Professor Rob George KC and Mavis Amonoo-Acquah in B v B (Section 83 ACA 2002 and Step-Parent Adoption) [2026] EWHC 97 (Fam)
29th Jan 2026 | Cases
Professor Rob George KC acted for the child through her Guardian, together with Mavis Amonoo-Acquah in B v B (Section 83 ACA 2002 and Step-Parent Adoption) [2026] EWHC 97 (Fam), an important new decision from MacDonald J. They were instructed by Dawson Cornwell.
The case is about s 83 of the Adoption and Children Act 2002. This section is designed to stop British adults from travelling abroad and either returning with a child for adoption here, or undergoing adoption abroad and then seeking to return with the child to live here. It’s aimed at stopping child trafficking and wealthy westerners effectively ‘buying’ children abroad, and it does so by imposing a significant number of regulatory requirements, backed by criminal sanctions. However, it is worded in a very wide way and in fact catches lots of other factual scenarios.
In B v B, the applicant was the child’s step-father, having been her de facto father for over 10 years. The step-father lived mainly in this country but spent time in Country X, where his wife and her biological children lived. A step-parent adoption order had been made in Country X following a rigorous process, but Country X’s orders were not recognised here, so a domestic order was needed. While the High Court has previously held that a domestic adoption order could still be made, MacDonald J accepted our argument that s 83, with its regulatory and criminal consequences for the step-father, should simply not apply to these kinds of cases.
The decision makes a huge difference to the individuals concerned, but also for many other international families who might inadvertently have been caught by a statutory provision that was never intended to cover their situation.
