The Court discussed the tests in section 83 for the granting of authority for adoption. They include a requirement that the court must be satisfied that the child has been, or is likely to be, placed for adoption.
Lord Drummond Young stated: ‘Thus section 84 imposes two critical conditions if a permanence order is to be made in a case where the natural parent does not consent. First, in terms of subsection (3), the court must consider that it would be better for the child that the order should be made than that it should not be made; that decision must be made in the light of the requirement of subsection (4) that the welfare of the child throughout childhood is to be the paramount consideration. Secondly, in terms of subsection (5)(c)(ii), the court must be satisfied that the child’s residence with the parent is, or is likely to be, seriously detrimental to his or her welfare. Of the two conditions, that in subsection (5)(c)(ii) is the more fundamental: it imposes a threshold test, in the sense that, if it is not satisfied, the court is not permitted to dispense with the parent’s consent. It is only if the test is satisfied that the court requires to go on to consider the welfare of the child … The critical point is that the requirements of subsection (5) set a threshold test, and unless that test is satisfied no permanence order can be made and any further consideration of the other provisions of section 84 is irrelevant.’
Lord Drummond Young added: ‘The threshold test is in our opinion a matter of fundamental importance, and we must express regret at the manner in which section 84 of the Adoption and Children (Scotland) Act 2007 is structured. In that section the fundamental threshold provision comes at the end, after the subsections dealing with the welfare of the child. It would clearly be more sensible to state the threshold test at an earlier point, before the welfare provisions, because the threshold test must be satisfied before any of the other provisions becomes relevant. As matters stand there is an obvious risk that the sheriff will fail to appreciate the fundamental importance of the criterion in subsection (5). That is what appears to have happened in the present case.’
Judges:
Lod Drummond Young
Citations:
[2016] ScotCS CSIH – 36, 2016 GWD 17-313, 2016 SCLR 557, 2016 SLT 689, 2016 Fam LR 108
Links:
Statutes:
Adoption and Children (Scotland) Act 2007 80 83
Jurisdiction:
Scotland
Cited by:
Cited – Re EV (A Child) SC 1-Mar-2017
Appeal from application for permanence order. EV had been in care from her birth. Her parents, each with long standing learning difficulties opposed the order.
Held: The Court allowed the parents’ appeals. The meeting of the threshold test was . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Adoption
Updated: 23 July 2022; Ref: scu.565688