The Supreme Court has dismissed an appeal by C against the adoption of her daughter, B, by the woman who had fostered her since infancy. The ruling leaves in place the adoption order made after the Court of Appeal authorised it and dispensed with both birth parents’ consent.
In a judgment delivered on 24 May 2023, Mr Justice Gerard Hogan said the statutory conditions for adoption without parental consent under section 54 of the Adoption Act 2010, as amended, had been met. The Court concluded that the Court of Appeal was correct to find that the High Court had erred in refusing the application.
B, who was born in 2004 with foetal alcohol syndrome and associated developmental and learning disabilities, had lived with foster mother A for virtually all her life. C had agreed to voluntary care in December 2004 and later did not object to a care order placing B with A until adulthood. C maintained contact with B, though it became less frequent after C moved to Dublin. The judgment records C’s allegations that the Child and Family Agency failed to provide adequate support for visits and did not conduct required reviews during some of the years B was in care. The Supreme Court did not reach a concluded view on those complaints, saying that greater contact would not have changed the essential fact that B had always lived with A.
C had turned her life around, the judgment said, and had raised two other children successfully. She argued that her general parenting ability and the limited time before B reached adulthood meant adoption was unnecessary and disproportionate. The Court accepted that C could not be judged incapable of parenting in the abstract, but said the legal test concerned whether she could care for B without prejudicing B’s safety or welfare. Given B’s life to that point, a change in her living arrangements would bring significant disruption and risk.
The Court also held that adoption was proportionate despite B being close to adulthood. It said adoption would provide lasting legal recognition and security for B’s family relationship with A, with consequences continuing after B turned 18. The judgment noted that A had undertaken to facilitate continuing contact between B and C; it said adoption would not prevent that relationship from continuing or strengthening.
The ruling addresses the statutory conditions and the best-interests assessment in this appeal. The Supreme Court dismissed C’s appeal, so the adoption order made on 23 August 2022 remains in place.