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8th Mar 2024 | Cases
Simon Miller, instructed by RWK Goodman, appeared on behalf of A, the Child, in Re A (Foreign Adoption) [2023] EWFC 221. Care proceedings were started soon after A’s birth. There were serious concerns about his safety and wellbeing. On 14 September 2022 final care and placement orders were made to the Local Authority. The court approved the long-term plan for A to be placed with his maternal aunt and her husband, Mr and Mrs H, in Canada. The court gave permission, pursuant to section 28 of the Adoption and Children Act 2002, for A to travel to Canada while still in the care of the Local Authority, for the purpose of getting to know his aunt and uncle, and for a home-study assessment of them to be carried out. Mr and Mrs H were found eligible to adopt and an Article 17(C) agreement to the adoption was given by both Canada and England on 5 December 2022. Shortly afterwards Mr H died suddenly but Mrs H was still deemed eligible to adopt A as she had a strong supportive network of family and friends. The Article 15 and Article 16 reports were subsequently updated, and a renewed Article 17(C) agreement given. On 10 March 2023, A was placed with Mrs H as his prospective adopter. She then made her application to the court for a Convention adoption order on 26 June 2023. The court found the requirements of Regulation 50 of the Adoption with a Foreign Element Regulations 2005 were met, namely that Mrs H was, at all material times, habitually resident in Canada and that A was habitually resident in the UK on the date on which the agreement under Article 17(c) of the Convention was made. The Convention adoption was granted.