
Northern Ireland
Updated: 27 October 2022; Ref: scu.197858
Where the child’s natural mother did not receive service of the adoption petition and had no other knowledge that an attempt was being made to adopt the child; in that event it can be considered that there is a fundamental injustice to the natural mother. There was no statutory basis for the setting aside of an adoption order, despite there having been a fundamental mistake. The natural procdure is an appeal.
Independent 22-Mar-1995, [1995] 2 Fam L R 1
England and Wales
Appeal from – Re B (Adoption: Setting Aside) FD 10-May-1994
There is no provision for the annulment of an adoption order for mistake. . .
Appealed to – Re B (Adoption: Setting Aside) FD 10-May-1994
There is no provision for the annulment of an adoption order for mistake. . .
Cited – Alexander Cameron (Ap) v Ian Macintyre Gibson, As Executor Dative of the Late Dugald Macintyre and Another SCS 2-Dec-2003
An adoption order had been made, but at the time, the adopted child was over the maximum age. Application was made to set it aside.
Held: Adoption orders could not be set aside save for where some fraud could be demonstrated to have been . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 27 October 2022; Ref: scu.85723
Where adoption is to be considered against the will of the parent, the court should recognise when asking whether the opposition was unreasonable that the test is objective and supposes that this person is endowed with a mind and temperament capable of making reasonable decisions: ‘. . making the freeing order, the judge had to decide that the mother was ‘withholding her agreement unreasonably’. This question had to be answered according to an objective standard. In other words, it required the judge to assume that the mother was not, as she in fact was, a person of limited intelligence and inadequate grasp of the emotional and other needs of a lively little girl of 4. Instead she had to be assumed to be a woman with a full perception of her own deficiencies and an ability to evaluate dispassionately the evidence and opinions of the experts. She was also to be endowed with the intelligence and altruism needed to appreciate, if such were the case, that her child’s welfare would be so much better served by adoption that her own maternal feelings should take second place.
Such a paragon does not of course exist: she shares with the ‘reasonable man’ the quality of being, as Lord Radcliffe once said, an ‘anthropomorphic conception of justice’. The law conjures the imaginary parent into existence to give expression to what it considers that justice requires as between the welfare of the child as perceived by the judge on the one hand and the legitimate views and interests of the natural parents on the other. The characteristics of the notional reasonable parent have been expounded on many occasions: see for example Lord Wilberforce in In re D (Adoption: Parent’s Consent) [1977] AC 602, 625 (‘endowed with a mind and temperament capable of making reasonable decisions’). The views of such a parent will not necessarily coincide with the judge’s views as to what the child’s welfare requires.’
Steyn and Hoffmann LJJ
[1993] 2 FLR 260
England and Wales
Cited – In re W (An Infant) HL 1971
The court considered the reasonability of parental disagreement in applications for adoption: ‘Two reasonable parents can perfectly reasonably come to opposite conclusions on the same set of facts without forfeiting their title to be regarded as . .
Cited – In re D (An Infant) (Adoption: Parent’s Consent) HL 1977
The father opposed adoption of a child by the mother and her new husband. The House was asked whether his opposition was unreasonable.
Held: Lord Wilberforce said: ‘What, in my understanding, is required is for the court to ask whether the . .
Cited – In Re F (Minors) (Adoption: Freeing Order) CA 4-Jul-2000
A judge had declined to make a freeing order, where it was clear that the children would not be returned to their parents, and the proposed adoption arrangements, which would split the children between two families, was opposed by the father on that . .
Cited – Down Lisburn Health and Social Services Trust and Another v H and Another HL 12-Jul-2006
The House considered when adoption law would allow an adoption without the consent of the birth parent where there had been some continuing contact between that parent and the child.
Held: (Baroness Hale dissenting) The appeal against the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 26 October 2022; Ref: scu.181233
Guardian ad Litem may see and reproduce form F from Local Authority in adoption proceedings.
Ind Summary 31-Jan-1994
England and Wales
Updated: 26 October 2022; Ref: scu.85889
Court to consider child’s welfare to allow application for return of adoptive child.
