The High Court approved an application to make an adoption order for a child, identified in the judgment as “A”, without consulting the child’s natural father, whose identity the mother could not establish. The ruling does not itself make the adoption order; it approves proceeding without consulting him under section 30(5) of the Adoption Act 2010–2017.
Ms Justice Nuala Jackson delivered the judgment on 14 December 2023. She said she had granted the order sought on 8 December, after hearing evidence from the Adoption Authority of Ireland (AAI) and submissions from counsel, and reserved judgment.
The mother stated that her association with the father was brief and had ended before she knew she was pregnant. The parents did not live together, and the father was not named on the birth certificate. The mother knew only a first name, possibly abbreviated, his ethnicity, an old place of work and a broad geographical area. She had no contact details or specific address. She said she had not contacted him about the pregnancy or birth because she lacked the information to do so. Earlier text messages were no longer available.
The AAI made an independent inquiry to the former place of work. A social worker was told that nobody then working there had been there at the relevant time, and the information available did not identify the man. The AAI had received no notice from a non-guardian father under sections 16(1) or 16(2). The mother had received counselling under section 30(4).
The judge found that the child, who was mature enough for their views to carry considerable weight, strongly wanted the adoption for legal and emotional reasons. The child was bonded with the prospective adoptive parent and had been part of a family with the mother, her partner and the children of their relationship for a number of years. The AAI had declared the prospective parent eligible and suitable and considered the adoption to be in the child’s best interests.
Justice Jackson concluded that the father’s family life rights were not engaged: at most, the parents’ association was very brief, without commitment, and ended well before the child’s birth. She found no reason to think the mother had inaccurately described events. Section 30(5) did not require exhaustive searches, she said; it required that the AAI have no other practical means of ascertaining the father’s identity. The AAI’s inquiry met that test, and the court made the requested approval.