Independent 21-Jun-1994
England and Wales
Updated: 26 October 2022; Ref: scu.85739
Adoption judge should also hear application for contact after adoption.
Independent 02-Jul-1993
England and Wales
Updated: 26 October 2022; Ref: scu.85687
The Court was to consider the needs of a child under s6 before removing him from an adoptive foster home.
Times 28-Jun-1994
England and Wales
Updated: 26 October 2022; Ref: scu.81771
Addendum to earlier judgment
Thorpe, Tuckey, Wall LJJ
[2007] EWCA Civ 90, [2007] Fam Law 390, [2007] 1 FCR 340, [2007] 1 FLR 855
England and Wales
Updated: 17 October 2022; Ref: scu.248808
[2020] EWCA Civ 41
England and Wales
Updated: 16 October 2022; Ref: scu.646808
Aa application for a freeing order was premature.
[1990] 2 FLR 397
England and Wales
Cited – Down Lisburn Health and Social Services Trust and Another v H and Another HL 12-Jul-2006
The House considered when adoption law would allow an adoption without the consent of the birth parent where there had been some continuing contact between that parent and the child.
Held: (Baroness Hale dissenting) The appeal against the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 14 October 2022; Ref: scu.243096
[2020] EWCA Civ 16
England and Wales
Updated: 14 October 2022; Ref: scu.646352
[2019] EWFC B64
England and Wales
Updated: 12 October 2022; Ref: scu.646267
Application by Sandwell MBC for a declaration that lawful consent was given by the mother HC and the father GC to the placement for adoption of their baby girl MMMC now 15 months old.
Mrs Justice Eleanor King
[2008] EWHC 2555 (Fam), [2009] 1 FCR 127, [2009] Fam 83, [2008] Fam Law 1175, [2009] 1 FLR 299, [2009] PTSR 1102, [2009] 3 WLR 617
England and Wales
Updated: 11 October 2022; Ref: scu.278559
[2019] EWFC B68
England and Wales
Updated: 11 October 2022; Ref: scu.646264
[2014] EW Misc 25 (CC)
England and Wales
Updated: 11 October 2022; Ref: scu.522615
The applicants complained that as an unmarried couple they had been excluded from consideration as adopters.
Held: Northern Ireland legislation had not moved in the same way as it had for other jurisdictions within the UK. The greater commitment to traditional family structures did not however justify the difference. The rules were unlawful discrimination.
Lord Hoffmann said: ‘the House is free to give, in the interpretation of the 1998 Act, what it considers to be a principled and rational interpretation to the concept of discrimination on grounds of marital status. For the reasons I have given earlier, I would declare that notwithstanding article 14 of the Order, the appellants are entitled to apply to adopt the child.’
He went on to point out that ‘Convention rights’, as defined in section 1 of the 1998 Act, were ‘domestic and not international rights’, and that the duty of domestic courts under section 2 of that Act was to ‘take into account’, rather than to regard themselves as bound by, decisions of the Strasbourg court, but that there were normally ‘good reasons why we should follow the interpretation adopted in Strasbourg’. However, different ‘considerations apply in cases in which Strasbourg has deliberately declined to lay down an interpretation for all member states, as it does when it says the question is within the margin of appreciation’. In such cases, ‘it is for the court in the United Kingdom to interpret [the relevant article or articles of the Convention] and to apply the division between the decision-making powers of courts and Parliament in the way which appears appropriate for the United .Kingdom’. He expanded on this by adding that ‘[t]he margin of appreciation is there for division between the three branches of government according to our principles of the separation of powers’.
Baroness Hale said that ‘lack of marital status is as much a ‘status’ for the purpose of article 14 as is the status of marriage itself.’
and ‘it is clear that the doctrine of the ‘margin of appreciation’ as applied in Strasbourg has no application in domestic law. The Strasbourg court will allow a certain freedom of action to member states, which may mean that the same case will be answered differently in different states (or even in different legal systems within the same state). This is particularly so when dealing with questions of justification, whether for interference in one of the qualified rights, or for a difference in treatment under article 14. National authorities are better able than Strasbourg to assess what restrictions are necessary in the democratic societies they serve. So to that extent the judgment must be one for the national authorities.’
Lord Hope said that even in an area of social and economic policy, falls within the constitutional responsibility of the courts: ‘Cases about discrimination in an area of social policy, which is what this case is, will always be appropriate for judicial scrutiny. The constitutional responsibility in this area of our law resides with the courts. The more contentious the issue is, the greater the risk is that some people will be discriminated against in ways that engage their Convention rights. It is for the courts to see that this does not happen. It is with them that the ultimate safeguard against discrimination rests.’
Orse – In re G (Adoption: Unmarried Couple)
Lord Hoffmann, Lord Hope of Craighead, Lord Walker of Gestingthorpe, Baroness Hale of Richmond, Lord Mance
[2008] UKHL 38, Times 23-Jun-2008, [2008] UKHRR 1181, [2008] Fam Law 977, [2008] 2 FCR 366, [2009] 1 AC 173, [2008] NI 310, [2008] 24 BHRC 650, [2008] 2 FLR 1084, [2008] HRLR 37, [2008] 3 WLR 76
Adoption (Northern Ireland) Order 1987 (SI 1987/2203(NI 22)) 13, Human Rights Act 1998 1(1), European Convention on Human Rights 14
Northern Ireland
Cited – Von Lorang v Administrator of Austrian Property 1927
Viscount Haldane said: ‘[T]he marriage gives the husband and wife a new legal position from which flow both rights and obligations with regard to the rest of the public. The status so acquired may vary according to the laws of different . .
Cited – James and Others v The United Kingdom ECHR 21-Feb-1986
The claimants challenged the 1967 Act, saying that it deprived them of their property rights when lessees were given the power to purchase the freehold reversion.
Held: Article 1 (P1-1) in substance guarantees the right of property. Allowing a . .
Cited – PM v The United Kingdom ECHR 19-Jul-2005
A father complained that tax deductions which were granted to married fathers but not to unmarried fathers were discriminatory. He had paid maintenance for his daughter, but was not allowed to set the payments off against his income tax in the way . .
Cited – Carson, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions; Reynolds v Same HL 26-May-2005
One claimant said that as a foreign resident pensioner, she had been excluded from the annual uprating of state retirement pension, and that this was an infringement of her human rights. Another complained at the lower levels of job-seeker’s . .
Cited – Hooper and Others, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions HL 5-May-2005
Widowers claimed that, in denying them benefits which would have been payable to widows, the Secretary of State had acted incompatibly with their rights under article 14 read with article 1 of Protocol 1 and article 8 of the ECHR.
Held: The . .
Cited – Frette v France ECHR 26-Feb-2002
A single homosexual man complained that the respondent state had made it impossible for him to adopt a child.
Held: The claim was within the ambit of article 8 as regards respect for family life, but the court dismissed the claim under article . .
Cited – Du Toit and Vos v Minister for Welfare and Population Development 10-Sep-2002
(South African Constitutional Court) Prospective adoptive parents were a same-sex couple who challenged laws preventing them from adopting. The court said: ‘In their current form the impugned provisions exclude from their ambit potential joint . .
Cited – EB v France ECHR 14-Mar-2007
A homosexual woman complained that she had not been allowed to adopt a child. Her application was rejected by the French administrative court on grounds based substantially upon her sexual orientation.
Held: The provision was an unlawful . .
Cited – Regina v Special Adjudicator ex parte Ullah; Regina v Secretary of State for the Home Department HL 17-Jun-2004
The applicants had had their requests for asylum refused. They complained that if they were removed from the UK, their article 3 rights would be infringed. If they were returned to Pakistan or Vietnam they would be persecuted for their religious . .
Cited – In re McKerr (Northern Ireland) HL 11-Mar-2004
The deceased had been shot by soldiers of the British Army whilst in a car in Northern Ireland. The car was alleged to have ‘run’ a checkpoint. The claimants said the investigation, now 20 years ago, had been inadequate. The claim was brought under . .
Cited – Regina v Director of Public Prosecutions, ex parte Kebilene and others HL 28-Oct-1999
(Orse Kebeline) The DPP’s appeal succeeded. A decision by the DPP to authorise a prosecution could not be judicially reviewed unless dishonesty, bad faith, or some other exceptional circumstance could be shown. A suggestion that the offence for . .
Cited – Regina v British Broadcasting Corporation ex parte Pro-life Alliance HL 15-May-2003
The Alliance was a political party seeking to air its party election broadcast. The appellant broadcasters declined to broadcast the film on the grounds that it was offensive, being a graphical discussion of the processes of abortion.
Held: . .
Cited – T, Petitioner IHCS 1997
The House discussed the duties of a court in adoption cases: ‘There can be no more fundamental principle in adoption cases than that it is the duty of the court to safeguard and promote the interests of the child. Issues relating to the sexual . .
Cited – Bellinger v Bellinger HL 10-Apr-2003
Transgender Male to Female not to marry as Female
The parties had gone through a form of marriage, but Mrs B had previously undergone gender re-assignment surgery. Section 11(c) of the 1973 Act required a marriage to be between a male and a female. It was argued that the section was incompatible . .
Cited – Burden and Burden v The United Kingdom ECHR 12-Dec-2006
Sisters,Together always not Discriminated Against
(Grand Chamber) The claimants were sisters who had lived together all their lives and owned property jointly. They complained that the Inheritance Tax regime treated them worse than it would a married couple, and was discriminatory.
Held: . .
Cited – Belfast City Council v Miss Behavin’ Ltd HL 25-Apr-2007
Belfast had failed to license sex shops. The company sought review of the decision not to grant a licence.
Held: The council’s appeal succeeded. The refusal was not a denial of the company’s human rights: ‘If article 10 and article 1 of . .
Cited – Marckx v Belgium ECHR 13-Jun-1979
Recognition of illegitimate children
The complaint related to the manner in which parents were required to adopt their own illegitimate child in order to increase his rights. Under Belgian law, no legal bond between an unmarried mother and her child results from the mere fact of birth. . .
Cited – S, Regina (on Application of) v South Yorkshire Police; Regina v Chief Constable of Yorkshire Police ex parte Marper HL 22-Jul-2004
Police Retention of Suspects DNA and Fingerprints
The claimants complained that their fingerprints and DNA records taken on arrest had been retained after discharge before trial, saying the retention of the samples infringed their right to private life.
Held: The parts of DNA used for testing . .
Cited – Karner v Austria ECHR 24-Jul-2003
A surviving same-sex partner sought a right of succession to a tenancy (of their previously shared flat). Interveners ‘pointed out that a growing number of national courts in European and other democratic societies require equal treatment of . .
Cited – Pretty v The United Kingdom ECHR 29-Apr-2002
Right to Life Did Not include Right to Death
The applicant was paralysed and suffered a degenerative condition. She wanted her husband to be allowed to assist her suicide by accompanying her to Switzerland. English law would not excuse such behaviour. She argued that the right to die is not . .
Cited – Ghaidan v Godin-Mendoza HL 21-Jun-2004
Same Sex Partner Entitled to tenancy Succession
The protected tenant had died. His same-sex partner sought a statutory inheritance of the tenancy.
Held: His appeal succeeded. The Fitzpatrick case referred to the position before the 1998 Act: ‘Discriminatory law undermines the rule of law . .
Cited – Handyside v The United Kingdom ECHR 7-Dec-1976
Freedom of Expression is Fundamental to Society
The appellant had published a ‘Little Red Schoolbook’. He was convicted under the 1959 and 1964 Acts on the basis that the book was obscene, it tending to deprave and corrupt its target audience, children. The book claimed that it was intended to . .
Cited – Age UK, Regina (On the Application of) v Attorney General Admn 25-Sep-2009
Age UK challenged the implementation by the UK of the Directive insofar as it established a default retirement age (DRA) at 65.
Held: The claim failed. The decision to adopt a DRA was not a disproportionate way of giving effect to the social . .
Cited – AXA General Insurance Ltd and Others v Lord Advocate and Others SCS 8-Jan-2010
The claimant sought to challenge the validity of the 2009 Act by judicial review. The Act would make their insured and themselves liable to very substantial unanticipated claims for damages for pleural plaques which would not previousl or otherwise . .
Cited – Johns and Another, Regina (on The Application of) v Derby City Council and Another Admn 28-Feb-2011
The claimants had acted as foster carers for several years, but challenged a potential decision to discontinue that when, as committed Christians, they refused to sign to agree to treat without differentiation any child brought to them who might be . .
Cited – Nicklinson v Ministry of Justice and Others QBD 12-Mar-2012
The claimant suffered locked-in syndrome and sought relief in a form which would allow others to assist him in committing suicide. The court considered whether the case should be allowed to proceed rather than to be struck out as hopeless.
Cited – Moohan and Another v The Lord Advocate SC 17-Dec-2014
The petitioners, convicted serving prisoners, had sought judicial review of the refusal to allow them to vote in the Scottish Referendum on Independence. The request had been refused in the Outer and Inner Houses.
Held: (Kerr, Wilson JJSC . .
Cited – Mathieson v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions SC 8-Jul-2015
The claimant a boy of three in receipt of disability living allowance (‘DLA’) challenged (through his parents) the withdrawal of that benefit whilst he was in hospital for a period of more than 12 weeks. He had since died.
Held: The appeal . .
Cited – Nicklinson and Another, Regina (on The Application of) SC 25-Jun-2014
Criminality of Assisting Suicide not Infringing
The court was asked: ‘whether the present state of the law of England and Wales relating to assisting suicide infringes the European Convention on Human Rights, and whether the code published by the Director of Public Prosecutions relating to . .
Cited – SG and Others, Regina (on The Application of) v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions SC 18-Mar-2015
The court was asked whether it was lawful for the Secretary of State to make subordinate legislation imposing a cap on the amount of welfare benefits which can be received by claimants in non-working households, equivalent to the net median earnings . .
Cited – Gaughran v Chief Constable of The Police Service of Northern Ireland (Northern Ireland) SC 13-May-2015
The court was asked as to to the right of the Police Service of Northern Ireland to retain personal information and data lawfully obtained from the appellant following his arrest for the offence of driving with excess alcohol.
Held: The appeal . .
Cited – Steinfeld and Another v Secretary of State for Education CA 21-Feb-2017
Hetero Partnerships – wait and see proportionate
The claimants, a heterosexual couple complained that their inability to have a civil partnership was an unlawful discrimination against them and a denial of their Article 8 rights. The argument that the appellants’ case did not come within the ambit . .
Cited – Steinfeld and Keidan, Regina (on The Application of) v Secretary of State for International Development (In Substitution for The Home Secretary and The Education Secretary) SC 27-Jun-2018
The applicants, an heterosexual couple wished to enter into a civil partnership under the 2004 Act, rather than a marriage. They complained that had they been a same sex couple they would have had that choice under the 2013 Act.
Held: The . .
Cited – Brewster, Re Application for Judicial Review (Northern Ireland) SC 8-Feb-2017
Survivor of unmarried partner entitled to pension
The claimant appealed against the rejection of her claim to the survivor’s pension after the death of her longstanding partner, even though they had not been married. The rules said that she had to have been nominated by her partner, but he had not . .
Cited – Tigere, Regina (on The Application of) v Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills SC 29-Jul-2015
After increasing university fees, the student loan system was part funded by the government. They introduced limits to the availability of such loans, and a student must have been lawfully ordinarily resident in the UK for three years before the day . .
Cited – Michalak v General Medical Council and Others SC 1-Nov-2017
Dr M had successfully challenged her dismissal and recovered damages for unfair dismissal and race discrimination. In the interim, Her employer HA had reported the dismissal to the respondent who continued their proceedings despite the decision in . .
Cited – Human Rights Commission for Judicial Review (Northern Ireland : Abortion) SC 7-Jun-2018
The Commission challenged the compatibility of the NI law relating to banning nearly all abortions with Human Rights Law. It now challenged a decision that it did not have standing to bring the case.
Held: (Lady Hale, Lord Kerr and Lord Wilson . .
Cited – McLaughlin, Re Judicial Review SC 30-Aug-2018
The applicant a differently sexed couple sought to marry under the Civil Partnership Act 2004, but complained that they would lose the benefits of widowed parent’s allowance. Parliament had decided to delay such rules to allow assessment of reaction . .
Cited – McLaughlin, Re Judicial Review SC 30-Aug-2018
The applicant a differently sexed couple sought to marry under the Civil Partnership Act 2004, but complained that they would lose the benefits of widowed parent’s allowance. Parliament had decided to delay such rules to allow assessment of reaction . .
Cited – Crowter and Others, Regina (On the Application Of) v Secretary of State for Health And Social Care Admn 23-Sep-2021
Foetus has no Established Human Rights
The Claimants sought a declaration that section 1(1)(d) of the Abortion Act 1967, as amended, is incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights (‘ECHR’), as well as some other remedies. The claimant had Down’s Syndrome, and complained the . .
Cited – DA and Others, Regina (on The Application of) v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions SC 15-May-2019
Several lone parents challenged the benefits cap, saying that it was discriminatory.
Held: (Hale, Kerr LL dissenting) The parents’ appeals failed. The legislation had a clear impact on lone parents and their children. The intention was to . .
Cited – DA and Others, Regina (on The Application of) v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions SC 15-May-2019
Several lone parents challenged the benefits cap, saying that it was discriminatory.
Held: (Hale, Kerr LL dissenting) The parents’ appeals failed. The legislation had a clear impact on lone parents and their children. The intention was to . .
Cited – RR v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions SC 13-Nov-2019
Housing benefit regulations had been found unlawful and were amended. The Court now considered what payments should have been made before the amendments came into effect.
Held: The appeal was allowed, and RR’s housing benefit entitlement is to . .
Cited – Whittington Hospital NHS Trust v XX SC 1-Apr-2020
A negligent delay in the diagnosis of her cancer left the clamant dependent on paid for surrogacy arrangements. Three issues were raised; could damages to fund surrogacy arrangements using the claimant’s own eggs be recovered? Second, if so, could . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 11 October 2022; Ref: scu.269988
[2008] NIFam 7
Northern Ireland
Updated: 04 October 2022; Ref: scu.267108
Mrs Justice Theis DBE
[2021] EWHC 355 (Fam)
England and Wales
Updated: 04 October 2022; Ref: scu.659366
Hearing as to revocation of an adoption order made more than ten years before
[2015] EWHC 2316 (Fam)
England and Wales
Updated: 04 October 2022; Ref: scu.551775
Recognition of foreign adoptions
Theis J
[2013] EWHC 747 (Fam), [2014] FLR 1295, [2014] 1 FLR 1295
England and Wales
Updated: 29 September 2022; Ref: scu.510200
[1964] ScotCS CSIH – 2, 1965 SC 44, 1965 SLT 93
Scotland
Updated: 22 September 2022; Ref: scu.279470
Mrs Justice Pauffley
[2013] EWHC 2967 (Fam)
England and Wales
Updated: 19 September 2022; Ref: scu.516462
Pauffley H
[2013] EWHC 2607 (Fam)
England and Wales
Updated: 19 September 2022; Ref: scu.514459
Charles J
[2011] EWHC 1890 (Admin)
England and Wales
Updated: 19 September 2022; Ref: scu.443637
[2007] NIFam 9
Northern Ireland
Updated: 17 September 2022; Ref: scu.261699
[2007] NIFam 11
Northern Ireland
Updated: 16 September 2022; Ref: scu.263298
The claimant challenged the policy of the defendant to pay support to special guardians appointed under the 2002 Act at two thirds only of the rate it paid in fostering allowance.
Held: The policy was a substantial and insufficiently justified departure from the appropriate guidance, and was unlawful.
Langan QC HHJ
[2010] EWHC 467 (Admin), [2010] 2 FLR 405, [2010] 2 FCR 153, [2010] Fam Law 596
Adoption and Children Act 2002
England and Wales
Cited – Regina v Islington Borough Council Ex Parte Rixon QBD 17-Apr-1996
The local authority regarded lack of resources or facilities as an insuperable obstacle to any further attempt to make provision under the 1970 Act.
Held: A Local Authority should allow for non-statutory guidance in assessing a disabled . .
Cited – B v London Borough of Lewisham and Another Admn 17-Apr-2008
. .
Cited – Mccook v Lobo and others CA 19-Nov-2002
The defendant was the occupier of premises. He did not direct how the work should be done and was not present at the time the work was being performed.
Held: He had not been in control of the relevant work. Judge LJ referred to Regulation 4(2) . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 15 September 2022; Ref: scu.402618
[2015] EWFC B21
England and Wales
Updated: 03 September 2022; Ref: scu.543944
The claimant, a homosexual woman, complained that her homosexuality had meant her disqualification from adopting a child.
Held: There is no right to foster, but the provision was an unlawful discrimination. The denial of adoption to a woman in a same sex relationship could not be justified.
Where the difference in treatment is based on sexual orientation, a court must apply ‘strict scrutiny’ to the assessment of any asserted justification: ‘particularly convincing and weighty reasons to justify’ it are required
[2008] ECHR 55, (2008) 47 EHRR 21, 43546/02, [2008] 1 FLR 850, [2008] 1 FCR 235, 23 BHRC 741
European Convention on Human Rights 9
Human Rights
See Also – EB v France ECHR 14-Mar-2007
A homosexual woman complained that she had not been allowed to adopt a child. Her application was rejected by the French administrative court on grounds based substantially upon her sexual orientation.
Held: The provision was an unlawful . .
See Also – EB v France ECHR 30-Sep-2009
. .
Cited – Johns and Another, Regina (on The Application of) v Derby City Council and Another Admn 28-Feb-2011
The claimants had acted as foster carers for several years, but challenged a potential decision to discontinue that when, as committed Christians, they refused to sign to agree to treat without differentiation any child brought to them who might be . .
Cited – Steinfeld and Keidan, Regina (on The Application of) v Secretary of State for International Development (In Substitution for The Home Secretary and The Education Secretary) SC 27-Jun-2018
The applicants, an heterosexual couple wished to enter into a civil partnership under the 2004 Act, rather than a marriage. They complained that had they been a same sex couple they would have had that choice under the 2013 Act.
Held: The . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 03 September 2022; Ref: scu.430274
[2009] ECHR 1685, 43546/02
European Convention on Human Rights 9
See Also – EB v France ECHR 14-Mar-2007
A homosexual woman complained that she had not been allowed to adopt a child. Her application was rejected by the French administrative court on grounds based substantially upon her sexual orientation.
Held: The provision was an unlawful . .
See Also – EB v France ECHR 22-Jan-2008
The claimant, a homosexual woman, complained that her homosexuality had meant her disqualification from adopting a child.
Held: There is no right to foster, but the provision was an unlawful discrimination. The denial of adoption to a woman in . .
Cited – Bristol Alliance Ltd v Williams and Another QBD 1-Jul-2011
The driver had crashed into the insured’s building causing substantial damage. The court was asked which of the driver’s and building’s insurers should bear the costs. The driver’s insurers said that he had acted deliberately and therefore they were . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 03 September 2022; Ref: scu.430275
[2015] EWFC B108
England and Wales
Updated: 01 September 2022; Ref: scu.552150
[2019] EWFC B44
England and Wales
Updated: 01 September 2022; Ref: scu.642805
[2015] EWFC B121
England and Wales
Updated: 31 August 2022; Ref: scu.552161
A grandmother appealed against reusal of continued contact with a child now adopted.
Sir Nicholas Wall P, Arden, Wilson LJJ
[2010] EWCA Civ 1527, [2011] 1 FLR 1805, [2011] Fam Law 223
England and Wales
Updated: 31 August 2022; Ref: scu.427970
W had been subject to a care order and an order made for his placement for adoption. Some three months later the mother sought to intervene and object having recovered from her dependence on drugs.
Thorpe, Munby LJJ, Coleridge J
[2010] EWCA Civ 1535, [2011] Fam Law 221, [2011] 1 FCR 342
England and Wales
Updated: 31 August 2022; Ref: scu.427971
[2015] EWFC B111
England and Wales
Updated: 29 August 2022; Ref: scu.552159
[2019] EWFC B42
England and Wales
Updated: 27 August 2022; Ref: scu.642804